Hocking Hills is one of the easier corners of Ohio to bring kids to. Short drives between trailheads, plenty of cabins built for groups, and enough variety in the terrain that a four-year-old and a fourteen-year-old can both find something they actually want to do. Here is how to think about a family trip out here without overplanning it.

Most people think of Hocking Hills State Park as one place. It is actually six separate trail areas spread across about 25 minutes of driving, and where you stay decides which sides feel like a quick morning trip and which sides feel like a full-day expedition. Old Man's Cave is the most famous, but the park is much bigger than that, and the lesser-known trails are often the better hikes once the crowds find the parking lots.

The first time most people walk into the Old Man's Cave gorge, they stop on the second set of stone steps and look up. The sandstone walls rise about 150 feet on either side, the creek runs through the bottom, and the temperature drops a noticeable few degrees as you descend. It is the single most-photographed spot in Hocking Hills for a reason.

A hot tub is the part of the trip people remember. The hike was great, dinner in Logan was good, but the conversation that ran past midnight happened in the water. That is the real reason hot tubs sell cabins in Hocking Hills, and it is why every property at Reserve the Hills has one.

Most people who plan a Hocking Hills trip have never heard of Lake Logan. They book a cabin tucked back in the woods, drive past a quiet 170-acre lake on Route 664 on their way to Old Man's Cave, and only later realize they were ten minutes from a swimming beach the whole time.