LOGAN, Ohio - Hocking Hills State Park is a rocky wonderland.

Some claim that the 2,348-acre park 11 miles south of Logan in Hocking County in Southeast Ohio is the best state park for natural wonders, with its waterfalls, towering cliffs and deep hemlock-lined gorges.

It's a dramatic landscape. There's nothing like it anywhere else in Ohio.

It is the destination park in Ohio and the best-known park in the state system. It gets 2 million visitors a year.

Hocking Hills State Park features five distinct areas: Ash Cave, Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, Rock House and Cantwell Cliffs. Nearby is Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve. It is surrounded by 9,696 acres of Hocking State Forest.

It is wild, rugged and very picturesque.

Hocking County is the cabin capital of Ohio, with hundreds and hundreds of cabins with kitchens, cable, fireplaces and hot tubs, if you want to make it a weekend trip or a romantic getaway.

The real magic at Hocking Hills can best be found on its 24 miles of trails. Take the time for a hike or two. Most of the trails are short but the rewards are great.

For first-time visitors, I would recommend Ash Cave, Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls as starters. All are spectacular and easy to reach.

A short hike will take visitors to Ash Cave, a horseshoe-shaped cave with a waterfall.

Ash Cave is 700 feet long, 100 feet deep and 90 feet high. It may be the most distinctive and most impressive natural feature in Ohio. It is the largest recess cave in the state.

Depending on the time of year, you may be able to experience Ash Cave Falls, a tributary of Queer Creek that tumbles 90 feet from the roof of the cave. It is most prominent in the spring and can turn into a giant icicle in very cold winters.

Ash Cave got its name from the early settlers who found piles of ash from Indian fires in the cave.

It is not an underground cave, but a recess caused by weathering of the Black Hand sandstone. The middle band of stone was softer and eroded away while the harder and more resistant layers above and below remained.

Ash Cave is at the southern end of the park. It is easy to reach - a five-minute walk along a paved path from the trailhead off state Route 56.

Old Man's Cave off state Route 664 and 11 miles south of U.S. 33 is the most popular spot and the heart of the park.

The area features a picturesque 150-foot-deep half-mile-long, steep-walled gorge, three waterfalls, a whirlpool, spectacular rock formations, hiking tunnels and a recess cave named after hermit Richard Rowe.

Old Man's Cave is 75 feet above the stream and measures 200 feet long, 50 feet high and 75 feet deep.

It is an easy hike of 700 yards from the park's visitor center.

The area was devastated by a flash flood in early 1998 and the trails were closed for a $4 million rebuilding. The trails along Old Man's Creek reopened in early 2002.

Cedar Falls sits at the end of a pretty gorge. It is a 50-foot-high falls that is the most impressive and most reliable waterfall in the park.

It is the most photogenic and the most photographed waterfall in Ohio, according to many.

Interestingly, the falls look bigger in person than they do in photographs.

The water slides down the sandstone cliff, splits and then reassembles in the postcard-pretty pool on Queer Creek.

It is surrounded by hemlocks that early settlers thought were cedars. An old grist mill once stood here atop the falls.

Hocking Hills has numerous waterfalls but many don't have water in the summer and fall.

If you are ambitious, you can hike from Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls and back. It is a six-mile round-trip on the popular Grandma Gatewood Trail. Add six more miles and you can hike from Cedar Falls to Ash Cave and back.

Ohioan Emma Gatewood was born in 1887 and died in 1973 and began hiking at the age of 67. She had 11 children and 23 grandchildren. She hiked the Oregon Trail once and the Appalachian Trail three times. She was the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail alone in 1955.

This section of the Buckeye Trail was one of her favorites. It was designated a National Recreation Trail and named after her in 1979. It is also part of the federal North Country Trail and the American Discovery Trail.

It is one of the best day hikes in Ohio.

The trail will be used by the park for its six-mile winter hike on Jan. 19. The 43rd annual event includes a continuous start from 9 to 11 a.m. Hikers will go from Old Man's Cave to Ash Cave. A shuttle will return them to their vehicles.

Rock House off state Route 374 features a cave supported by sandstone columns.

The room is 200 feet long, up to 25 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet deep. It offers 100,000 cubic feet of space inside a rocky, brightly colored cliff. It includes seven window-like openings.

Long ago, Indians lived in the Rock House.

There are 120 steps to reach Rock House. It's a quarter-mile hike.

Much of the graffiti on Rock House is from the 1800s. A 16-room hotel and ballroom once stood nearby.

Cantwell Cliffs off state Route 374 is dominated by massive rock outcroppings, large recess caves and deep woods.

You can descend steps into a pretty gorge carved by Buck Run to see overhanging horseshoe cliffs up to 150 feet high.

Fat Woman's Squeeze is a narrow passage between a cliff and a fallen boulder.

The area has lots of up-and-down steps.

Cantwell Cliffs tend to get fewer visitors because they are 17 miles from the Old Man's Cave area.

The Hocking Hills area became a popular picnic and resort area after the Civil War.

The state purchased Old Man's Cave and 124 acres in 1924.

The state park features a campground with 172 sites open year-round. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

In addition, 40 family cabins are available. They each sleep up to six people.

Seasonally, the park features a dining lodge with a restaurant, snack bar and outdoor swimming pool. There is a small lake for fishing.

For information, contact Hocking Hills State Park at 20160 State Route 664, Logan OH 43138, 740-385-6841 (park office) or 740-385-6165 (camp office). The Internet site is http://www.ohiodnr.com.

Hocking Hills is also home to a 33-mile Ohio scenic byway. It starts at state Route 374 and U.S. 33 at Rockbridge and goes south on state Route 374 to state Route 56 to state Route 664. The byway goes past the five areas of Hocking Hills State Park.

For information about the byway, one of 24 in Ohio, contact the Ohio Department of Transportation, 1980 W. Broad St., Columbus OH 43223; http://www.ohiobyways.com.

You can contact Hocking State Forest at 19275 State Route 374, Rockbridge, OH 43149; 740-385-4402; http://www.ohiodnr.com.

For tourist information, check with the Hocking Hills Tourism Association at 13178 State Route 664 S., Logan, OH 43138; 740-385-9706 or 800-HOCKING. The Internet site is http://www.1800hocking.