An Accessible Spring Break in Hocking Hills, Ohio

In March our family went 2 hours north to Hocking Hills Ohio where we spent the week hiking, and also doing a few other activities that ended up being accessible for our whole family. Traveling and finding activities that we can do together as a family is challenging when you have a family member who needs accessible accommodations for most everything. The lack of access is apparent in every single aspect of travel–the planning, the drive and/or plane ride, the accommodations and of course the activities once you get there.

Planning a family trip for any family takes a lot of time, but planning a trip when a member of your family is disabled is a soul stretching exercise in patience, frustration, and endurance. I’m going to share our trip here and the things we were able to do to make it fun for everyone, and then I’m also going to share another post in which crowd sourced for tips and ideas around accessible travel. That being said, there aren’t as many “tips” as I had hoped, mostly everyone shared their frustrations and the lack of access in travel.

But first, here’s a round up of our trip.

Hocking Hills, Ohio
Like everyone who commented on my Instagram stories that week, it’s almost shocking to see the lush and rocky hikes just 2 hours north of Cincinnati known as Hocking Hills. Many people could not believe this was Ohio. Even one of my best friends who is from Oregon, commented on how much these photos reminded her of Oregon. I couldn’t agree more–Hocking Hills is absolutely stunning and we went on 5 hikes that week, with more to spare. But lets talk about accomodations first.

Accommodations:
We seached for an accessible rental space on AirBnB. After entering all the search criteria and then using the accessible feature–which is a little hidden in the interface for some reason–we ended up with only 2-3 options. However, upon further inspection not all of those options are even actually accessible! (This is common.) For example, if there is a step or two to the entrace, it’s not accessible, but people will list it as such. This is one of the frustrating things about accessibility–most people don’t know what “accessible” actually means even in the most basic, bottom tier sense. If there isn’t at least 1 zero clearance entry point, you shouldn’t be calling your home accessible. And on the flip side, sometimes people DO have an accessible entrance but don’t think to list their rental home as “accessible” and therefore we miss out on those listings too. In fact, the home we ended up staying at I believe was not listed as accessible, but did in fact have a zero clearance entry.

If you’re interested, this is the house we stayed in. (Note: there is a basement that is somewhat accessible as it’s a walk-out around back. The bathrooms aren’t particularly accessible, but for a few days it worked for us.) 

Of course there are many other features for accessibility and AirBnb will let you select these options when looking for a rental–things like grab bars in the bathroom, no steps to the entry, elevator, enough space in the bathroom for a wheelchair, etc–but again even when I just choose ONE feature–zero steps to enter the home–I might only have 1-3 options at best, and usually it’s 0.

The house we found had a zero entry point and while the bathroom didn’t allow for Lamp’s wheelchair to fit, and the bedroom was too small for a wheelchair as well, we count just being able to get in the house as a huge win. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked. 2 bedrooms, but lots of beds and a pond in the back. There is a basement with lots of games–air hockey, pool, shuffleboard, etc–and she could scoot down to those or drive her wheelchair around back.

Hikes
Hocking Hills is known for all the beautiful hikes and while there were only 2 that we know of that are accessible, even those should have a little asterisk next to them. Additionally, it should be noted that I’m using the word “hike” but really most of these are very, very short walks–like a half mile to the destination. I really wish they were longer for more exercise and nature immersion, but I can also see how these short distances are great for families with little kids.Ash Cave: And the one hike we had been on before this trip was Ash cave, which has an accessible trail to the very end of the cave and it’s beautiful! Once you reach the cave there is some sand that could prove to be difficult to get through, but if you can push your chair through approximately 15 feet of deep sand, then the rest of the sand is packed down pretty hard that I would think most wheelchairs could be pushed around on it. Lamp was able to go all over the cave in her chair and she LOVED it. So yes accessible, but depending on the whole sand issues your chair might or might not be able to get past it to fully enjoy the cave. For us, it worked.Conkles Hollow: This was another beautiful hike, and by hike I mean walking trail. But it should be noted that the real pay off, the most beautiful part of all, was not actually accessible. We had to take Lamp out of her wheelchair and put her in the hiking backpack, and her dad carried her the rest of the way in. Like I said, it was just the very, very end, but it’s also the reason for the whole hike you know? Still it was the longest accessible trail we went on.
Cedar Falls: Definitely not accessible, but really beautiful. Lamp did not want to ride in the hiking backpack, and initially she didn’t even want to do the hike–because she’s getting older and being carried in a pack is less and less enticing. However, she decided to let her dad carry her down and I think we also took turns giving her a piggyback.

Rock House: A really fun cave for the kids to hike in and around. Again, not accessible. x

Old Man’s Cave: Our last and easily my favorite hike was Old Man’s Cave. Again Lamp decided she didn’t want to be carried in the hiking back pack. As a parent this is such a tough situation as I want her to be able to see these beautiful places, but her dignity and autonomy are much more important. So I stayed with her while her dad took her sisters, and then I went again with our oldest. However, she let her dad carry her in at the end of the hike and they met us when we were finishing. Again, these “hikes” are more like longish walks. (Some of them are quite shortish.)

Horse Back Riding: I understand that horseback riding is used is a lot of physical therapy for kids and adults who are disabled, but that doesn’t necessarily mean every stable is going to be equipped to help every disability. But thankfully this worked out great for Lamp and she loved it. The head woman was so kind and spent time figuring out the right saddle for Lamp, and then we sorta of jimmy-rigged a little lap belt for her AND someone walked right next to her, holding onto the horse the entire time. This might not be an accessible option for a lot of people, but it’s a great option for many people and definitely worth looking into.

Four Wheeling: This type of thing isn’t usually my jam, but we had a lot of fun on these machines. I’ve never been on this kind of 4 seater ATV, and admittedly was a little worried about safety since they don’t have a 5-point harness for kids (which would have been ideal for Lamp). But we dug deep into our 80’s childhoods of riding bikes without helmets and sitting in the front seat at 5 years old without any sort of body restraint (My husband and I both cracked windshields with our heads as children! Fun!) and we decided the fun factor was worth the risk. Also, we all wore helmets. The kids had a blast! Just being allowed to get that muddy was a thumbs up in their books.

That was our week in Hocking Hills! Anyone else surprised by the beauty of central Ohio? Any other questions about our trip, accessibility and how we manage all the things when traveling as a family? Again, I’m putting together crowd sourced post about travel and hope to have it up in the next day or two!