Cuyahoga Valley National Park

I did not know until recently that we had National Parks here in Ohio. It might be dumb, but I didn't. Does every state have them, or just certain ones?

I always thought about the big ones, like Yellowstone National Park. So, when we heard of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, it took a hot minute to realize it is a National Park! It is 40 minutes from our house, which is very doable. When I realized there were water falls there, that was the end of the story, I KNEW I had to go. So, last Sunday, Matt and I went. We briefly debated what trails we wanted to hike and how far we wanted to hike. We were between 4 miles and 5.5, so we finally decided on 4 miles. What you have to realize is that there are over 125 miles you can hike at this park. Thankfully, we knew we wanted to hike near the Bradywine Falls, so that narrowed things done considerably.

Our weather was pretty good for a hike, it was going to be in the 70s and most of the trail that we were on was shaded. However, we were still soaked from sweat, LOL. It really wasn't as cool, temp wise as we thought it was going to be. We started off in the wrong direction, not for very long, but enough to add a little distance to our hike. We hiked the Stanford Trailhead and the Brandywine Falls trail. We took a few detours down to the water, so all told, we hiked 4.7 miles.

We started off on a paved path, but I was quickly surprised by how often that changed. Sometimes we were on gravel, sometimes dirt, and other times wooden stairs going up. It was a bit more difficult hike than we were anticipating (especially with some of my health issues), but we had a blast and it was totally worth it. My husband is already talking about hiking again this weekend. There was also an elevation change, all told, a 400-foot change.

Learn from our mistakes:

Wear bug spray!! There were certain parts of the trail that was really buggy, thankfully not the whole trail. Wear bug spray with mosquito repellant, I got multiple mosquito bites, and Matt even killed a mosquito on me, but it got me first.

For those who might want to see the falls, but are thinking you could not hike 4 miles, there is a parking lot, with clean restrooms right near the falls. As long as you can do steps, you would be fine.

My pictures don't really do the falls justice. We stood in awe of God's majesty and glory.

Nature is an incredible mental health reset! I highly recommend getting out and exploring.

I took the picture of the sign to show how well marked the trails are, but I was so shaky you can't read it, LOL!

 

This was SO unexpected and funny!

Of course we had to visit the visitor center! I got postcards for a few people and a T-shirt for myself 😃

We did not do it, but there is also a train you can take to experience all the park has to offer. I think that would be a really cool way to see more of the park than we did. I am excited to know this park is here and look forward to visiting it again and hiking more of its trails. 

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! Psalm150:6