Date: 08/23/2019 – Distance: 6.7 mi – Elapsed Time: 4 hrs – Ascent: 1135 ft – Descent: 997 ft – Difficulty: Medium
I needed a hearty breakfast this morning to prepare for my first full day of hiking. I decided to drive to Logan, which is about 11 miles away, to see what I could find. I found M&Ms Family Diner, a little restaurant which I happened to stumble across while driving through Logan. It’s on W Main St, right across from Worthington Park, right downtown.
Since I had done the Grandma Gatewood Trail to Cedar Falls from Old Man’s Cave before, I wanted to explore some other trails in this park. There was a campground access trail to Old Man’s Cave, directly across from my site. I went down that trail, which lead me directly to the A-Frame Bridge, right at the Old Man’s Cave Visitor Center. However, before crossing the bridge, I wanted to see the Devils Bathtub and Upper Falls. I wanted to catch a trail right before the bridge crossing to Devils Bathtub but it was closed because they were trying to restore the area due to damage from hikers, I assume. However, my GPS showed me that if I took the Gorge Overlook, there was a connector which would take me to the site I was seeking. I found the route and it led me directly to the base of Upper Falls pool. There is a cool bridge over the top of the falls.
From the Upper Falls pool, I should have headed downstream a little, but failed to do so, and missed the Devil’s Bathtub. Instead, I backtracked a little to the Gorge Overlook and wanted to see the bridge over the Upper Falls. The view from the top of the falls from the bridge was cool.
From Upper falls, I headed along the trail leading to the Visitor Center.
From the Visitor Center, I found a set of stairs, called the Visitor Center Access Trail, leading into the gorge, which avoided the crowd on the Old Man’s Cave Trail. The stairs led into the gorge trail, which must be the start of the Grandma Gateway Trail. At the bottom, I could have went left which led back to Devils Bathtub, but wanted to head toward Old Man’s Cave.
This section above the cave turned out to be amazing with a cool bridge over the river to the opposite side.
Eventually, I came to a tunnel through the rock, which was obviously manmade. Right before entering the tunnel is a great view of Old Man’s Cave from the opposite bank.
On the other side of the tunnel is the stone arch bridge at the bottom of the cave.
I didn’t take that bridge to the cave, but rather contined on the Grandma Gatewood Trail toward the Lower Falls. I don’t know why people have to ignore the obvious signs, but I can understand why the Lower Falls is such a poplar swimming hole.
From the Lower Falls, I took a trail which led me up the west side of the gorge cliff. It was rather steep with steps and had a really dramatic spiral staircase, which took you back up to the Visitor Center.
I was interested in another site called Broken Rock Falls. I took a left before engaging the staircase.
This trail led me along a rocky and sometimes precarious cliff edge to the falls.
The falls were kind of uneventful, however, I understood why it was called Broken Rock Falls, due to the rather large slump rocks below it.
From here the trail ends and I backtracked back to Lower Falls and continued along the Grandma Gatewood Trail. Right before the trail curves left toward Cedar Falls, there is an intersecting creek with a trail, which goes right/west toward Wispering Cave. I wanted to check this out. It begins by going across a wobbly suspension bridge over Old Man’s Creek. I would only recommend one person at a time, as it can start to sway back and forth a little and cause you to loose balance. It has some safety nets along the side, but I didn’t want to tempt it, so I paused a couple times to let the sway subside.
This trail is called the Hemlock Bridge Trail. As such, there is quite a Grove along it.
The trail goes up the creek a little then takes a right up the gorge hillside. There are some stunning rocks along this trail which show signs of “Honeycomb Weathering”.
To get to Whispering Cave take a left at the intersection which leads along the cliff.
As you round a corner the cave appears and is stunning. It’s a big one.
This trails ends at the cave and you must turn back. At waypoint sign QQ, I continued along the Hemlock Bridge Trail toward the parking lot. You come to a four way intersection where there is an observation spot to the right and stairs to the Whispering Cave parking area to the left. I took the straight path which took me back a trail to the Old Man’s Cave Visitor Center.
I continued straight at this intersection as I was trying to get back to Old Man’s Cave. This trail is called the Whispering Cave Loop Trail.
From the Visitor Center, I crossed the A-Frame Bridge, past the Gorge Overlook, and returned up the rather steep campground trail which took me back to my campsite.
That night, as I was sitting by the fire, about 11:30, a pack of coyotes started howling and barking toward the Ranger station. I’m fine with seeing a solo coyote, or even the raccoons which investigate at night, but I have to admit, that sound sent me to my tent… In the city, I’m used to seeing the lone coyote cross the road, but when they are in a pack, I didn’t want to deal with that.
Links:
Old Man’s Cave Parking – Google Maps
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