Hike in the Big Creek Valley, Girdled Road Reservation

Big Creek Valley (Girdled Road Reservation)

Beech Tree

Red Maple

Flowering Dogwood

Girdled Road Reservation Trail

Leef Litter on the Trail

Crabapple Tree

Today I took a long hike in a local Metropark, the Girdled Road Reservation, which is in Leroy Township and Concord Township, Lake County, Ohio. One of the trails is in the Big Creek Valley, through spectacular forest--sugar maple, beech, red oak, dogwood, witch hazel, tuliptree, white sycamore, wild black cherry, red maple, etc.

It's amazing how wild this park is--and how diverse and wonderful the Lake Metropark system. The Lake Parks include miles of Lake Erie's shoreline as well as deep, mature forests. One park, Hell's Hollow, is very wild indeed. Several of the parks are visited by black bear--and this is in the Greater Cleveland area--a densely populated region. One big secret about Greater Cleveland is the natural beauty of the area, preserved in the Cleveland, Lake, Geauga, and Summit metroparks. And we have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park as a huge bonus! Oh yes--we also have the 11th largest lake in the world just to the north--big, beautiful Lake Erie.