Hookah in the Hills Review

Brandt and I (Gary) as well as our friend Josh made the trip to Logan, Ohio for Hookah in the Hills. Both Brandt and I had to work all day Friday (the 4th) so we did not hit the road until around 7:00 PM Friday evening. We essentially missed the entire first day of Hookah in the Hills.

Fortunately for us we could take 70 East right out of Indianapolis. We did not arrive in Logan until around 11:00 PM and spent a solid 45 minutes trying to find the farm (Kaeppners Woods) that Hookah in the Hills was being held at. When they wrote on their directions that the road to turn down is right after two giant smoke-stacks they meant it!

As you drive north out of town you will pass a Kroger and then the factory (along with smoke-stacks) are immediately after that - on the right side.

We noticed many others having the same issue. Maybe at the next Hookah in the Hills - they will have a better lit entrance.

Once we arrived everything was fairly organized besides the parking. It had been raining all day Friday so the organizers were having festival-goers park along the paved road leading back to the farms as well as in part of the factory parking lot (more on this later).

With our late arrival the only parking spots were about 3/4 of a mile away from our actual camp site. One really great thing about Kaeppners Woods is that you can camp anywhere and explore anywhere you want to as well.

It rained the majority of Friday so the entire farm - including both stage areas were full of mud.

We heard screams of "My name is Mud!" all Friday night long.

The setup was quick and easy. Kaeppners Woods had a giant barn that had been remodeled into six hot and clean showers. I did not personally use them, nor did Brandt - but I did notice several people each morning toting their gear from within the barn.

Dry fire wood was being delivered all throughout the day and night. A decent-sized stack of wood was delivered fairly close to your camp site for $20.00 USD. Because of how wet the ground was, we had a very frustrating time getting a fire started on Saturday night.

Besides the extreme amounts of mud our first nights sleep was just fine. Brandt brought a giant eight-person tent with us - it felt like we had our own private lounge at the camp site.

The only music we were able to see was on Saturday. The stages were a few hundred yards away from where we were camping. Traveling back and forth to re-stock was a breeze!

The actual music area houses approximately 16 vendors selling clothes, crafts, food, etc. (Typical festival treats)

Two stages sit at the bottom of a large hill along with a Budweiser beer "house".

Brandt, Josh, and I brought chairs and sat atop the hill overlooking the stages, vendors, and a large portion of the camping area. The backdrop was the two large smoke-stacks and the factory. Doesn't sound very appealing, but it was actually a cool scene to be looking at.

There were not that many festival-goers that actually made the short trek from their camp site to the music and stages area. This has been my experience at other festivals also, but was much more noticeable with a smaller over-all attendance.

During the day, the crowds were very dismal - at the same time having the entire venue pretty much to yourself was nice.

At night the crowd grew in front of the main stage. Ekoostik Hookah was jamming under the neon-lights in front of an intimate crowd of only about 100 people. I had wondered away from the camp site and decided to check out Ekoostik for the evening.

Within about 20 minutes one of the staff members came on stage to inform everyone they must move their cars from the factory parking lot or face having your car towed the following morning at 8:30 AM. I quickly took off to move my car and almost was not allowed to move my car even though I had gotten to it within ten minutes.

The explanation given was that people were doing something in the factory parking lot that the factory owners did not appreciate - hence, they wanted everyone to move!

The result of this was that I missed Ekoostik Hookah completely. They were going to play another set, but I wasn't able to see it. So unfortunately we were too late on Friday evening and had technical difficulties of sorts on Saturday night. Better luck next time!

I realized one of the reasons why I love going to music festivals so much while I was sitting atop the hill at Hookah in the Hills. Music festivals are the only time when I truly feel like there is nothing left to do except enjoy my life, the music, and all of the people surrounding me.

- Gary

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