The drive turns south toward the park's centerpiece, with Routes 374 and 664 sharing the same winding pavement. This segment covers the practical art of arriving at Old Man's Cave well: which signs to trust through the doubled route numbers, why the visitor-center lot fills by mid-morning on October weekends, and how the free weekend shuttle (late May through late October) connects downtown Logan with Old Man's Cave, the lodge, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave. Along the way, anticipation builds for the half-mile gorge ahead — stacked waterfalls, the Devil's Bathtub, stone bridges, and the hermit's cave that gave the park its most famous name. Travelers heading north instead get an early briefing on Conkle's Hollow, including the preserve's strict no-pets rule and the easy-to-miss Big Pine Road turn.
That gorge back there is a hard act to follow — lucky for you, these hills don't think in acts. You're riding north with Old Man's Cave in the mirror, and the road already has something different waiting. Conkle's Hollow: a box canyon walled in sheer sandstone, deep enough to keep its own weather. Where the gorge you just walked is all motion — water falling, people climbing, kids counting steps — the hollow is stillness. A paved, nearly level trail runs up the gorge floor, the cliffs leaning in closer and closer until the sky is just a ribbon overhead and the only sound left is the creek. After the busiest half mile in the hills, it's the quietest one, and the trade feels wonderful.
One thing to square away right now, while you can still do something about it: Conkle's Hollow is a state-run nature preserve with rules of its own, and dogs aren't allowed anywhere inside it — gorge or rim — so if there's a pup riding with you, plan a shaded car nap or a tag-team visit before you arrive.
Stay with the route numbers a moment. Three seventy-four and six sixty-four ride north together out of the gorge country, then they part ways and you keep with Route three seventy-four. Big Pine Road is your right turn — the kind of modest little road that's easy to sail straight past, so when you see the preserve signs, believe them. The hollow's paved lot sits just off Big Pine Road, well marked, and the trail leaves from the footbridge at the edge of the lot.
While you ride, look at the country you're crossing. The ridgetops run in long, level lines up here, and the hollows drop away dark and green below them — you're driving the roofline of the hills, with all the best rooms hidden underneath. Every so often the trees break and you can see the next ridge, and the one behind it, going blue with distance. The crowds thin out with every mile you ride north. The hills don't. Take the bends easy, let the preserve come to you, and save a little leg for the stillest walk of your day.