Winter Hike along Tinkers Creek, Bedford Reservation, Cleveland MetroParks

Last weekend we hiked in a local park we've never seen before--Tinkers Creek in the Bedford Reservation. What a genius William Stinchcomb, the person who came up with the idea for Cleveland's metropolitan park system!

Chagrin Falls--maybe 10 miles or so from Tinkers Creek

Many rapids, cascades, and small falls on Tinkers Creek

Woodpeckers at work!

Water weeping from the shale cliffs along Tinkers Creek--freezing into gigantic icicles!

An amazing knot on a downed tree

A view of the gorge formed by Tinkers Creek

Another view of the Tinkers Creek Gorge

South Chagrin Reservation and Squaw Rock

Yesterday we took a hike recommended in Joe Baur's book Best Hikes Near Cleveland. We went to the South Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland MetroParks. Wow, what astonishing beauty! I've lived in Northeast Ohio much of my life and never visited this place.

Linda, South Chagrin Reservation

A small falls on the Chagrin River (2-3 miles from the huge Chagrin Falls)

The Squaw Rock Sculpture (Henry Church, 1885)

What amazed me was the beauty of the Chagrin River, the amazing cliffs and rock formations, the wildflowers blooming in the park, the huge mature trees (beech, sugar maple, cherry, red oak, white sycamore, etc.).

Some of the rock formations reminded me of Old Man's Cave

Sarvis (serviceberry) tree; and a horseback rider (near Sulphur Springs), Miles Road entrance

Some of the flowers we saw: marsh marigold; blue violets; bluets; large-flowered trillium; trout lily; cutleaf toothwort; serviceberry (sarvis); spicebush; mayapple, squirrel corn (a relative of Dutchman's Breeches) . . . and many more I couldn't identify.

Spicebush in bloom along the Chagrin

Squirrel Corn

Trillium

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.

National Public Lands Day--Hope You Celebrated!

This past Saturday, September 29th, was National Public Lands Day in America.I hope you celebrated.

Our country is in part full of fences and gates that you and I cannot cross. The city where I grew up, Euclid, Ohio, had almost no public access to Lake Erie (Of course, as kids, my brother Denny and I made our own access, going everywhere we damned pleased, swimming wherever we liked). Our home had such a tiny yard (about one tenth of an acre) that we went on family picnics all the time to  the Cleveland Metroparks--that was my first encounter with public lands, the common good, the common wealth of America. This is where we could play baseball, enjoy the woods, breathe the fresh air.

A New York Times opinion piece ("The Geography of Nope," by Timothy Egan, published September 27, 2012) says America has thousands of square miles of national park, national forest, and Bureau of Land Management lands--about the size of Italy. Add to that our beloved state and local parks, and we have something more precious than gold. Politicians, industrialists, and businessmen--keep your hands off these shared national treasures!

Egan makes a point that these public lands are not guaranteed safe. These lands could be bought, sold, or industrialized. And he mentions certain immediate threats to these lands (locate the article here: New York Times article on public lands in the USA).

I am very grateful for these public lands. For those near me: Cleveland Metroparks, Lake County Metroparks, Geauga  County Metroparks, Cuyahoga Valley National Park; and those far away (like Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, which I visited this past summer). These lands are our common wealth.

The Prettiest Place on Earth in the Fall?

If there is a prettier place on the earth in the fall of the year than Northeast Ohio--I'd like to see it. Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, and parts of other adjacent counties (Ashtabula, Trumble, Lorain, Summit, etc.) have the trees that create this beautiful fall epiphany. We have the sugar maples, the red maples, and the American beech that create spectacular yellows, oranges, and reds--and sometimes best of all, mixes of all these colors on one tree or on individual leaves. There are other things that contribute to our colors. One not to be missed is the glorious red of poison ivy. Look, but don't touch! I also love the reds of the staghorn sumac, leaves and fruits, and the reds of the fruit of Washington hawthorn. I imagine our colors are caused by a mix of weather, sunlight, rain, species of plants, and soil. Whatever it is, we have it in abundance! I can't believe New England is more beautiful than parts of Lake County in mid to late October! Try walking through the Cleveland MetroParks' North Chagrin Reservation. There you have it: the prettiest place on earth.