Well, 2020 was been a bit of a doozy wasn’t it? As a teacher, it was difficult switching to online teaching, not only because of the complications that come with managing 100+ students from the confines of my home, worrying about how my students and coworkers were doing during the COVID-19 lockdowns, but also, as a social person, I wasn’t coping that well with being home alone 24/7. (Thank God for my dog Oliver, but all attempts I made with getting him to converse with me failed, much to my chagrin).
I had big plans for 2020: first, my boyfriend, sister-in-law and I had started planning a trip to Asia (my first time there). Then, when the pandemic first was showing it’s ugly head we decided we would go to Morocco, Spain and Portugal instead. It would’ve been my first time traveling to Morocco, and my first time experiencing international travel with Brandon and Adrienne. But as time went on it became apparent that any hopes of international travel were being dashed away. I know in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t that big of a concern. My heart and prayers goes out to people who have been ill, and the financial worries of so many people out there.
Let’s road trip Ohio!
This is definitely uncertain and scary times, but for my own mental health I decided that I would make the most of the freedom by making some road trips. It started with visiting the wonderful metro parks that are available in Columbus, Ohio. But then I decided to go just a bit further afield and started taking some day road trips to places near Columbus. I always say you can find plenty of adventures in your own backyard. So I hope that the series of blog posts I made about road trip from Cbus inspire some other people to make the most the great state of Ohio. If you have any suggestions, make sure you drop me a note in the comment section. In this blog post, I’m talking about our trip to Caesar Creek State Park. A road trip isn’t quite the same without a stop for a refreshing adult beverage, so we also visited TinCap winery and taproom. For info just about the brewery, specializing in cider, click here.
Caesar Creek State Park
Our first destination for our summer series of trip was Caesar Creek State Park. This state park is located about an hour southwest of Columbus, in Waynesville, Ohio. When we arrived we immediately went to the visitor center to see if we could get some information. As expected, it was not staffed due the Coronavirus. We were able to get a map, and talked to several people to get our bearings.
Located behind the visitor center there is a boardwalk. Here you can get a decent vantage point of the Caesar Creek Dam and lake. While we were on the boardwalk we were greeted by a black snake, so we didn’t stick around there long. We also walked down to the pier to take in the sites before beginning our hike.
There is a marina if you are in the boating mood, there was not a lot of boating traffic on the day we were there (a Wednesday) and the water was beautiful and calm. There is also a nature center located next to the visitor center (closed currently), a playground and a pond.
Getting to Horseshoe Falls
We decided to leave the car parked and start our hike to the horseshoe falls, because the map indicated that was plausible. Let me warn you now, we should’ve drive on- the walk from the visitor to the horseshoe falls trailhead is NOT on a path; instead, you walk along the road with cars going 50+ mph, and there is no shade. We did get a good view of the dam, but the picture below shows what you’ll be dealing with.
So about a mile down the road there is a parking area (look for Flat Fork Ridge Recreation center) and THERE we found the trailhead.
From there you walk among the trees for a only a few minutes before coming to a large clearing, with more views of the dam (by the way, what did the fish saw when he swam into a wall? Dam!)
Horseshoe Falls
From the parking lot, enter into the forest again, and there are a couple paths that you can take that will lead you to the falls. We choose to go to the left, which was a bit longer, to avoid the other groups of people who had just entered and went up and to the right.
The park has a perimeter hike, which goes all the way around the lake, about 12.4 miles. Horseshoe falls hike goes along part of that, about 2 miles long. There weren’t too many people there that day, but I’ve read it can get busy. It is also not accessible by wheelchair or stroller. But it was a very nice, fairly easy hike. It was a hot day, so the shade was welcome!
Before long you arrive at the horseshoe falls, you see it from above before descending.
Our favorite part of the hike was the swinging bridge that is on a path to the right (you’ll see a sign pointing to the falls on the left, but if you keep going instead you’ll come to the bridge).
It definitely was wobbly, but there’s not a big drop down so nothing to fear! The kids we passed that day certainly did love it, and so did Erin and I!
After going on the bridge (twice!) we proceeded on the falls. As far as waterfalls go, it’s pretty small (as you can see from the pictures). But you can wade right up to it, and the kids were loving it!
You can walk along the creek, there are plenty of large stones located close enough that we never even got our feet wet. It was pretty to explore, in the cool shade, and the rock formations were very pretty.
Continuing on the hike
After exploring the creek a bit we decided to hike a bit longer. We decided that Cedar Creek is definitely not well-marked. We did a loop around before deciding that we were probably on the perimeter path, and NOT wanting to hike another 10 miles we made our way back.
Gorge Trail
We spent about 3 hours hiking to the horseshoe falls, but another area we made a quick stop in was gorge trail. We had passed the gorge on the way to the falls, across from the dam.
There is a trail here as well, about 1.2 miles long. If you decide to do this, you need to either drive to this spot, or trek up the large hill that we passed on the road. After spending a few minutes here, we continued on to our next destination.
Tincap Winery and Taproom
Located about 20 minutes away from Caesar Creek State Park, and on the way home to Columbus, is the small town of Wilmington. Here, our stop was at Tincap Winery and Taproom. I didn’t see any wine while I was there, but they did have my favorite- cider!
I had called ahead to make sure it was okay to bring my dog. It was perfect because they have a large patio- with swings, picnic tables and outdoor games.
On tap, Tincap makes about 8 different ciders, with flavors like peach, blackberry (both of which Erin had and loved). They also had pear sour and mad mango (which I tried- the first tasting like a sweet tart, and the second one with a hint of spice from chilis). They also have 8 other beers on tap, mostly from local breweries, and they have two flavors of alcohol slushies.
We were really hungry from our hike, but there was slim pickings in Wilmington. Tincap does sell pizza and chips, so we decided to share a mushroom pizza. I’m not the biggest pizza fan, nor am I supposed to eat it, but desperate times and all. But DANG it was good! A medium thick crust, but lots of tasty sauce and cheese, we were both very impressed. I would definitely come back for more drinks and pizza.
After a few hours we headed back to Columbus, completely pleased with our successful day. I did have one pooped dog though.
I hope you get to enjoy some trips during this crazy time, and I’d love some suggestions! If you get to Caesar Creek, let me know what you think. See you all soon!
-Catching Katie
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