Rock Bridge State Preserve
Rock Bridge’s natural arch bridge is more than 100 feet long and 10 to 20 feet wide, 5 feet thick, and elegantly spans 50 feet above a gorge. It is the largest natural bridge in Ohio.
Hocking Hill State Park
Address: 11475 Dalton Rd. Rockbridge, OH 43149
GPS Coordinates: 39.566463, -82.499127
The Rock Bridge Trails:
Parking Lot Connector Trail:
.4 miles, Easy
To get to the main park’s trail system, you take a short trail into the
preserve. The trail begins at the park’s only lot and follows a slim strip of
protected land into the preserve.
A half-mile trail through rolling pastures is hiked to reach the main preserve.
When you reach the end of the half-mile you arrive at a fork. Both ways go to a loop trail leading to the rock bridge. Going right also reaches the Rock Shelter Trail, which features a limited trail to another rock shelter house and then a short loop beyond that.
The preserve is situated on hills overlooking the Hocking River. These woods are older fields that are now recovering woodland.
The trail system here is rugged and lesser maintained than others in the Hocking Hills area, but it’s hike-able by using caution in just a few areas. The rock bridge is worth the trip. From the rock bridge, a spur trail allows one to approach the nearby Hocking River, where many kayakers gain access to the rock bridge.
Most hikers return using the loop trail back to the connector trail they hiked in on and this one passes the turnoff for the Rock Shelter Trail along the way.
Rock Shelter Trail
1 mile, Moderate
The Rock Shelter Trail passes by the southern portion of the preserve, making a loop and going by rock formations and an overhang cave known as the Rock Shelter.
Rock Bridge’s natural arch or bridge is more than 100 feet long and 10 to 20 feet wide, 5 feet thick, and elegantly spans 50 feet above a gorge. It is considered the largest natural bridge of more than 12 in Ohio.
Rock bridge was created hundreds of millions of years ago, as Ohio was under a shallow warm inland sea. Rivers flowed into this vast sea, carrying both fine- and coarse-grained sands which settled to the sea bottom.
Over the millennia, the gathering sand condensed, compressed and formed the solid sedimentary rock known as the Black Hand Sandstone. Over a great expanse of time, enormous pressure from beneath the earth’s surface caused the land in eastern North America to rise up, becoming the Appalachian Mountains. The inland sea drained away and exposed the rock layers to persistent erosional processes. The natural rock bridge began to develop its distinct appearance. Wind, rain and percolating groundwater combined their erosive forces together for centuries, carving a deep cave-like alcove in the softer midportion of the Black Hand Sandstone. Gradually, erosional forces developed along a natural joint fracture plane some distance behind the threshold of the cliff. Over centuries, this continual process widened the crack, with only the remains of the overhanging ledge forming the narrow rock arch.
Rock Bridge has long been a favorite spot for picnicking and visitation, especially during the late 1800’s, when the Columbus, Hocking Valley, and Toledo Railroad ran nearby.
Rock Bridge as it appeared in 1889 (from Howe, 1907).
DustyBlues captures impressive image art of the Hocking Hills and beyond. Please check our portfolios at www.dustyblues.com or stop by our convenient gallery on the road to Old Man’s Cave. Open Daily.
Enjoy the memories!
Dusty & Val