After a deadly spring at Hocking Hills State Park this year, state employees swore to make the park safer than ever before.
As the end of summer approaches, state officials feel as though they’ve followed through on that promise with no more deaths reported at the park since new strategies were put in place. But some hiking advocates say some initiatives, such as fencing, ruin the natural beauty of the park.
Since a trio of fatal falls occurred in the state park in April and May, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources installed hundreds of feet of fencing, natural barriers and new signs all throughout the park.
It was an attempt to encourage visitors to stay on the trails, said Eileen Corson, spokeswoman for the department.
“Caves and cliffs and waterfalls in Hocking Hills are our greatest treasures, so a lot of people visit them,” Corson said, adding that park rangers design trails with safety in mind.
The three fatalities occurred within a month of each other near some of the park’s biggest attractions, such as Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls, according to previous Post reports.
Corson said she is not necessarily worried about the possibility of more accidents now that Ohio University and other institutions are back in session, even though one fatality was a 19-year-old student at Ohio Christian University.
The people who fall are often trying to snap pictures while leaning over the edge of cliffs, and the deaths generally occur only after individuals wander off trails, she said.
Curt Partee, park manager at Hocking Hills, said vigilance will always be needed on the trails because fencing and signage can only do so much to keep hikers safe.
“What it boils down to is people staying on the trails,” he said.
But the recent campaign to keep visitors from wandering comes at a cost, said Geoff Buckley, an OU geography professor and avid hiker in Southeastern Ohio.
He hasn’t made the trip to Hocking Hills since the new fences have been put up but still worries the barriers will ruin the natural beauty of one of his favorite hiking sites.
“There are good reasons for making improvements and in other cases I think it’s just people being derelicts,” Buckley said. “But I hate to think it’s ... aesthetically less pleasing to warn people about something being pretty dangerous.”
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@SamuelHHoward
