Cuyahoga Valley National Park

In northeastern Ohio there is a national park like no other. Rather than being located in a remote wilderness, isolated from cities and urban development, as most national parks are, Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) is integrated into local cities, neighborhoods and commercial spaces. Positioned right between the cities of Cleveland and Akron, might be the last place you’d expect a national park, but it actually works quite well.

It did take a little getting used to and more than once during our stay we lost perspective of where we actually were. But imagine living or working in one of these small towns such as Brecksville, Boston Heights or Everett and having easy access to miles of bike and hiking trails, magnificent waterfalls and geological features right (literally) in your backyard. You could wake up and take the kids to school, hang out in the national park for a few hours, make your afternoon dentist appointment and then take the family out for dinner and barely use a couple gallons of gas.

We set up camp in the town of Streetsboro which was conveniently centrally located. Our challenge, however, was finding a decent RV park in the area since there’s just not a lot of options. We chose the KOA and it was… we’ll just leave it at “conveniently located”.

Since this is an urban national park there are no entrance gates or fees to access the park. It’s also worth noting that two local metro parks coexist within the national park boundaries, so you essentially can be in a local park and the national park all at once. It’s all really immaterial though as you travel in and out of towns and parks throughout the entire area. We discovered many amazing sites throughout the parks and each time were amazed that this is right within an urban area. I’ll highlight some of our favorite places.

Ledges Overlook & Trail

If we had started and finished here, the trip would have been a huge win with nothing else. This place is simply amazing and a huge surprise. We almost errored in taking the shortcut to the “overlook” and passing on the trail. That would have been a mistake. As the trail descends down from the overlook you enter into a completely different world with moss covered cliffs, caves and slot canyons. Trees grow right out of the rocks, looking like something from prehistoric times. This is one of the nicest easy 2.5-mile hikes that you can ever think of doing.

Brandywine Falls & Trail

This iconic waterfall is one of the most popular sites in the park. You can take the trail clockwise for a mile and a half hike or go counterclockwise right to the boardwalk and stairs leading to the falls. The trail is nothing special, so the path you take would simply be whether you were looking for a short hike or just wanted the quickest way to the falls. What is quite special, however, is the falls. The boardwalk steps get you pretty close with some great views of this pretty substantial waterfall. For best photo opportunities, visit in the afternoon.

Bridal Veil Falls

A short very pleasant walk gets you to this tranquil waterfall resembling a bridal veil. They say this is a prime place for proposals so if your guy invites you out to the falls, beware!

Great Falls of Tinker Creek

This wasn’t even on our radar screen until a park ranger we were talking to mentioned it. It’s in a little bit of a peculiar location at Viaduct Park in the town of Bedford. You won’t see any signs for the falls, so look for the small parking lot at the park. There’s a short trail from the parking lot that leads to the river and the falls. I can’t believe this waterfall isn’t more widely known. Personally, we liked it even better than Brandywine Falls. There’s also lot of history to the area with power production for early industrialization.

Everett Covered Bridge & Bluebell Field

We love our covered bridges almost as much as waterfalls. There’s not many of these left in Ohio and this one just takes a short walk to see so don’t miss it. As a bonus, if you’re visiting in the spring, as we did, walk along the side of and behind the cornfield to a small, wooded area that is full of bluebell wildflowers. It’s a beautiful site if you catch it at the right time.

Beaver Marsh

This is another very cool area. Ironically Beaver Marsh was once a salvage yard. In the 1980’s, volunteers removed the old cars and materials from the area. Around the same time, beavers built a dam across the Erie and Ohio Canal, which caused flooding. Wetland plants flourished, wildlife returned to the area, and this is now one of the best places in Cuyahoga Valley to spot wildlife such as beavers, great blue herons, otters and muskrats.

Great Blue Heron Viewing Area

Speaking of Blue Herons, there is a pull-off along the road designated Great Blue Heron Viewing Area. Look it up on your GPS. There is one tree that has dozens of Blue Herons that come here to nest every year in the spring. The tree was filled with Blue Herons, and you could hear all of the chicks in the nests.

Our timing was good in many respects while visiting CVNP. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad provides different themed rides throughout the year, but for one week each year the train is powered by the fully restored steam locomotive No. 765 which is one of only a handful of mainline steam engines still operating in North America. We happened to see the locomotive twice as we were hanging out in town on the last day the train was running. When the whistle sounds everyone in town runs out to the street to get a look at the steam engine going by. I feel like we got our local card punched for being there at the right time.

One of the other advantages for setting up base camp in Streetsboro is that we were about 40 minutes from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland to the north and 40 minutes from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton to the south. Both were amazing experiences that you can read about separately.

If you set your expectations properly and immerse yourself in the mixed urban national park setting, you are sure to enjoy a visit to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We actually left wishing we had more time to explore some of the quaint towns in the area. Oh, and bring the pups, dogs are allowed on the trails within this national park.

Check out the rest of our pictures from CVNP.