Cuyahoga Valley National Park--maybe we'll get to ride the train?!?

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

September 28, 2022

After more than 48 hours of constant rain, we were glad to see our first hint of blue sky today as we left our campground in Conneaut, Ohio, in the motor home. Instead of going directly to our next campground, we are going to make a stop about 80 miles down the road.

We are big fans of national parks, so we made the decision to stop at Cuyahoga Valley National Park during the motor home drive today. That included a drive on narrow winding roads down into the valley. Then Mark parked the motor home in the visitor center parking lot, and we were ready to explore. We were here six years ago, and then we had planned to ride one of the highlights of this national park--the CVSR Explorer train. The train is a great shuttle so visitors can float down the Cuyahoga River, and then ride the train back. It also allows visitors to do a one-way bike ride along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath trail, and then ride the train back to the parking lot. When we were here six years ago, we missed the last train of the day and so we had the unplanned bike ride back after dark--but that's a whole other story you can read on our blog from 2016. So today our priority is to ride that train. We planned to ride the train FIRST, and then ride our bikes back.

But once again, our train plans didn't work out. Today and tomorrow the train is not operating. It's closed for annual maintenance, getting it ready for the busy schedule of train rides during the leaf peeper season. So on our second trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, we won't be riding the train AGAIN. We were disappointed, but a very helpful ranger helped us to make an alternate 4-part plan for our time at the national park. The first stop was a 5-mile drive away to the trail head of the Ledges Hike.

True to its name, we hiked by lots of ledges . . .

and large rock outcroppings that had turned to green with moss.

It's a little hard to find Denisa in the picture below, standing in front of that big rock wall.

It was a very nice two-mile hike through the ledges of Central Ohio.

We feel like we have wandered into another of God's wonders.

The second stop was a six-mile drive to Beaver Marsh. We could have ridden our bikes along the nice trail, but because of the sprinkling rain we opted for the short half-mile walk to the marsh.

We didn't see a single beaver at Beaver Marsh, but we did see some of the prettiest ducks ever! Mark took some great pictures of these colorful birds swimming among the water lilies and the floating fall leaves.

The male and female were paddling around in the rain like they didn't even mind the rain.

Our third stop in the national park was another two-mile drive to Everett Covered Bridge.

They've had a covered bridge at this location since 1869. At one time Ohio had more than 2,000 covered bridges, but there aren't many left. In fact, this is the only one left in this county. If you look closely, you can see Denisa made the walk down to the water underneath Everett bridge.

Our fourth point of interest inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park took a ten-mile drive to Brandywine Falls. All the recent rains provided a robust waterfall. Can you see Denisa peeking over the bridge at the top?

So even though our train-ride plan changed, we had a great second stop at this national park. Maybe we'll get to ride that train at Cuyahoga Valley National Park the third time we visit here!