I had the opportunity to travel to Central Ohio to film a wedding in October 2019. As with many trips, I always try to take a few days to explore a new place. Find a national park nearby, a state park, or really any kind of natural landmark that I can track down. On this particular journey I explored Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Hocking Hills State Park and visited James A. Garfield National Historic Site and Stopped by the First Ladies National Historic Site (which located at President McKinley’s home)

I’ve never really thought of Ohio as a place filled with natural wonders. I am on a trek to visit all the national parks and could pass up Cuyahoga Valley NP. It’s WAAAAY different that some of the massive parks in the west or even big open parks in the east like the Smokies or Everglades. It’s situated just south of Cleveland. It’s surrounded by neighborhoods and highways….it has it’s own old town charm with tons of history and connection to a once used canal system connecting central Ohio to the Great Lakes.

The waterfalls were of course one of my destinations as soon as I got my bearings. The autumn leaves had begun to change colors and a cool breeze was in the air as the typical fall overcast sky loomed. There hadn’t been a ton of rain the prior few weeks so there really wasn’t a ton of water flowing. I hiked out to Blue Hen Falls first. It’s an easy hike down to a small ravine where the falls are. After In/out of Blue Hen I drove down to Brandywine Falls. Brandywine is the probably the more iconic falls in Cuyahoga Valley NP. It’s a large cascading falls with an easily accessible overlook. I took the loop down into the valley and then back up to parking. All the hikes were pretty short little walks with a great pay off. https://www.nps.gov/cuva/planyourvisit/recommended-hikes.htm

The Ledges

This is an area on the south east side of the park with cool rock formations. There’s a great loop trail around the hill top with the “ledges” of the hill being the rocks unique to that specific area of the park.

I stopped by a few other spots before heading back to my home for the night (sleeping in my rental car in the pilot parking lot)……Nice accommodations, I know.