One of the ironies of life is that we often ignore those places that are closest to us. Although avid international travelers, years ago we purposefully decided to visit and explore the grandeur of some of the most beautiful places in the U.S. – our National Parks . So we have been on a quest to visit at least one National Park each year. Thus far we’ve visited just over 35% of the 61 National Parks.
This is a very busy international travel year (see prior blog posts) not leaving much opportunity for domestic travel so we decided to visit the National Park closest to our home. That’s how we ended up spending a delightful weekend biking in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.
We left early Saturday morning and were parked and on our bikes a little over two hours later. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a 33,000 acre nature preserve that follows 22 miles of the Cuyahoga River, or “Ka-ih-ogh-ha” as the American Indians called it, meaning crooked river. Located between Cleveland and Akron, the river and surrounding valley meanders through dense forests, rolling hills and open farmland. In addition to the beautiful greenspace, the park preserves a very important part of American transportation history, the Ohio and Erie Canal, opened in 1827 as a critical artery of the canal system that supported commercial development of the East and Midwest United States. Put out of business by railroads a short 40 years later, the former mule towpath for the canals have now been converted into a bike trail that traverses the park from end to end and continues outside the park north to Cleveland and south to Akron.
We picked up the Towpath Trail in the center of the park at the Boston Store Visitor Center. Now a visitor’s center, this canal era structure was built in 1836 by the Kelley brothers, who foresaw significant commercial opportunities from the canals, as a warehouse and boarding house for canal workers. Exhibits in the center showed how laborers dug the canals by hand and then flooded the trenches with ground water or water diverted from the adjacent Cuyahoga River. Engineers designed a series of locks to facilitate smooth travel of canal boats through the waterways and manage water levels. Canal boats were long flat barges carrying goods, materials and people hauled along towpaths by mules and donkeys.
The towpath proved to be a great biking trail. During the canal era, these towpaths were cleared of vegetation and leveled to enable mules to effectively tow the canal boats; flat and vegetation free make for excellent cycling! For our first day of biking we opted to head south from Boston Store. The canal we paralleled was water filled but since there has been little activity in the waterway for 150 years, the water was blanketed with a yellowish-green algae so thick the surface appeared solid.
We crossed under a highway bridge and stopped to watch a great blue heron perched on a log atop the algae.
Almost immediately, we came upon the ruins of our first lock. Now overgrown with vegetation and completely dry, the lock’s cement walls were still standing.
A little over 2 miles down the trail brought us to Lock 29 near the town of Peninsula. This lock had been restored and we became so interested in the history and mechanics that we totally missed the turn off from the trail to the town – originally, we had planned to have lunch at one of Peninsula’s many restaurants.
About 5 miles from Lock 29, located near the historic Hunt House, we came to the Szalay’s farmer’s market. Cuyahoga is unique in that portions of the park are leased for farming. A popular spot with cyclists, we parked our bikes in designated bike parking across the road and went to check out the market. The market sold fresh produce and baked goods – we bought some cashews, cookies and cherries as snacks for later in our ride.
On weekends, the market hosts an outdoor eatery with grilled sandwiches, roasted corn on the cob, freshly squeezed lemonade and fresh fruit ice cream sundaes. Definitely time for lunch!. Gliding picnic tables were available on the patio for diners and a solo musician provided entertainment.
We started with turkey burgers and deli sausage and found a vacant table. Nearby was a large wooden swing with Szalay signage; this was a kid magnet and we watched as child after child used it as a play structure.
Of course, I had to finish lunch with an ice cream sundae topped with fresh strawberries and bananas.
Full from lunch and with snacks in our saddlebag, we continued down the towpath to the Beaver Marsh. A long wooden bridge transported us over the wetlands. No beavers in sight but we did hear a cacophony of bull frogs!
We biked to the south end of the park, then turned around and retraced our path. Hot and thirsty, we stopped at a cafe in Peninsula for a drink, then cycled back to our car at Boston Store. Total distance biked – about 25 miles.
Boston Store is near the trail to the best waterfall in the park so we decided to check it out despite warnings in park literature that the Brandywine Falls viewing area was very crowded on weekends. We drove 5 miles to the trail head and walked the short half mile to the overlook. Possibly because it was 5pm on a very hot day or maybe we were just lucky, but besides one other family, we had the viewing platform all to ourselves. Brandywine Falls cascade 65 feet down a rocky stairstepped ledge to the valley below. The surrounding rocks were reddened by minerals and created a lovely contrast of color against the green foliage and white gushing water.
During the canal era, even Brandywine Falls were harnessed for commerce. In 1814, George Wallace built a saw mill powered by the falls. He added a distillery, grist and woolen mills and a dozen houses over the next decade creating the town of Brandywine. The town eventually declined and disappeared when railroads replaced the canals as the main form of commercial transportation. Today the falls are enjoyed purely for their natural beauty.
The next day we decided to bike the Towpath Trail in the north end of the park. We parked at the Canal Exploration Center; this National Historic Landmark which once served as an inn and waiting area for passengers and workers as boats passed through Lock 38, now houses a small museum that shares the history and way of life during the construction and heyday of the Ohio & Erie Canal.
An interesting piece of history – before the construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal, the new state of Ohio was one of the poorest in the U.S. With the construction of canals and the commerce it enabled, Ohio soon became the third wealthiest state in the nation. The canals allowed Midwest farmers to ship their produce to eastern markets. Towns along the canal boomed with canal related industries like warehousing, boat construction and maintenance, lodging and mule support. Cleveland and Akron flourished. By the 1860’s railroads had become the dominant mode of transport and the canals and their well engineered lock and water management systems were eventually abandoned.
The trail south of the Canal Exploration Center meandered through fields and paralleled a park road for a stretch. The engineering of the canal system was impressive – as we passed a creek we saw the remnants of the spillway that controlled water level in the canals.
About 5 miles down the trail, we reached the Station Road Bridge, a metal double truss bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River built in 1882. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today is a popular nesting area for bald eagles.
We biked as far south as the Boston Store, the starting point for yesterday’s ride. Stopping to rest in the picnic area, we bought locally made ice cream at the park store and people watched for a while. Despite being in midst of the Midwest, we noticed many non-English speaking tourists biking the trail. Nice to see tourists visiting some of the less famous National Parks.
Cycling back towards the car, we passed fields of colorful wildflowers between the river and trail. One interesting occurrence – in the short time that had elapsed since we had biked south, stopped for ice cream and returned, a large tree had fallen, completely blocking the Towpath Trail. We had to lift our bikes over its large trunk and foliage. The tree was not dead nor was their strong wind. We were puzzled at how such a large tree could have fallen; we finally surmised that a beaver must have felled it. Fortunately, no one was on the trail when it toppled.
The last portion of the trail was not shaded and paralleled the canal that was now marshland. It was quite hot and we were happy to see the Canal Exploration Center in the distance. Total miles today – just under 20 miles.
Cuyahoga National Park exceeded our expectations; not only was it a great place to cycle with its well maintained trails and beautiful river, foliage, flowers and falls, but it has preserved an important period in our nation’s history. Two hours later we were home, proving that sometimes one doesn’t need to venture far to find adventure!
*Available on Etsy