Cuyahoga Valley National Park
At the risk of opening my article with a clichéd refrain; when you think of National Parks, you probably think of places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Denali – vast, wild places in the west. Of course, there are also places like Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, or Everglades in the east as well. It’s unlikely that your mind immediately turns to Cleveland, OH – population: 362,656 – or Akron, OH – population: 188,701. That said, between these two cities lies a testament to nature’s ability to heal. What was once a manufactured wasteland is now a vibrant, beautiful, and revitalized valley, bisected by the shimmering, picturesque Cuyahoga River. It is a symbol of restoration; of rebirth. Our name, “Born Again Outdoors,” is all about a rejuvenation and a rediscovery of the wild within. The Cuyahoga Valley is a physical representation of what that can look like in the real world.
An abandoned quarry in Cuyahoga Valley National Park - evidence of a prior industrial period within the area, before revitalization occurred.
My trip to Cuyahoga was eventful, to say the least. It started with a trip to Ocean City, MD, which is a full seven hours away. In an absolutely insane and hair-brained attempt to get as much out of my four days off from work as possible, I decided it’d be a good idea to drive all the way from my home at the time in Virginia to Ocean City, MD, and then cover the 7 hours between the two. Even more insane, I decided I’d stay overnight with a friend in Pittsburgh – two hours away – and drive to Cuyahoga and back a total of four times. This was back when I was very naïve about travel and thought that the more ground you covered in a day, the more you’d see, which is really only true in a macro sense. You miss so much of the small stuff with that approach. On the way from Ocean City to Pittsburgh my brakes started screeching loudly, which was a problem that really couldn’t be ignored. When I got to Pittsburgh, I got them taken care of and killed some time downtown while I was at it – enjoying the riverside views. When they were finally replaced and the car was good to go again, I headed off to Cuyahoga Valley. That was, sadly, much later in the day than I wanted to get going.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is an amazing place, but it wasn’t always that way. During a past industrial hellscape, the Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught on fire 13 separate times, most recently in 1969. However, largely thanks to the National Park Service and to the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the river is recovering well and the quality is continuing to improve. Progress is still to be made, and many great organizations and people do fantastic work – but 50 years since the establishment of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, eagles, herons, otters, beavers, and many species of waterfowl, as well as a plethora of aquatic amphibians and reptiles, call this place home. Great Blue Herons can be seen on Bath Road, raising their young in the spring. There have even been successful efforts to reintroduce mussels – the most imperiled animals on the continent – back into the Cuyahoga, and there are plans to reintroduce Lake Sturgeon as well. It’s amazing, the ability we have to accomplish such successful restoration projects on this scale when we really want to.
By the time I got there, it was close to dark. The first order of business was to head to Tinkers Creek Gorge. While it actually faces east, it’s still a nice overlook to be at for sunset, as the sky is still vibrant – and it’s heavily forested, which creates a sort of calming . Something cool about Cuyahoga Valley is that it falls under multiple jurisdictions and managements. At over 28 miles, Tinkers Creek is the longest of the Cuyahoga River’s tributaries, and that section is managed by Cleveland Metroparks despite being a part of the National Park. Tinkers Creek Gorge, for what it’s worth, is beautiful. The pilgrimage there is fairly long and the roads within Cuyahoga Valley National Park can be a bit confusing, but upon making it there, you’re greeted with a nice overlook and a little interpretive wayside. That was really the only thing there was time for that day, as I had to make my way back to Pittsburgh. The following day would be better.
Tinkers Creek Gorge at dusk.
The next day, I got cracking away at some of the other things on my list. Sadly, the thing I wanted to see the most, Brandywine Falls, was going to take more time out of my day than I would’ve liked. The normal 1.5-mile route was closed, and I can’t remember how long exactly the alternative route was, but it was over three miles. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I hadn’t had so much of my day killed by the brake issue, but there was so much else that I wanted to see that I scrapped that idea. So, with that out of the way, I stopped in Peninsula, the small town right in the middle of the park, and rent a bike to pedal down the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath. Having grown up near the C&O Canal, I always enjoy biking a canal towpath, but I don’t own a bike myself. I rode down the canal towpath, enjoying the beautiful views of the river afforded by the occasional clearings in the trees, from Peninsula to Boston and beyond. I’m not sure how far I went, but at some point, I turned around and headed back to Peninsula to return my bike, after I’d had my fill of the fun.
The Cuyahoga River
Then came an afternoon spent at one of my favorite things I’ve ever encountered in a National Park to date; the Beaver Marsh. Once the site of an auto repair shop and consequently a car graveyard, restoration efforts by humans and a natural recolonization of the valley by beavers flooded this area, turning it back into the wetland that was originally here, which had been drained for development like so many other wetlands nationwide. Today, revitalized and teeming with life, the Beaver Marsh is a microcosm of the park; a testament to the power of restoration that we have, if we so choose, and to the ability of nature to heal itself when allowed to do so. I’ve rarely encountered something as awe-inspiring as this – not only because of its natural beauty, but because of what it represents.
A Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) in the Beaver Marsh
After that, I started heading home. I made two pit stops on the way; James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Cleveland, and First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton. All I really had time for at the former was walking around the grounds, which are beautiful and it’s a nice walk. I also walked around the museum and looked through the exhibits. After that, I headed to the latter, First Ladies NHS. Located in Canton near the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I regrettably was unable to visit due to time constraints, the First Ladies visitor center is pretty much what you’d expect. Beyond the visitor center, which is excellent and has great and friendly Rangers, there’s a house that at one point was owned by Ida and William McKinley. There are tours of it, but I didn’t have time to do that, and I have to be honest; I’m not particularly interested in seeing a house that Ida and William McKinley lived in anyway. All I really know about William is that the Spanish-American War happened under his administration, which set U.S. imperialism in Cuba into motion and precipitated the Philippine-American War – which should be enough of a crime in and of itself to stain both members of this lovely couples’ memories forever. After all that, an enterprising young anarchist named Leon Czolgosz busted a cap into him and inadvertently gave us Teddy Roosevelt, who at least broke up monopolies and supported conservation as a key tenet of his worldview, for all his imperialist flaws. McKinley also never visited Alaska even once in his life despite Denali having been referred to as Mount McKinley by a legion of dipshits for decades after his death. In short: I had other things to do.
Boston Mill Visitor Center
This had been only the third National Park I’d visited at that time, and it’s so unique and special that I feel like I need to return again and again. There’s so much I haven’t seen or done yet; riding the scenic railroad, fishing in the various lakes, kayaking – not even to mention Brandywine Falls – things I had planned to do and just couldn’t on this trip because of the time constraints resulting from my car troubles. Like every park I’ve ever been to, there’s plenty more to see and do, and I can’t wait to go back sometime. If you’re planning a weekend trip and you live in the Eastern U.S., look no further than Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It’s not Yellowstone, it’s not Denali, and it’s not the Grand Canyon; it’s not supposed to be. However, in America’s current political hellscape, where we seem to be intent on bringing about the destruction of public services, public lands, and the environment at-large, it is tremendously refreshing to visit a place that is a living, breathing refutation of that notion. It deserves to be a U.S. National Park not necessarily for its outright grandeur, but rather for its subtlety, and for what it represents.
