October is Running Out!

I’ve been going to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park each and every year at this time for almost a year.

If you live within two hours of the Cleveland area, you could visit the park inside of a day if you get a crazy-early start, but the next time you might just want to spend the night instead. I have found that to be much more do-able in my yearly visits.

As national parks go, I find this one to be rather odd. Within the park boundaries, there are entire cities, and schools, fire departments, pizza places, doctors, dentists, lawyers, newspaper publishers, lawnmower repair men, and every other type of business, apartment or house you might have near your own home; and yet, these are all within a National Park. Cool, huh?

Anyway, this time around I wanted to catch a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway.

It runs Wednesdays through Sundays until the end of October and then weekends-only through the winter months. It has about five stops between Akron and Rockside Road in Independence, and the entire one-way trip takes less than an hour and a half. The event rides they offer look like a great deal of fun (check their site under Events) but I just wanted to ride for a while, have a brief layover, and then return; therefore, I went from the Peninsula, Ohio depot to the Canal Visitor Center and back in just over a couple of hours or so.

Passenger Train arriving at Peninsula, Ohio

The layover was largely uneventful though that visitors center near the station is well worth a look. Meanwhile, I just hung out. Grasshoppers appeared in great numbers so I chased them around and photographed them for a while.

Grasshopper at Canal Visitor Center passenger station

On this particularly beautiful day, I counted billions of people hiking and biking, strolling and fishing. I’m not certain that the fishing part is a good idea. The river (Cuyahoga) is cleaner than it was in the 60’s but they still warn you to avoid actually touching the water. Certainly, if he caught a live one, he’d throw it back.

Fisherman on Cuyahoga River

The return trip was pretty much booked so the only seats available were in the club car. These are all authentic railroad cars from the 30’s and 40’s (including a Vista-Dome car) but refreshments are no longer served in the club car. I’m not sure where they were serving but I saw plenty of people with a wide variety of snack foods and packaged lunches. Me? I just wanted to look out the window and not be driving.

Club Car on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

One of the views I particularly enjoyed was of the Ohio Turnpike bridge over the river so I went back the next morning to take a look. You can’t see them in this view but the rails run right along the nearest bridge supports and just below Riverview Road slightly north of Peninsula.

Ohio Turnpike bridge - Peninsula, Ohio

If you venture to the park, don’t go without a map of the area; GPS devices probably won’t indicate all there is to see. The small towns around (Peninsula, Brecksville, Richfield, Boston Mills, Hudson) are worth going to, but the numerous trails and waterfalls, picnic areas and natural attractions might only be available on the CVNP map which you could print yourself or pick up at any area railway station, visitor center, most motels (unless they run out) and at some of the local metro parks.

I chose to go back to The Ledges in the Virginia Kendall area. The Ledges, just east of Kendall Lake (btw, there are other ledges trails in the area; Whipps Ledges are in the nearby Hinckley Reservation, where the buzzards show up every March 15) feature 250+ million year old sedimentary rock left over from when the place was covered by a shallow ocean. It’s a bit of a pain to get down there if you’re not a kid or if you’re unsure on your feet but if you arrive at the bottom without dying or breaking any body parts, the views are as spectacular from the bottom as they are from the top.

Ledges in Virginia Kendall area

It’s pretty cool to see rocks of this magnitude in an area (the midwest, that is) which is more known for its farm land than it is for its sedimentary rocks.

Ledge Trail, near Kendall Lake

The normal compliment of midwestern animals can be seen here, too, and you’ll probably see deer crossing the roads or grazing in pastures off to the side from time to time.

After all, it is a National Park.

Wary Chipmunk

While it’s still October, I recommend you get over there if you possibly can; that is, if you like this kind of stuff. And if you get that crazy-early start, a great breakfast can be had at the Richfield Family Restaurant. If your coming from the west, it’s right on your way. Enjoy. Have fun but be careful!

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