Cuyahoga National Park

Krissy and I travelled to Peninsula Ohio this past weekend for my cousin John's wedding, and we had a little time on Sunday to explore Cuyahoga Valley National Park. John's house is located on main street Peninsula, which is itself located in the park. From talking to some of the guests at the reception, Peninsula has kind of a strange relationship with the Park Service. When the park was formed in the early 70's, the town became surrounded by the park, and a lot of new rules were put in place. It's as if the town is frozen in time, as very few changes can be made, because of these rules.

This was our second National Park in a month and a half, and we'll have to go back when we have more time.

Blue Hen Falls trail is a short (.5 mile) mostly downhill walk. The trail is somewhat paved, but is really choppy in some spots. Like most waterfalls this time of year, Blue Hen was not running very strong. It actually reminded me of Adams Falls at Linn Run, similar flow and look.

Would be better in spring.

From here we went to the Boston Visitor Center. They have a brand new one opening on October 25. I did usual geek things of patches, pins and stamps for my book...

Passport ready

Checking the date

We have stampage!

It was on to Brandywine Falls next...again, want to see it with more flow.

It's all boardwalk going down to the falls. There are two viewing decks to see the falls, one up higher, and one near the base of the falls. Quite a few steps to climb.

From the lower viewing deck

Final stop for the day (we only had about 3 hours) was the Ledges Trail. It had been popping up on Facebook for a while, so while we were close...

Some of the rock formations

Bet the overlook will be great in another week.

We missed a small portion of the loop, because we were running out of time. The sign says the trail is only 1-3/4 miles for the loop, but we did 2.3 miles with the section we missed. The trail starts at a large pavillion with a huge parking lot. This trail gets very busy.

"Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world"
John Muir

Not Cook Forest....but

We had planned to make our "Trekking Tuesday" trip to Cook Forest....but you know, the Steelers were on, and one thing led to another and before you know it, we're waking up WAAAYYY too late to make that trip today. So we loaded up the Wrangler and headed to one of our favorite parks.

Ohiopyle Falls, not a whole lot going over

We were torn between two particular trails, and because of the late start, they couldn't be long ones. Meadow Run or Ferncliff was what we thought of. They are doing a whole lot of construction in the town of Ohiopyle; replacing the bridge deck in sections and rerouting traffic up towards Baughman's overlook, to connect with a temporary road that would get you to Cucumber Falls...and Meadow Run Trailhead. So this made our decision relatively easy, we'll start at the main falls parking lot and cross the GAP bridge to do Ferncliff.

DCNR Map of Fernclff Peninsula

Ferncliff Peninsula is a short (2 mile) hike that starts out in a forested area and eventually leads you to the opposite side of the Yough. You return to the GAP bridge walking the shoreline about 1/8th of the trail right alongside the river.

Some of the rock formations near the river

Moss covered tree

Krissy quote: "When you're at your breaking point, I hope you have friends like these trees"

The trail has minimal elevation gain and is relatively easy, except for some roots that occasionally make you want to fall face first onto the ground. It is always fairly moist (because I know how people like that word), but usually has some well spaced rocks to get you through most places.

What most of the trail looks like

The big payoff on this trail is that you get to see Ohiopyle Falls from a different viewing spot than most everyone else sees it. There is a set of steps that lead down to a rock overlook almost directly across from the main viewing deck.

The falls from the other side

I think they are stalking us...

She watches Investigation Discovery A LOT, taking my chances with her behind me!

She's rather relaxed in the woods...when there are no f*cking bears

Of course we chose a day in October when it was 87 degrees out to do this. Ended up buying 2 more Silipints from the Friends of Ohiopyle (FOO). Now we have something else to collect...working on replacing all our glass pub glasses (around 45 of them) with the new ones.

I did some volunteer work with FOO once before, and I thought they might kill me. If anyone is familiar with the park, I had to drag a dolly down Johnathan Run Trail from the GAP to help move stones that we used to raise up parts of the trail that were subject to flooding. They kicked my ass that day.

The hike

Bonus for this week, my cousin John (from Thirsty Dog Brewing) is getting married this weekend in Peninsula Ohio....real close to Brandywine Falls and the Ledges Trail in Cuayhoga Falls National Park. So we're going to make time to hit another National Park, with all the geek stuff we do....patches, pins, magnets, passport stamp and a new sticker for the adventure trunk.

Maybe they sell Silipints!!!

Scott & Krissy


"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings"
John Muir