Nature
8
Whispering Cave in the Hocking Hills shows the power of water as a young sandstone gorge slowly forms below a massive recess in a Blackhand sandstone cliff wall. This feature is not a true cave but a large overhang carved by water erosion digging into the bedrock, much like nearby Old Man’s Cave and Ash Cave, and its 105 foot waterfall demonstrates how water can carve the softer layers of sandstone. Under the right moonlight, quartz crystals in the exposed bedrock can make the cliff walls seem to twinkle. The cave’s depth and size create a cooling effect that has allowed several ice age era plant species to thrive in the deep gorge environment, where Eastern hemlock and rhododendron cover the slopes and creek bank below. This natural setting also inspired local native tribes to use recessed caves as temporary shelters, and evidence of the earliest people in the area dates to the end of the last ice age in Ohio and continues through the historical Shawnee, Delaware, and Wyandot, who found the gorges ideal places to camp because of abundant natural resources and a milder climate.
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