Hocking Hills Part 1

For our sixth anniversary we spent a weekend in Hocking Hills hiking around taking pictures while the kids stayed home with Grandma. I’m dividing the pictures into two different posts, one for each day. All photos are straight out of the camera (SOOC) but I have edited a few in Photoshop with some gorgeous Photoshop actions that really make the photos pop. Eventually I’ll post a few edited pictures just for fun. All photos are a collaborative effort of Brandon and me.

Welcome to Ash Cave. Ash Cave is a recess cave with a lovely little waterfall. The volume of the water isn’t that great but the height is decent. It was very hard to try and keep the light at the top of the cave under control because in trying to lighten up the colors in the cave it also caused the top of the photo to be brighter, blowing out the sky a bit. Thank goodness it was overcast or this would have been even more troublesome.

We both liked this peculiar tree growing down and out of the rock.

Here’s a better look at the cave itself.

A large boulder presented itself as the perfect seat and the rock of the cave behind made a wonderful backdrop.

This shows how little water there actually is coming down from the waterfall.

I took this for a little perspective. I was living on the edge. Literally.

Brandon captured things from another angle. We had a good time both of us seeing the same sights but each seeing them in different ways and then setting up the shots to see how they turned out. I love when the water looks smooth like this.

When we finished at Ash Cave we moved on to Cedar Falls.

Brandon found this scene to be particularly tranquil. The stillness of the water was quite peaceful.

After a short walk we were at the falls. Absolutely glorious! This waterfall is the most voluminous of the Hocking Hills area.

We hiked up to the top of the falls wanting to see exactly where the water came from and what things were like up top. From below, the water appears to be coming straight out of the rocks. From the bottom we could see some cave areas that presumably one can’t get to unless climbing the rocks which is prohibited.

Going off trail we checked out the top of the falls. Here you see the stream take a little drop down.

The stream then curves around and these rocks are right above the falls. The water seems to go under and around the rocks then drops off. It’s very interesting and I still feel like I didn’t figure out exactly how the stream gets where it is going.

Someone carved a heart in a tree which made a fun photo opportunity.

Stay tuned for part 2 and the photos just get better, in my opinion. :)