It was going to be a beautiful weekend so my wife and I planned to visit a place I have not visited since the nineteen-seventies, Cuyahoga River Valley National Park. If you search for the park online, chances are the first links you'll find will lead you to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The town is rather small but has always received lots of attention from nature lovers for its good fishing and beautiful waterfalls. The most notable of these would be Blue Hen Falls (below left) and Brandywine Falls (below right). Cuyahoga Falls was also a stop on the Erie Canal. Descending the long, steep stairway (below center), one leaves the sounds of the world behind. Noise yields to the music of rushing water. Brandywine Falls is running low this time of year (early July). While the flow of water is not as powerful now, it is far more esthetically appealing and photogenic. In early season, the grandeur of Brandywine is its raw power. Now, it is the sweet song of cascading waters tripping over the rocks in a symphony that only nature can provide.

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We prepared for this trip by downloading a PDF file of the park map from the official National Park Service website. It was a good thing we did. I used Serif PagePlus to open the PDF file and modified it to highlight the things we wanted to see and I saved the file as a PagePlus document. I then printed it on my wide-carriage Canon printer. If you take a trip to Cuyahoga Falls and visit popular sites in the national park, you WILL need this map. If you don't want to download it, you can get a copy of the official park map at the park office. We would have been totally lost without it.

There are lots of things to see and do in the park. In addition to waterfalls, there are bicycling trails, bridle trails, hiking trails, antique shops all over the place. There are accommodations and camp sites everywhere. For winter recreation, there is a ski resort. We made a day trip of it, but really, I would love to take a week and explore it all.

Photo opportunities abound. If you like old bridges, there are lots of those. The one below (left) crosses the old Erie Canal. There are modern bridges, too. The shot on the right (below) could have been better if I had taken the time to put a polarized filter on my wide-angle lens. The sky was actually blue, but in the picture it's washed out. Had I used the polarizer, the sky would have matched the blue in the river below.

If you have always been fascinated by trains, pass go and take a ride on the Cuyahoga. You can catch the train at the old Brecksville Station. I did not look up its schedule, but the information is posted somewhere. I saw people waiting at the station for the next train and they didn't seem to be there long before its horn could be heard in the distance. I took a few shots as the train came along and again as it faded into the distance.

     

Before we left, my wife and I hiked upstream a bit to look for the bald eagles that make the Cuyahoga their home. In a heron rookery north of the "Station Road Bridge" we found the eagles. There in a lofty perch sat the mated pair and in the nest below a young eagle that has only recently begun learning to hunt had returned for the night.

If you want to photograph these eagles, you have to be careful. I was on the east side of the river. The west side is a better vantage point, but, that places you on the railroad tracks. If you walk the tracks, you have to keep a lookout for the train. Eagles will return to the nesting site when evening shadows get long and as long as there is a good food supply and they don't feel threatened bald eagles will return to the same nesting area year after year.

To photograph the eagles, you will need a long lens, patience, and a sturdy tripod. As long as you confine yourself to the railroad tracks, you might get some good pictures. Be quiet and don't move around much. Try not to disturb the heron, either. If they scatter, so will the eagles. Don't be surprised if the tracks are closed during the nesting season. Once there are eggs in the nest, the park rangers will be very protective.

Cuyahoga River Valley National Park is a photographer's delight. Don't forget a polarized filter for each lens you plan to use. Bring your tripod. Don't forget to pickup your park map or download and print the PDF file I mentioned earlier. Most of the trails are shared between equestrians and cyclists. Trails are wide, but, riders are buzzing up and down trails all day long.