The only national park in Ohio is the Cuyahoga Valley south of Cleveland. This national park aims to preserve unique ecosystems around the Cuyahoga River as well as historical sections of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The most famous part of the national park is likely the 20 mile Towpath trail photographed on the upper left. This was primarily used by cyclists when I visited, but there were also some hikers like myself and a few joggers here and there. When Ohio was first settled, it was rather difficult to travel through. During the early 1800’s, a series of canals bridged Ohio between the Great Lakes and the rest of the country. On the upper right are the remains of a 19th century lock that was used to help boats travel uphill.

Alright I’ll be honest! When I first stepped into Cuyahoga and began exploring I was a bit disappointed. I mean here I was in a national park walking the Towpath trail and being surrounded by no trespassing signs and fences on either side of me! It felt like I was just walking along any old trail surrounded by private properties and aside from the historic canals I wasn’t sure why this was a national park. Things definitely were much more interesting though once you step off the Towpath trail and head on a real trail. The photo on the upper right shows a more interesting footpath I took in the Cuyahoga Valley. Below are two shots I took along this trail where I came across thick vegetation and this large pond.

I’m not sure if I just got lucky or if this park is just really dense with wildlife. On the short hike I did I came across lots of animals although I wasn’t able to photograph most of them. I did sort of get this fleeing rabbit on the upper left that had been right in the middle of the trail. The squirrel on the right got my attention because he was barking loudly and seemed to not care that I was only a dozen feet away from him. I think that since this park is so small and lots of people use it, most of the animals here are used to people.

I also came across this small toad along the path. I actually had my macro lens on me so I decided to get a better close up photo of him. Since I had my macro lens on now, I took these two photos below of this dragonfly on the left and this other guy on the right.

The last place I visited in the Cuyahoga Valley is the famous Brandywine waterfall. To reach the falls, you can either do a very short walk from a parking lot, or you can hike a few miles through one of the footpaths branching off the Towpath trail. Once you get into the area of the falls, you’ll follow a short boardwalk that hugs several exposed rock layer. Brandywine Falls are about 86 feet high (18 meters), and the most beautiful part of the park that I saw. I was surprised to see that this waterfall can even freeze in the winter time!