Wednesday, July 24, 2024
After a good night of rest on Saturday night July 7/27 we departed Erie, PA headed to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We were less than two hours away from a National Park we had never visited, so of course that’s where we headed Sunday morning. CVNP began as a national recreation area in 1974. It became a national park in 2000. The park includes 33,000 acres between the cities of Cleveland and Akron Ohio. The park also lies within the Ohio and Erie Canalway. The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail is the path where, from 1827 to 1913, mules pulled canal boats up and down the historic Ohio & Erie Canal. Today’s trail follows the historic towpath as closely as possible. The trail is 101 miles. Lots of interesting things to explore. We drove to the main visitor center, Boston Mill, and immediately noticed a big difference from most national parks we have visited. CVNP is very much an urban park. There are many businesses and communities scattered throughout the national park area. The area around the Boston Mill center was very crowded on Sunday. The parking lots were full. When we were able to get to the center for maps and information, we were told the parking lot at the Brandywine Falls (one of the most popular features in the park) trailhead was full and closed. We also learned that the train tour of the valley (Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad) was cancelled due to some mechanical issues. Oh well, we are flexible, and we love hiking. We decided to hike the Ledges trail which reminded us of the trail at Palisades Park in Oneonta, AL. You hike down to the base of the rock walls and follow the rock walls around the loop and then hike back up. It was a pretty easy 2.25 mile hike that was very nice.
We also hiked out to Beaver Marsh, which is a wet land area. There were some huge snapping turtles in the lake and lots of birds to observe. There was also an old lock there that was part of the Ohio and Erie Canal system. Before calling it a day we took the short walk out to the Everett Covered Bridge. For those that may not know, we have some great, old, covered bridges in our home county in Alabama so when given the opportunity when we’re traveling, we always stop at covered bridges. Thanks to iOverlander we found a nice place to park for the night just outside the national park. Monday morning, we headed to the Canal Exploration Center at the north end of the National Park. Nice drive. Unfortunately, the center was closed but outside we found what we really went there to see – an old manually operated lock (boat elevator). While we were in the parking lot setting our next route, a piece of foam padding from a bicycle carrier rolled across the parking lot towards us from a car a few feet away. When we grabbed it and took it back to the owner, we found out the man was interested in seeing our van. He retires in a year and wants to start traveling. (His wife had just told him good-naturedly “Don’t go over there and bother them!”) This led to a wonderful conversation about purposeful retirement and NOMADS Mission Volunteers. We left them with a brochure and our contact information. Another “God Wink” and another seed planted.
All in all, we enjoyed the CVNP. It’s different and can be crowded – especially on weekends. There is lots to see and do and we certainly didn’t have time to do it all. We will need to visit again.
RVing With a Purpose 