Cuyahoga Valley National Park - Part II

Since we weren't too far from home (Cuyahoga Valley National Park is less than four hours from Cincinnati) we decided to spend part of the day exploring more of the park that we hadn't gotten to see the day before (when we had driven all the way from Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario.  We decided that a couple short hikes would be a great way to spend our time and started with the beaver marsh.

Throughout the year, the Beaver Marsh teems with life. Depending on the month, you may be serenaded by choirs of countless frogs, watch turtles swim among lily pads, glimpse a beaver nibbling on a willow branch, or hear northern cardinals call from snowy trees. The Beaver Marsh is among the most diverse natural communities in Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP). The exceptional scenery and wildlife make it one of the park’s most popular destinations. Here you can enjoy photography, bird watching, and sharing nature with family and friends. Use this bulletin to deepen your understanding and enjoyment of this special resource.
--from Cuyahoga Valley NP website

First we walked along a portion of the old Ohio & Erie Canal towpath trail.

Part of the path led past Lock 26.

Then the path eventually took us out into the beaver marsh covered in lily pads.

Part of the area was also open water.

We walked out on a long boardwalk and enjoyed looking around at all of the plants.

There were so many lily pads floating.

Before too long we turned around and walked back to the car.  The next spot we headed to was another trail.

There were quite a few rock ledges along the trail.

We hiked up through the woods looking for a restroom.

Ultimately we came to a large clearing where we found a private pavilion set up for some sort of event.

We eventually found an old building abandoned in the woods.

All in all it was an interesting walk.  Our next stop was to Blue Hen Falls.

It was a short walk through the woods and over a bridge.

We had a great view of the falls from up above.

Further along produced an even better view.

But we also went down to the base of the falls.

After this we made our last stop of the day in the park at the Canal Exploration Center.

We got to see a lock that was technically operational.

However due to low water levels it couldn't actually be fully operated.

The demonstration we saw later showed the ends opening and closing, but there wasn't much change in water levels.

Inside the building were a number of exhibits about the canal and the history of transportation along canals and rivers.

An area where kids could try on clothes was fun--I always like to see when places try to make their exhibits friendly for children.

I enjoyed a display about counterfeiting and early banknotes.

If you have the chance to visit you'll find quite a few well done exhibits to occupy your time.  We'll definitely be back again in the future to visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  After we fixed lunch we left the canal exploration center and started the drive home, ending our three week and about 3,000 mile trip.

~Matt