Sunday 9/19/2021
The park runs along the Cuyahoga River, and is assessable via: hike/bike, kayak, car, or train. We planned to put the bikes on the train and then ride the 20 miles back, but the train wasn’t running this weekend due to a special event - bad timing!
Instead, we opted for a waterfall hike from the Stanford House up to Brandywine Falls & back. Nice walk thru a lovely mixed forest, with some weird bugs; I have to share the video in case there are any entomologists in the group.
The falls needed some more water to be dramatic, though the boardwalk path along the overhanging rocks leading to it was cool, and a 5 mile hike that wasn’t at extreme elevation seemed rather easy. On the way back, we chatted (rather, we played one of my favorite games: “Stump the Ranger”) with a ranger walking the trail. She made the game super hard now - because of an app called Seek by iNaturalist, that allows you to point your phone at any plant, and it will tell you what it is… Sadly I forgot to ask her about those crazy bugs!
A picnic lunch and then we head off on bikes. The Ohio and Erie Canal tow path runs for over 100 miles and we did a whopping 11 miles (each way). Along the way we saw two snakes, several turtles, a couple of great blue herons, and a muskrat!
We returned the bikes to the rack on the chariot and headed out for some more park exploration. Another waterfall, an overlook, and a cave, and we were exhausted and ready for dinner, a beer, and a sit by a campfire.
