Travel: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

 

Only about 4 hours away from us is one of the newer National Parks - Cuyahoga Valley.  My parents visited last year, actually while we were at Acadia, and enjoyed it so we added it to our plan for 2023.  We went in June, not too long after school got out.  And with schedules and other trips (we were home from this trip for 24 hours before leaving for two nights at Jellystone) we only had 3 nights near Cuyahoga.  We could have fit in more hikes with more time but felt like we saw a good bit of the park with the 2.5 days we had there!

We stayed in a deluxe cabin at a KOA nearby.  It wasn't our best KOA experience (our cabin wasn't stocked when we got there like it should have been) but they also said they almost completely new staff and we were there early in the season.  They were always quick to fix any problem that arose and I think with some time it probably got smoother for them.  This is the first cabin we've stayed at where the boys had a loft AND a bunk room...I wanted them to sleep in the bunk room because it had blinds on the windows.  They wanted to sleep in the loft...where there were a lot of windows and no blinds.  But Matt was able to use a lot of our empty Vera Bradley market totes to block enough of the windows that it worked. 

Cuyahoga Valley felt like a little gem, tucked away.  Until my parents went, I don't think I had really even heard of it!  It is the only thing we did on this trip other than attend weekend Mass and I think stop at a grocery store.  We went there for Cuyahoga.  

We did 3 main hikes although one we did a bit of twice. We started with Boston Mills Visitor Center, going straight there from home on a Saturday morning.  Picked up maps, got a junior ranger book for the boys to share (they were running low on them so sharing was encouraged).  We asked for suggestions for an easy-ish hike with kids.  They said Brandywine Falls.  This was around 1:30pm and we were going to Mass at 5pm, hoping to unpack at our cabin in between.  "It's about 3 miles" they said.  Great!

Brandywine Falls
This is one of the more well known parts of Cuyahoga (as much as any part of the park is "well known").  We were told that the parking lot can get full but you can hike there from the Boston Mills Visitor Center so we decided to do that.  Flat at times, some stairs, some winding up and down hills.  Very wooded, very peaceful.  Figured out a bit in that this hike was going to be more than 3 miles.  By the time we got to Brandwine Falls we were about 2.5 miles in and still had to get back to the car before Mass.  We didn't go see the falls but pretty much headed back to the car (we could have turned around at any point...but we didn't).  It ended up being about 5 miles and an extra 2 miles with a reluctant 5 year old is a big difference!  (He was carried for about 75% of those 5 miles, most of that by Matt).  

We ended up with about 15 minutes at our cabin to unload most of the car, unpack perishables into the fridge, change, and run back out the door for Mass.  But we made it to Mass on time!

 

The next day, our first stop was to the Brandywine Falls parking lot where we did the short path to actually see the falls this time.  Then we ventured a bit on the path we had been on the day before so the boys could play by a creek we had passed.  Some nice climbing over rocks and skipping stones made them a bit more willing to do a hike.

 

Ledges
When I was asking my Mom what hikes we should do at Cuyahoga, this is the one she said was her absolutely favorite.  So this was our stop after lunch.  And she was right, it's amazing and was our favorite too.  You start on the top of some rocks (this was parking lot level) and then went to the bottom and walked along these amazing rock formations in the woods.  It was nice being at the bottom of them because I wasn't constantly worried about a kid falling off them.  And there were boulders to climb here and there to keep the boys entertained.  This was gorgeous and definitely worth doing if you stop here.  It was perfect for kids and Matt & I enjoyed it quite a bit too.  Just a wonderful hike that was very scenic.  

The crazy thing to me is that we ended by climbing to the top of these rocks where we had a view of the valley.  Felt like we were so high up.  Then we walked over just a bit, thinking we were so high up, wondering what we could see across the little clearing...I thought a view of the parking lot.  No, turns out somehow we were back to the parking lot level, just across a grassy field from our car.  I hadn't realized we had done so far downhill that we had to climb that much up to be at the parking lot level again.  It still blows my mind a bit because that is NOT where I had expected to end!  

At this point in our 1st full day there was rain coming so it was back to the cabin mid-afternoon.  But had gotten in 2 things!

 

Sense of Boston Quest
This was part of the boys' junior ranger book and started at the Boston Mills Visitors Center.  It told you where to start, where to turn, things to look for, where to pay attention to each of your 5 main senses.  It was fun following it along to the box at the end where we recorded our names and the date.  Plus, completed an item for the boys!

 

 

 

Blue Hen Falls
Since we were already at the visitor's center and had some time, we picked Blue Hen as our last hike of Cuyahoga.  I was a bit leery because it said there were a lot of elevation changes and it was about 3 miles round trip.  I knew how that had gone a few days earlier but it was close and so we set off.  There were A LOT of stairs on this one and part went along a maintenance road.  BUT...the parts that weren't that were very peaceful among a ton of trees.  When we got to the Blue Hen Falls we had them to ourselves for 10 minutes before anyone else even showed up!  We were able to get near the base of the falls and the boys made a path across the stream (they still got wet feet).  It wasn't as hard as I expected it to be and, even with more stairs, Sam did more of this one than he did our original hike to Brandywine two days earlier!  

Then it was back to camp so the boys could swim (on our coldest day of the trip - 65° or something, they were crazy).  We made one last stop to Boston Mills in the morning before heading home so the boys could get their junior ranger badges (we definitely did most of the activities in the final 24 hours) and then a 4ish hour drive back home!

A little gem of a park in the midwest, pretty kid friendly.  I'm sure it's extra gorgeous in the fall!  Definitely a worthwhile stop if you are within easy driving range.