Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Our first stop was Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was BEAUTIFUL, and we had some really fun experiences there! We all agree that the best part was riding the historic train through the park. What made it even cooler was that we got to ride our bikes for a few hours on the Towpath Trail to get to the train stop.

The trail is super cool because it follows the old path where mules used to pull boats along the Ohio & Erie Canal. We learned some amazing facts about the canal and the Cuyahoga River—did you know the river caught fire at least 13 times because of pollution? Isn’t that crazy?! Don’t pollute!

Along the trail, we saw a bunch of historic locks that helped boats move uphill. Demory even got to practice opening and closing one with a park ranger! We also biked through Beaver Marsh and saw so much wildlife—lots of turtles, two big snapping turtles, a few colorful fish, and the coolest of all: a giant blue heron! We watched it hunt, catch, and eat a fish right in front of us!

We stopped at Szalay’s Farm and Market and had a little picnic with slushies, fruit, salami, crackers, chicken salad, ham, and cheese. The rocking picnic tables made it even more fun!

The only not-so-fun part? We didn’t time things very well and ended up waiting TWO HOURS at a tiny train station in the middle of nowhere… while it rained. And yes, there might have been a little bit of lightning too. The next day, we visited Brandywine Waterfall. Because of all the rain lately, there was a lot more water than usual. We could hear it from the parking lot and even felt the mist from the falls as we walked down the trail.

Before we left the park, we turned in our Junior Ranger packets. We completed lots of fun activities and learned so much about Cuyahoga Valley’s history. The ranger who gave us our badges was super nice and funny—he even had us do a ranger pledge that was half serious, half silly!

Overall, we had an amazing time at Cuyahoga Valley National Park!