29-30 May 2024 Cuyahoga National Park, OH

I left Dublin this morning and headed north to Cuyahoga National Park, which is just north of Akron, Ohio.

Cuyahoga NP is known for 2 things: lots of waterfalls (50+) and it’s rich history with the Ohio & Erie Railroad. On my first day I only had time for a hike in the afternoon and selected BrandywineFalls. There’s a short boardwalk from the parking lot that takes you down to the base of the falls and then it goes up and around over the top of the falls to a hiking trail on the other side. The falls were impressive – there sure is a high volume of water cascading through here!

But after the big and impressive waterfall, the rest of the hike was mainly just a walk in the woods alongside a river. The waterfall was really the one and only highlight.

The following day I headed back to the park early in the day so that I could maximize my time there. I started at the visitor center and discovered that this park is very much of an urban National Park and as such is integrated into the towns and roads around it, as opposed to other National Parks which are massive preserves far away from developed areas.

First, I drove to the northern part of the park to see Bridal Vail Falls. It was only a short walk to the falls, which unlike large vertical fall, this one was more of a pretty horizontal cascade. The walk to the falls was short so I had to walk through the woods a little bit further to get my full mile in.

After that I headed south and hiked the Blue Hen Falls Trail. This trail was much more of a “hike” with up and downs versus the previous “walk”. Had some fun playing with live photos and making the water look silky through a long exposure. Hope the photo buffs reading this enjoy the technique.

Then I pulled my bike out of the car and rode the Tow Road. This is a a crushed gravel path along an abandoned canal, and is renowned as one of the longest bike paths in the country. The history behind the Tow Road is what made this place unique and special enough to be a National Park. The Ohio & Erie Canal was dug BY HAND between the 1820s and 1830s and it completed an inland water route stretching from New Orleans to New York City (I believe it was only about 4 feet deep). In 1827, the Akron – Cleveland route opened and was the start of the canal era for nearly 100 years. It offered a new mode of trade and transportation and gave rise to a flourishing economy that transformed Ohio. Freight and passengers traveled by Canal Boats which were towed by mules and horses; hence the name Tow Road. Animals towed the boats through a series of locks up and down the canal. In 1870, railroads started springing up and eroded the need for transportation along the canal and then in 1913 there was a great flood that lasted for 4 days and left most of the canal destroyed and eventually abandoned. It was only in 1964 when a series of articles painted a vision for the canals reuse as a recreational asset that it saw a rebirth. To me it is amazing that the canal was dug by hand and that the boats were towed by animals. That’s a lot of labor!!! So glad they decided to revitalize this area and turn it into a bike/walking path.

I biked north first – it was a picturesque ride but not really any exciting things to see. I went to a point where the path was closed for maintenance and circled back and then headed south from the visitor center. The southern journey was much more interesting. There were lots of turtles sunning themselves in the canal, geese with their babies, beautiful boardwalks through swampy territory, and a couple of bridges towards the end. I even narrowly avoided riding over a snake!

To close out the day I headed back to the visitor center and put away my bike and drove down to a trail called The Ledges. Initially it looked like it was just going to be another walk-through the woods but there were some really cool rock formations that made it interesting. And the area was covered with moss and looked like an enchanted emerald forest.

I sure got my exercise today – 12 miles of biking and 4 miles of hiking!