A canyon, or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.
The Buckeye Trail is a 1,444-mile (2,324 km) hiking trail and long-distance trail that loops around the state of Ohio. Part of it is on roads and part is on wooded trail. Road portions of the trail are gradually being relocated to separate trail.
The Hocking River is a 102-mile-long (164 km) right tributary of the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio in the United States.
Strouds Run State Park is a public recreation area abutting the city of Athens in Athens County, Ohio, in the United States. The state park is located primarily in Canaan Township, with a small part in Ames Township. Park boundaries coincide with Athens city limits in several places. The park comprises 2,606 acres (1,055 ha), and includes Dow Lake, a 161-acre (65 ha) artificial lake. The park is named after William Stroud who was a share-holder in the Ohio Company of Associates.
The Little Miami River is a Class I tributary of the Ohio River that flows 111 miles (179 km) through five counties in southwestern Ohio in the United States. The Little Miami joins the Ohio River east of Cincinnati. It forms parts of the borders between Hamilton and Clermont counties and between Hamilton and Warren counties. The Little Miami River is one of 156 American rivers designated by the U.S. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior as a National Wild and Scenic River and lends its name to the adjacent Little Miami Scenic Trail.
Hocking Hills State Park is a state park in the Hocking Hills region of Hocking County, Ohio, United States. In some areas the park adjoins the Hocking State Forest. Within the park are over 25 miles (40 km) of hiking trails, rock formations, waterfalls, and recess caves. The trails are open from dawn to dusk, all year round, including holidays.
The Hocking Hills is a deeply dissected area of the Allegheny Plateau in Appalachian Ohio, primarily in Hocking County, that features cliffs, gorges, rock shelters, and waterfalls. The relatively extreme topography in this area is due to the Blackhand Sandstone, a particular formation that is thick, hard and weather-resistant, and so forms high cliffs and narrow, deep gorges.
The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal trailheads are the Delmarva Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the northern California coast on the Pacific Ocean. The trail has northern and southern alternates for part of its distance, passing through Chicago and St. Louis respectively. The total length of the trail, including both the north and south routes, is 6,800 miles (10,900 km). The northern route covers 4,834 miles (7,780 km) with the southern route covering 5,057 miles (8,138 km). It is the only non-motorized coast-to-coast trail.
Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve is located in Jackson County, Ohio, United States, just northwest of and outside the city of Jackson. It is owned and administered by the State Division of Natural Areas and Preserves and comprises 2,019 acres (817 ha).
Rockbridge State Nature Preserve is a nature reserve featuring a natural bridge located in the unincorporated community of Rockbridge in Hocking County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Hocking Hills region, but the sandstone that forms the natural bridge is located lower in the stratigraphic sequence than that which forms most of the region's notable features.
The Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is a 4-mile-long (6.4 km) sandstone formation through which the Licking River flows in Licking County, Ohio, United States. Located 12 miles (19 km) east of Newark near the tiny town of Toboso, 957 acres (387 ha) along the gorge were designated an Ohio Nature Preserve in 1975. The gorge is a capsule of Ohio transportation history, having hosted canal boats, steam railroads, electric interurbans, and automobiles through the years. It is named for the black hand petroglyph that was found on the cliff face by the first settlers to the area. Black Hand Sandstone is a resistant rock that also forms the backbone of the Hocking Hills region.
The Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks are a group of 20 metropolitan parks in and around Columbus, Ohio. They are officially organized into the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District. The Metro Parks system was organized in 1945 under Ohio Revised Code Section 1545 as a separate political division of the state of Ohio. The Metro Parks are overseen by a Board of Park Commissioners consisting of three citizens appointed to three-year terms without compensation by the Judge of the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio. The Board in turn appoints an Executive Director responsible for operations and management of the parks.
Rockbridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in eastern Good Hope Township, Hocking County, Ohio, United States. It has a post office with the ZIP code 43149. It is located at the interchange of U.S. Route 33 and State Route 374, between Logan and Lancaster. As of the 2010 census the population of the CDP was 182.
Hocking Hills Reservoir locally nicknamed Rose Lake is located just outside Old Man's Cave, in the Hocking Hills region of Hocking County, Ohio, United States. It is a part of the Hocking Hills State Park.
Hocking State Forest is a state forest in Hocking County, Ohio, United States. The forest adjoins Hocking Hills State Park and three nature preserves including Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve.
Woodman Hollow State Preserve is located in Webster County, Iowa, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Fort Dodge and 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Lehigh. The preserve is a satellite area of Dolliver Memorial State Park, located 2 miles to the south. Some older maps refer to the area as "Woodman's Hollow State Park."
Highlands Sanctuary, Inc. is a nonprofit organization which operates under the dba of The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. The Arc of Appalachia has been in operation since 1995, working to create and steward nature preserves in the forested Appalachian counties of southern Ohio. In 2016, The Arc of Appalachia had completed the protection of 4268 acres in 15 preserve regions.
Clear Creek Metro Park is a nature preserve located at 185 Clear Creek Road in Rockbridge, Ohio, just off U.S. Route 33. It is part of the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system. It also contains the largest Ohio State Nature Preserve. Open 6:30 am until dark, the park is home to over 800 plant species and over 150 species of birds.
Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, in Greene County, Ohio, is located three miles east of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and immediately southwest of Clifton, Ohio. The preserve constitutes 268 acres of gorges along two miles of the Little Miami River.
The small waterfall at the head of the gorge
Looking downstream from the head of the gorge
