Overview
About Ash Cave Fire Tower
Why stop
- A rare 1930s fire lookout with a view over wooded hills.
Heads up
- The exposed stairs are weather-dependent, and cab entry isn't assured.
Map
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Hocking Hills Tour Guide
Your drive to Ash Cave Fire Tower, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Hocking Hills State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Ash Cave Fire Tower“You're nearing the parking area for Ash Cave Fire Tower, an eighty-foot fire lookout built in nineteen thirty-four. Follow the Grandma Gatewood Trail about five hundred and fifty feet to its steel frame.”
Plays as you drive up to Ash Cave Fire Tower in the Parkwolf Hocking Hills Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Cedar Falls
- Ash Cave
- Rose Lake Walking Access
- Whispering Cave and the Lodge
- 22 audio storiesacross Hocking Hills’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor White-tailed Deer, Snapping Turtle, Chipmunk, and 9 more
- Works offlinemaps, 18 trails, 29 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Ash Cave Fire Tower
Make the stop with the right expectationsAsh Cave Fire Tower is an 80-foot steel lookout built in 1934, standing in a wooded clearing in…
Ash Cave Fire Tower is an 80-foot steel lookout built in 1934, standing in a wooded clearing in Hocking Hills. The tower is the attraction; climbing it is a bonus. ODNR says the stairs may be used when weather permits and at the visitor's own risk, and cab access is not guaranteed. If exposed stairs are not for you, the tower is still worth a ground-level look at its steel frame and forest setting.
A short walk from the roadFrom the parking area at OH-374 and Chapel Ridge Road, follow Grandma Gatewood Trail about 550…
From the parking area at OH-374 and Chapel Ridge Road, follow Grandma Gatewood Trail about 550 feet south to the tower. Its short approach makes it a quick stop, but don't arrive expecting the climb to be open: conditions can change, and there's no published same-day status.
Look up, then look outThe small cab sits above a switchback of steel stairs and landings.
The small cab sits above a switchback of steel stairs and landings. ODNR describes a 360-degree view of the surrounding woods and hills, though the tree canopy can screen parts of it. For a photo, stand back far enough to keep the full tower in frame, including the red-topped cab and lower braces, with some of the clearing and trees around it.
Built for fire watchAermotor built the 80-foot tower in 1934; its metal cab is seven feet square.
Aermotor built the 80-foot tower in 1934; its metal cab is seven feet square. Ohio wardens used fire towers like this to spot smoke and locate fires before aircraft spotting began in the 1940s. Ohio's last fire tower closed in 1978, leaving this structure as a reminder of how the state once watched its forests.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Hocking Hills
15 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
83 sightingsSnapping TurtleMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
13 sightingsChipmunkMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
19 sightingsGray RatsnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
47 sightingsWatersnakeMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
11 sightingsRing-necked SnakeMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Hocking Hills. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
