Surprisingly, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, is one of the most visited National Parks in the United States. This came as a shock to Blake and me since it was in Ohio of all places. Turns out, the park doesn’t charge for admission and is located near a lot of residential areas.
We started our visit by going to the visitor center to get more information on the park and see what the best hiking trails for views and of course, waterfalls. The kids also got their Jr. park ranger books to complete.
The National Park has a railroad that goes through it and you can take a train ride through the park. We, unfortunately, did not have enough time to take the ride.
Our first hike is Blue Hen Falls via the buckeye trail from Boston mill. The beginning of this hike is across the street from the visitor center.
Visitors can hike the trail a total of 2 ways. Out and back or out and back with a portion of a loop trail. The kids did the full out and back and we did the half loop trail. A portion of the trail is along the road, which made this hike pretty interesting. Our total hiking time was 1:23:23 with an average pace of 33:31. Length – 2.49; Elevation gain – 440 feet. The trail leads to a beautiful and unique waterfall.
Next up, is our hike to Brandywine Falls. What a big change from this morning’s sunshine, the weather decided we needed to get wet for this hike. The Brandywine Gorge Trail is a very easy hike. Our total hiking time was 52:50; distance – 1.58 miles; elevation – 210 feet and is a loop trail. The trail is fairly wide and easy to hike. Around the falls there is a boardwalk with stairs and lots of viewing points.
Once you arrive at the falls, you walk over the top of them via a bridge with lots of signs that say to stay off the rocks. Unfortunately, people do not listen to this warning, and we watched someone on the rocks with their parents standing on the bridge.
We made our way down the falls to the viewing platforms for views looking up at the falls. We were told the water level was down and the falls were not as powerful as they can be. It was okay for us, as they were still beautiful. It was a very wet hike back to the trailhead due to the rain. This also made the stairs slippery. We were super proud of Taylor. She climbed up all the stairs by herself.
Once we finished hiking Brandywine Falls, we went to a local gift shop called Trail Mix. This gift shop is located near the Peninsula Train Depot for the park and carries National Park merchandise. It is a cute shop with local treats as well.
Our last hike in Cuyahoga Valley National Park was the Ledges Trail. We were running out of time to complete the entire 2.5 mile trail so we decided to do a smaller loop portion of it. We all agreed that we wish we had a lot more time for this trail. The ledges are incredible and a lot of fun. Every time we had a slight curve in the trail, the rocks around the bend were better than we ones we passed.
We ended up hiking 1.77 miles; 135 feet of elevation gain; moving time 1:08:39.
We also found the BAT CAVE! Not the Batman on but a real bat cave. The bat cave has bars up like a jail cell to prevent humans from potentially spreading White Noise Syndrome to the bats. It was interesting to learn about.
If we ever come back to Cuyahoga National Park, I would love to complete this trail and wander around more to really take in all of the rock formations.
Before we left the park, we made one final stop at the Everett Covered Bridge. We accidentally interrupted a photoshoot that was going on at the bridge. Because of that, we took a few pictures and left.
Before heading to our hotel for the night, we stopped to grab dinner at a restaurant called Creekside Restaurant & Bar located in Brecksville, OH. https://www.creeksiderestaurant.com it was located inside a mall type area. It was rather interesting. The food however, was outstanding as were the desserts. I regret not taking more pictures but it was a long day.
Nic of Time - Travel 