Sketchbook Perfect
Cedar Falls at Hocking Hills State Park
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A photo of Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park.
By Anna Krejci
I have dabbled in nature sketching. Drawing flowering plants or leaves interests me the most. I have no formal education in it, but I appreciate the work of naturalists who draw nature to help identify plants and wildlife.
Ohio’s state parks offer visitors the chance to observe
nature. Corey and I traveled to Hocking
Hills State Park, and we enjoyed the hiking trails, rocks, ledges, and streams
that we happened upon. Hocking Hills
State Park is well known in Ohio. Most
things I’ve read about it say the scenic hiking among the rocks and the creeks
is the main attraction. I remember
hiking to Cedar Falls early in the morning on a weekday in mid-August 2018. We were in the quiet. At Cedar Falls, a waterfall spilled over the
side of a sandstone rock slope. Quite a
lot of water can come down after rain.
The day we saw it, there was just a thin rivulet of water that
contributed to a larger pool below.
During this trip, Corey gave me a sketchbook! It was a wonderful gift. So far, I have drawn a few images of interior
rooms in the house, pumpkins and a flowering, gold chrysanthemum outside by a
brick wall. I look forward to filling
the rest of the pages. Drawing gives me
the satisfaction of creating something pleasing to look upon. The fun part is that I can combine reality
with my imagination in a drawing.
Sometimes my sketches are very true to what I objectively see and other
times not.
A naturalist must be very capable of reproducing on paper
exactly what they see in nature. When
Cedar Falls was named, the people misidentified the trees as cedars. They are hemlocks. The maps – including the state park system
maps – still refer to the area as Cedar Falls.
People know so much now from naturalists. Fortunately, the hemlocks have pages in the
naturalists’ sketchbooks.
The Naming of Cedar Falls
According to Karina Cheung, Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesperson, the area known as Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park, to this day, has no known cedar trees.
The naming of Cedar Falls was covered in a book written by Art Weber in 1997, titled “Ohio State Parks: A Guide to Ohio’s State Parks.” Weber writes that “Cedar Falls was named by early residents who mistook the large hemlocks in the gorge for cedars.”
Regardless, I think Cedar Falls and Hocking Hills State Park are lovely areas to visit.
Hocking Hills State Park
For more information on the park, click on the link below.
https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/hocking-hills-state-park
