Highlands Nature Sanctuary

Saturday Nov 6
Our spell of good weather continues, and the autumn colours are still gorgeous, so we feel we have to make the most of it. Laura is away in Cleveland this weekend, so it was just the two of us, and we headed out east of the city to Highlands Nature Sanctuary near Bainbridge Ohio. The heart of the preserve is the beautiful Rocky Fork Gorge, a hundred foot high Dolomite canyon, known for its striking rock formations, ancient white cedars, grottoes and stone arches. Sixty acres of this 3100 acre preserve was once home to a nature and children’s theme park called 7 Caves. Opening in 1930, 7 Caves was a popular family destination for several decades, reaching its peak in the 60s and 70s. I remember visiting it once to do some hiking, when it was still 7 caves, way back, when the children were still in school, must have been about 2000/2001 - it finally closed in 2005. One of the (small) caves can be visited, but the others have been closed to the public to protect the bats.
It was a beautiful hike, with the golden leaves against the bright blue sky, the towering cliffs and other rock formations. We then continued on to another shorter hike in the same area - Miller Nature Sanctuary
Step count: 17,682