Today we explored Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. Affectionately nicknamed “America’s Most Accessible National Park” Cuyahoga definitely is…different…than any of the other National Parks we’ve been to.

 

Most notably, it’s in the middle of civilization. So much so that when driving through, it is difficult to tell when you are in the park, or meandering through the surrounding neighborhoods. The sounds of the highway are almost always present and two giant overpasses tower above the most popular trails in the park. At least they were cool to look at!

 

 

 

 

We chose to take the very popular Towpath Trail. It looked much like this for the 10+ miles we were on it. The only thing missing from this photo are the bike-riders (lots of them) that often called out “On your left,” as we walked. We wished that we had bikes, too!

 

 

 

 

One of the main features of the park are the remains of the Erie Canal and locks that connected Lake Erie and Portsmouth. We made our way to the old quarry that was used gather sandstone for the canal system.  Bill was especially excited to scale the walls of the quarry!

Once we were done playing at the quarry, we moved onto the highlights of the day…the two main waterfalls in the park. This one is named Blue Hen Falls. You can’t tell from this photo, but there was a steady supply of gently falling leaves around the area.

 

 

Bill also found a great place to hang out while I finished up my photography. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Then we headed to Brandywine Falls, the most popular area of the park. The falls cascade 60 feet down the sandstone and shale cliff face you see here.

 

 

 

The last stop was Kendall Lake. These geese were in deep conversation and didn’t seem to care that I was snapping their photo!

 

 

 

Queen Chrysalis gives Cuyahoga Valley National Park three out of five stars. Clearly it will take more to impress her 🙂

Tomorrow it’s back in the car for 6+ hours as we make our way to the Chicago area to hang with my aunt and uncle. Thanks for stopping by!