Login | April 19, 2024
Buckeye trail solitude
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: January 10, 2022
In my world, now’s the perfect time of the year to get out there and explore some of the more remote trails in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
For one, all those blood-sucking bugs are well in the rearview mirror, and two, you just might find yourself having most of those trails to yourself.
Now though I’m not a big fan of hiking on a hot summer’s day and doing battle with legions of biting mosquitoes and deer flies, I still find myself doing it way more often than I care to.
So for me it’s that second reason which so draws me to valley hiking in the dead of winter - the glorious solitude I often encounter.
So with that in mind I’ve got two hiking recommendations that I’m going to lay on you for the winter of 2022, and they’re both smaller components of the much larger and much vaster Buckeye Trail System.
The Buckeye Trail (BT) is a monster of a 1,444-mile trail system that pretty much wraps around the state of Ohio. It traverses some of the most wild and scenic areas in the state - including several off-the-beaten tracks in our very own Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Okay, the first of these two point-to-point BT tracks, the 5.5-mile Blue Hen Falls track, can be done as an 8.5-mile loop hike by combining it with the Towpath Trail. This is a moderate hike that includes numerous long climbs, stretches of muddy, rooty singletrack, and a host of rock-hopper stream crossings. Yet despite such adversity, the payoff here is sometimes having this stunning stretch of trail all to yourself.
The trailhead is accessed at the Boston Mill Visitor’s Center located in Boston Township on Boston Mills Road. Park there, then walk west across the Cuyahoga River bridge, cross Riverview Road and you’re right in front of a Buckeye Trail marker.
From there this shaded, heavily forested trail rambles on for five-plus miles with one roller coaster after another. You can count on getting in a super workout what with the numerous 300-foot elevation changes. And one of my all-time favorite spots in the park lies along this trail - not the famous Blue Hen Falls.
Nope, it’s a fantastic little gorge you’ll encounter when the trail crosses beautiful Columbia Run. A cozy ledge just past the stream crossing makes for a wonderful snack stop where you can soak in the winter solitude.
Towards the end of the track is a high point near some power lines where there’s some nice views of the surrounding ridges and valleys.
You’ll exit the BT at Snowville Road, head east along a connecting trail to the Jaite Trailhead, and then continue to the Red Lock Trailhead on the Towpath. Finally, hike south on the Towpath for the two-and-a-half-mile trek back to the Boston Visitor’s Center.
My second suggestion is known as the Jaite to Brecksville Station track, which is a very challenging 7.3 miles point-to-point.
To make this a loop hike you’ll once again need to use the Towpath in addition to a few short connector trails.
If you do indeed decide to do this as a loop hike you’re talking about 15-plus miles. This is a long, tough loop, but in my opinion it’s one of the finest scenic loops in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Start from the Jaite Trailhead parking area, then take the connector trail to Snowville Road and the BT junction signpost. Hike north where you’ll be wandering through a quiet winter woodland wonderland for a solid couple of hours.
The terrain varies quite a bit, with a boat load of climbing encountered in the first several miles. Sometimes you’ll be going up steep rocky, rooty accents and other times you’ll be traversing ridges and hill top meadows. Variety is the word to describe this hike.
The trail enters Brecksville Reservation where you’ll eventually come to a large BT kiosk. Go east, all the way back down to Riverview Road and the Towpath. Once on the Towpath you’ve got another five miles of hiking to get back to Jaite. For those who have the juice, this loop makes for a perfect long winter’s day hike
So if you ever get the hankering for a little wintertime solitude, you’ll surely find it on these two hikes…right here in your own backyard - CVNP.