For Mother’s Day this year, I went hiking in Hocking Hills with my family. The weather was beautiful, the trails were not very crowded and it was a lot of fun.

I’m not sure how far we hiked, but there is a lot of up and down. To see the best views, you have to descend into some pretty deep gorges, which is great! However, that means you also have to climb out of some pretty deep gorges.

After finishing a half marathon last weekend and walking 4 miles yesterday, those upward climbs were a little tough! Though Deb and I did a lot of hill workouts, we did not do “stairs” workouts. Most of these trails have stairs on the steeper inclines. I have to admit it, I rested in the middle of several of these.

The trails we did were Cantwell Cliffs, Conkles Hollow and Old Man’s Cave. In Cantwell Cliffs, we got turned around and ended up walking much farther than intended.

Conkles Hollow is actually a Nature Preserve. A large portion of this trail is wheelchair accessible (we even saw a person in a wheelchair enjoying the trail). After going too far on the first trail it was nice to take it easy.

Finally we walked Old Man’s Cave. This one can be easy or hard, depending on where you enter and where you exit. We decided to avoid climbing out at the 70-stair end of the trail and opted to leave at the end with only 40-some stairs. (Smart choice!)

It was also a great way to get all of us out and moving together!

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