Saltpetre Cave
My Schneider Super Angulon 121mm f/8 saw some love for the first time in months!
Late in 2016, I had the opportunity to quickly tour this amazingly intricate preserve located in a very small slice of Hocking County. With a two of ODNR's finest guiding my brief encounter, I was floored with just how much there was to see in the 14 acres that makeup Saltpetre Cave State Nature Preserve. Upon receiving my permit to return earlier this year, I knew I had to do this location some justice. Thankfully, I had calm winds, cool air, and thick patch of fog working in my favor.
The trail along Saltpetre Cave is a subtle climb up to and through three of Ohio's deepest recessed caves. While one is over 100 feet deep, they maintain an almost uncomfortably low height. The tightness of the trail means the wide angle lenses will see heavy use, while standard and long lenses might hang out in the bag. This particular morning, the only lenses I ended up using were my 121mm (first image, top), 150mm (last image, below), and 250mm (second and third image, above). For the 35mm and digital shooters out there, those are roughly 17mm, 24mm, and 35mm primes (or a 16-35 if you like to save weight!).
Saltpetre Cave, 10/10 would hike again. Even worth all the sand that got stuck in my tripod!
For a nature guy like myself, Saltpetre Cave was an incredibly enjoyable preserve to hike. A photographer in a hurry could be in and out within an hour, but one wanting to examine every nook and cranny could just as easily spend a full day. If you're a photographer, outdoors enthusiast, or lover of solitude, I can highly recommend visiting this peaceful little trail. Please make sure you head over to the ODNR website and make sure you get a permit (FREE!).
For those keeping track this is the third post in this series, and all three have been in the same area I've been working in since 2014. Don't worry, I'll eventually step into one of Ohio's other 87 counties. Remember, you can find all of them by clicking the Ohio Uninterrupted tag to see every post of this project.