Nature: Conkles Hollow features scenic gorge and gorgeous scenes

Conkles Hollow, on a misty fall day/Jim McCormac

Water is a relentless force of nature. Taken as a single drop, H2O is innocuous. Gathered into a raging torrent, water is an indomitable sculptor of landscapes.

Eons ago, water began seeking its path of least resistance high on a ridgetop in Hocking County, not far south of the village of Gibisonville. The trickle flowed downslope, as water always does, and over time forged a rivulet.

Heavy rains temporarily transformed the streamlet into a gully washer with the power to eat rock. Over the ages, the woodland rill incised deeply into the underlying Black Hand sandstone.

Conkles Hollow was born.

This 87-acre Conkles Hollow State Nature preserve is one of the most spectacular landscapes in the Hocking Hills, and that’s saying something. It vies with breathtaking scenic icons such as Ash Cave, Cedar Falls, and Old Man’s Cave.

In places, sheer cliffs 200 feet provide rocky bulwarks to the gorge at Conkles. As one moves up the valley trail, the walls close in and form a narrow box canyon. At its terminus is the falls where water plunges into the gorge. Normally, a mere drizzle sprays from the summit. Visit during heavy rains, which I have, and the drizzle is transformed into a raging deluge.

The gorge’s odd name stems from initials carved into a sandstone wall in 1797 by a settler named W.J. Conkle. Graffiti has been with us for a long time.

Conkles Hollow offers a taste of the boreal forest, in southeastern Ohio. A dominant tree on the gorge’s slopes is eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). This conifer occurs in peak abundance far to our north, but the cool microclimate of Conkles Hollow provides refugia for these hardy trees.

Shallowly rooted hemlocks cling tenaciously to boulders and cliff faces, and the largest specimens tower 75 feet or more in height. The specialized plant community anchored by the hemlocks fosters an unusual — for Ohio — breeding bird community.

Species that breed in peak abundance in the conifer belt of the extreme northern U.S. and Canada have established disjunct outposts in hemlock gorges such as Conkles Hollow. Their ranks include blue-headed vireo, red-breasted nuthatch, winter wren, and a suite of warblers: Blackburnian, black-throated green, Canada and magnolia.

An aural standout of the northern birds is the hermit thrush. Visit in spring or summer and you’re likely to be serenaded by the exquisite song of this speckle-bellied skulker. Its honeyed notes combine to form an ethereal symphony well-suited to the cathedral-like majesty of its environs.

I made the accompanying photo on Oct. 29, when colorful autumn foliage spiced the landscape. But Conkles Hollow is a feast for the eyes at any season. Spring brings a profusion of woodland wildflowers. In summer, the gorge is cloaked in a lush carpet of fancy fern (Dryopteris intermedia). Winter can bring fantastic ice formations.

Fortunately, the State of Ohio had the foresight to purchase nearly 150 acres at Old Man’s Cave in 1924, and the Hocking Hills State Park had its genesis. Since then, landholdings have mushroomed to about 2,000 acres, augmented by state nature preserves, the Hocking State Forest, and various private conservation initiatives.

Nearly 5 million people visit the Hocking Hills annually, and create a major economic input to the region. While ecotourism has its benefits, some prefer a dose of solitude. Pro tips: Arrive at your destination at dawn, go on weekdays, or select the coldest winter days. You should have time largely free of fellow primates.

For more information on Conkles Hollow, visit: https://ohiodnr.gov/

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.