Hiking Cuyahoga

I woke up Sunday morning to find that my nose had stopped running and the day had dawned bright and sunny. Alas the temperature had also dropped 30 degrees but I really didn’t care. I bundled up and headed out to the Boston Store area to hike. The map was terrible and I ended up dead ending on a dirt road trying to find the trailhead. I had planned to hike 4 miles roundtrip to Brandywine Falls but because the trailhead was poorly marked I ended up driving over to Brandywine Falls and hiking out from there. The falls were really cool. There was an upper and lower observation deck and the lower one was closed because the walkway was under an overhang and was icy. This measly board didn’t stop me so I slipped under and walked out to the lower observation deck. The Brandywine trail went out to a pond and then (because I was pissed at the map) I decided to hike 2 miles further to the other trailhead to see where I had gone wrong. The parking lot was at the Stanford Hostel and it looked like someone’s home from the road so that’s why I didn’t park there. Poor signage is to blame.It was pretty though with a nice barn and I guess it’s a functioning hostel during the summer for hikers and bikers of the Towpath trail. After that long hike, I was sore from hiking in my winter boots so I thought I’d see some of the other roadside sites marked on the map. However, the maps were horrendously misleading so I just saw what I could along the way.
I managed to find the Hale Farm which is a living history village in the summer but was closed for the winter. The buildings were really quaint and pretty. After leaving the Farm I came across this pastoral scene that I think is my favorite picture from the trip. I've been to a lot of places and always manage to find something redeeming and I was seriously beginning to doubt Ohio so I was glad to come across this scene.I also came across the Everett Road Covered Bridge. It’s a reconstruction because the old one washed away in a flood in the 1970’s but I always love a good covered bridge.On my drive to my final hike I came across a sign that said Deep Lock Quarry so I pulled in and it turned out you could hike to an old canal lock and quarry so I got out to hike. I grew up around the Erie Canal so I am very familiar with locks but this lock was cool because it was 17 foot deep while other locks are typically half that.The quarry wasn't as interesting. It was a big bunch of stacked blocks and there wasn't much of a story around what the quarry was used for. It was a nice, random diversion of a hike though.
Next I drove over to the Happy Days Lodge. This lodge is one of the largest cedar structures in the world and it is named after the song used during President FDR's campaign “happy days are here again”. The Lodge was the beginning of the Ledges trail. I came across this adorable set of steps that led to another shelter. Most of this trail and its lodges were built during the Depression by the CCC and its amazing how well it all blends into nature.The trail description had mentioned caves and while these weren’t “caves” such as those I saw in Idaho they were a hell of a lot cooler than Deer Lick. The entire trail basically wound around this massive "ledge" and there were boulders piled up so I snuck my way through several piles to explore. The Ice Box cave is the highlight of the trail and it was pretty cool although you can’t go too far back. I had a handy dandy LED flashlight that allowed me to see pretty far back but I wasn't nearly skinny enough to venture further.When I was inside taking pictures I heard a group of kids coming and ones of them yells “there’s someone in there”. I then took a picture with my flash and they screamed “it’s the Ice Box ghost!” Their parents played along (thinking the kids were making stuff up) until they saw me walk out and they realized there really was someone in there. I had a great time on this trail and the intense sunshine definitely helped.Despite the chilly air it was nice to feel like I was out in the wilderness instead of someone's backyard (like the rest of Cuyahoga).

I was strolling back towards my car when I realized that I hadn’t yet bought postcards and the visitor center would close at 4pm. I ran the last half of the trail in 15 minutes and jumped in my car and sped off to the visitor center. I ran to the door as the ranger was looking out, probably hoping to close up. I blew in, out of breath and yelled “I just need postcards!”. A very cute ranger let me in to buy my postcards and I took off back to the hotel by dark to get warm again. I think today I had finally found the scenic heart of Cuyahoga and was quite relieved because I couldn't stomach the thought of actually disliking a National Park.