The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Days 1&2

We started walking the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath on a beautiful warm and sunny day.  I think the temperature was in the 60s. All I know is we were comfortable in sweatshirts.  It was a perfect day for walking.  We saw all kinds of great things that day.  The area we were walking included Summit Lake. It seems Summit Lake used to be an amusement park area that had a large carousel and floating dance floor.  Unfortunately, Summit Lake now is better known now for the crime and trash that now surrounds it.  I thoroughly enjoyed it for the waterfowl.  I wasn't able to get close enough to any of the birds except for the Canada Geese for a picture but I will find some from the internet.

Here is Annie and one of the Canada Geese coming to see if she had anything to eat.
We also saw American Coots

 This is not my picture.  I tried to sneak up on about 30 of these swimming on the water but they saw Annie running up to me and took off.  I left her playing with cattails and tried to sneak up to them again but by then they were wise to me.  I followed them quite a way but could never get close enough for them to look like more than dots on the camera.  A nice zoom lens may help though in the future. Hint hint to any family reading this! Notice these guys' feet.  I always thought they were ducks but they aren't.  They are really of the rail family.
We saw Canvasback ducks

Also another picture that I didn't take.  But... this is a canvasback duck.  These are the largest of the diving ducks.  The one I saw seemed to have a lighter back but it may have just been the lighting.  From what I have been able to read about this duck I was pretty lucky to have seen this duck.  Call it beginners luck I guess.  Not so much that they are rare but that they usually like deeper lakes then where I was and that you usually need binoculars to see them.  I did have my binoculars and I saw him much clearer with them but he was pretty clear without them. 
We saw a Northern Shoveler

 I had never seen a duck like this before and had to look it up.  I even had to go back because I couldn't remember exacatly what he looked like well enough to identify him in the book at home.  Poor kids had to make their own dinner that night because this duck needed identified.  At least I have my priorities straight. Right?  What if he flew off and wasn't there the next day and I never knew what he was?  It wasn't like my kids were gonna starve if they had to make their own dinners for one night.  They have to sacrifice for science too.  Anyway...  This duck's bill is used to strain small invertebrates from the pond.
And of course the ever faithful mallards were everywhere.  I forgot to take a picture of them though.  I figure you know what they look like though.  We did see some other interesting things. We saw three muskrats. 

Once again not my picture.  The picture I took was too far away and you couldn't really see what it was.  We were really excited when we saw the muskrats. Each time.  Lol. These guys though common were really neat.  They would come off the edge of the bank and swim in the water to another spot on the bank.  Once we got home and did a little research on these guys we found that they can stay under water for 12-16 minutes.  That was amazing to me.  They can also shut their ears.   We saw great blue herons nesting.  Of course once again I don't have decent pictures because they were too far away. 

Sorry this is a giant pic.  Once again not mine.  Got it from Metroparks facebook.  For some reason I can't get this picture to go smaller.  Oh well.  It's a nice pic isn't it?    I bet this person has a nice zoom lens lol.  Just kidding family.
We also saw a garter snake

 That was the end of our walk.  We didn't get to walk as far as I had hoped.  The kids got tired and I guess didn't eat as much as they should have and we had to cut our walk short even though the day was beautiful.

Unfortunately, the next day was 40 degrees and raining. Of course.

Annie and I decided to brave the elements and continue our walk.  It turned into quite an adventure.  This part of the trail went through downtown which turned out to not be our favorite.  We found parts we liked but overall this was not our favorite part.  We chased another muskrat trying to get a picture but got cut off where the city took the trail away from the water.  Things like that kept happening along the whole trail.  We would see something interesting and then the trail would leave the water's edge.  Very frustrating on the whole.

 This part of the towpath is much more industrialized.  Those are the towers of B.F. Goodrich off in the distance.

 As we walked past the Goodrich plant we waved at a worker.  He was cooling himself by a second story window.  He was kind enough to wave back to us for this picture.  We continued along in the rain.

We saw this, what I think to be a juvenile red tailed hawk, right in the middle of the city.  We stood right under the tree and took this picture.  He didn't even budge.  Acted like we weren't even there. Honesly though, for all I know it's not even a hawk.  My identification skills aren't great.  I could have been more sure if he was up flying.  Then I can tell the difference between a red shouldered and a red tailed but when I'm that close I was at a loss.  I will improve I promise. 

 We loved this guy.  He was sitting right outside the theater.  Just hanging.  Can you imagine the actors and actresses walking out and this goose hissing at them.  He didn't even move as we walked past him.  He kind of turned his head and looked at us but had no intentions of loosing his prime real estate.  We saw a female over toward the right a ways sitting on a nest.  Maybe he was watching over his mate.  Who knows. 

This section was as we left downtown and started into the wilder areas of the canal.  Unfortunately, this part is near the jails and there were some interesting people.  When people come and go from the jails I later found out they use this path to head into downtown.  We might not have picked the best time to walk the trail.  I probably should have gone on a weekend when there were more families but we did ok.  My husband works for the jail system and we were supposed to turn off at the next road but I didn't realize that it was the last turn off before the jail.  My mistake, and was it ever a mistake.  I wanted to see Mustill store eventhough it isn't open yet and thought there was another turn off before Memorial Parkway. Mustill Store is the museum of a canal era store. The thing about a turn off I neglected to realize is there is no way to cross the canal to get to the jail except that spot.  That is why there were so many creepy guys right there and then all of a sudden they were gone.  And of course that's when it decided to start raining harder.  And that's when Annie's feet started to hurt. And she got cold.  And hungry. And I had no idea how much farther the next cross street was.  And I needed to be at a meeting in an hour and a half.  Soooo things got interesting.  I wrapped my raincoat around her which covered her to the top of her boots and we kept walking.  We found some tissues in our Subway bag to keep our faces wiped off with and kept walking.  Above all we kept walking.  We walked through a lock and of course I had to get a picture lol.

This lock still has everything in the walls but now the towpath goes right through it.  A little farther up from this we were able to hear cars.  yay!!!  Luckily we were only a half mile from the jail and my husband was able to come pick us up.  We huddled under the edge of the bathroom roof at the Cascade Valley towpath trail.  He took us back to his car and we took his car home.  Safe and sound from another adventure.  I even made it to my metting on time.  I had just slipped into dry jeans when my dad walked in to pick me up.  Annie went to take a warm bath.  I think she got the better end to that stick.  My older daughter said she stayed in there for an hour.  Another good day at the park.

The Ohio and Erie Towpath

The Ohio & Erie Canal was a technological marvel. The inland waterway incorporated a series of sandstone locks that enabled boats to climb differences in elevation along the Continental Divide. The steepest section of the canal was between Akron and the Little Cuyahoga River. In a single mile, 15 locks, or "steps," were necessary. Canal boats, which were pulled by mules on the towpath, made it possible to ship goods from the Great Lakes (Lake Erie) to the Gulf of Mexico (via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers). Locally, the canal, which opened between Cleveland and Akron in 1827, can be directly credited with the growth of Akron. The city's population swelled thanks to the bustling activity surrounding the tight bundle of canal locks.
By 1878 the canal's significance was in decline due to the introduction of railroads. After the flood of 1913 the canal was abandoned – less than 100 years after it opened. For many years the canal was largely forgotten about or ignored. The concept of restoring the towpath for use as a multipurpose trail began to emerge in the 1980s, and the first section of the Towpath Trail opened in 1993. Almost overnight, visitation doubled in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Restoration of the towpath quickly spread to municipalities and neighboring park districts, including Metro Parks, Serving Summit County.
Akron Area (Botzum to the Innerbelt/SR-59): Along this 9.28-mile stretch the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers provide habitat for a variety of aquatic wildlife. Birds include herons, geese, ducks and kingfishers. Frogs and salamanders mate and lay eggs in the pools that collect in the flood plains. Water-loving native and non-native trees and shrubs dominate the area. Native species include cottonwood, sycamore, elm and silver maple; their chewed stumps signal beaver activity. Wildflowers abound along the sunny, shrub-less sections of the trail.
Barberton Area (Waterloo Road to Snyder Avenue): Plants that thrive in disrupted soils dominate along this 5.11-mile stretch; they include both native and invasive species. Shrubs include sumac, blackberry and the invasive Japanese knotweed while trees include boxelder, black locust and the invasive tree-of-heaven. Summer and fall wildflowers include Queen Anne’s lace, yarrow, teasel, evening primrose and common mullein. The Tuscarawas River and the water-filled canal provide habitat for a variety of aquatic wildlife. Beavers, muskrats, painted and musk turtles, and several types of frogs may be observed along the canal. Kingfishers and great blue herons may be seen stalking fish.
PPG Industries (Eastern Road to Center Road): This 4.54-mile section is built on land leased from PPG Industries. From 1899 until 1973, liquid and solid waste products from the company’s chemical plant – mostly lime and water slurry with some sand and salts – were pumped into six settling ponds here called Lime Lakes, covering a total of more than 600 acres. Water was drained from the Lime Lakes, leaving behind fine-grained lime deposits up to 50 feet deep. The resulting flat, barren landscapes were too alkaline and nutrient-poor for plants to grow. In the early 1980s PPG began restoring the local environment, amending the lime deposits with nutrient-rich bio-solids, or sludge, from municipal wastewater treatment plants, a practice often used in farming. Next, vegetation was planted in the artificial soil to reduce the amount of rain that filtered through. The result: Wildlife, including painted turtles, ring-necked pheasants and white tailed deer, has returned to the reclaimed Lime Lakes.
Clinton Area (Center Road to the Stark County line): Along this 2.6-mile section the rich, often-saturated soil of the river floodplain supports an abundance of wildflowers from spring to fall, luring a variety of insects including many butterflies. A number of tree species can be found along the trail, especially those which thrive in wet areas, including hackberry, elm, silver maple and swamp white oak.

Redwing Trail

1.1 Miles Completed today
35.32 miles compled total

We started the Redwing Trail yesterday but it looked like this

We figured "We can do this right! We're GIRLS!

We crossed on the rocks.  So far so good.  Got a little wet a little farther up where there weren't any rocks.  No problem.  It was 35 degrees out but We're tough We're GIRLS! 
Then we turned the corner and there were no rocks.  There were ducks swimming in the path.  The water was at least 10 inches deep.  We had never been on this trail so we really weren't sure how far up the path was flooded but it looked at least 150 ft.  I thought we could do it.  Annie thought we could do it .  We figured we would just go fast.  There was at least grass in sight so how bad could it really be? Right?  One female mallard ducked under the water and came up with a fish.  We looked at each other and renewed our resolve.  Annie said "Do you want to?"  "It's up to you?" I said.  We gave in to that awful beast called peer pressure and dodged forward.  We got to the half way mark and Annie started hollering that her feet were really quite cold but we decided just to go faster.  By the three quarter mark she wanted to turn back.  By this point there was no reasoning with her that forward was closer than backward so we both turned around screaming and hollering like the little girls we are.  We made such a ruckus the the ducks took off.  All we wanted to do was get back to the car and take off our wet boots.  I kept trying to tell Annie not to splash but by then she had lost all sense of reason and was slpashing like a crazy person. I was wet to my knees and Annie was wet to her thighs.  Once again we decided we probably shouldn't play together anymore and slogged back to the car.

As we walked back to the car we formulated a plan to go buy tall water boots and try the trail tomorrow.  We went to the store, picked out boots, talked about our adventure all night, planned and got all excited just to get there this morning to find the trail was just muddy. We were so disappointed.  We rescued a fish from a puddle so we did our good deed for the day depending of course if you are a raccoon or the fish.

We did find some flooding on the boardwalk which just meant we had to walk the boardwalk twice. 

All in all definitely our favorite trail. A must see after the next big rain.  Bring your boots.

Willow Trail

1.6 miles completed
34.31 miles completed total

We hiked this trail over the weekend.  I have been very sick over the past 10 days.  I thought I was well enough to hike last weekend but I was wrong.  I only snapped a few pictures.  Not sure if the camera was being tempermental as it often is or if it was just me being tempermental but I had a hard time getting anything to come out. By the time the hike was over my lungs were on fire and I needed a nap.  I was not a happy camper.  At least the family had a good time.  Here are some of the pics.

This was along a wet area of the willow trail.  Sometimes you would see mallard ducks swimming along these areas.

Annie called these ducks her "little friends"  People must have fed them because they would follow you everywhere, which made us feel very popular.  Where were they when I was in high school. :)

I took this as I huffed and puffed to keep up with my husband who carried a 65 lb. pack on his back.  He's in the Army and always likes to "stay prepared" with his training.  Of course I was hacking away with a cough drop in my mouth trotting to keep up while he puffed happily away on his cigarette.  If you look close you can see he even is wearing combat boots while I had on my sensible hiking boots. lol.  We must have been quite a site.  He's also a foot taller than I am.  He's a trim G.I Joe and I'm a little round plain sparrow kind of girl.  Oh well. He loves me anyway.  Even with my drippy nose.

Cross Country Trail

2.74 miles hiked today

32.71 miles completed total



Today we hiked the Cross Country Trail.  They had a sign for it but it didn't turn out to be listed anywhere.  I had to call the metroparks office to get a mileage on it.  I guess Firestone has 4 trails instead of 3.  The weather turned on us in the middle of the hike which made it a little uncomfortable but other than that we did fine. 

The ducks kept swimming over to where we were standing.  I think they thought we came to feed them because when we left the pond they followed after us.

Once back further on the trail there were places where there were more ducks.  Annie was able to get closer to them and get some great pictures.

And this

Annie is 11 and I think she did a great job. 

We also fed the chickadees like we did at nature realm.  The kids loved it.  Next time we need to bring more seed.  We had to find seed off the ground the the birds and the kids still enjoyed it.

Ever since our class on identifying trees in winter I have been trying to keep up on what I learned.  We found this seed pod but had no idea what it was

When I got home I did some research on the internet and determined it was from a female Kentucky Coffee Bean tree.  I had never seen a pod like this and liked the feel of it. I will have to make sure to go back in the summer and take a look at some of the leaves.

 The last thing I found was coyote scat.  You can tell it is from a coyote because it is full of fur.  Once the waste has  washed away it looks almost like a cat furball.  Kind of nasty but still a neat find.
The rest of the trail was just the trail in reverse.  I wish they didn't do this with trails.  I understand they need to sometimes but I am always disppointed when they do.

Firestone

Redwing Trail	1.1 miles		1	Redwing Trail is a loop footpath that connects to Willow Trail.
Walking Course	0.9 mile		1	The easy Walking Course is a favorite among seniors and young families. It passes the Tuscarawas Race and connects to Willow Trail.
Willow Trail	1.6 miles		1	Willow Trail passes the Tuscarawas Race, Tuscarawas River and Little Turtle Pond.

Trail Ratings

1=Easy

2=Moderate

3=Strenuous

Dairy cows once grazed the hillsides of the area known today as Firestone Metro Park. In 1949, Metro Parks received a gift of 89 acres from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Acquisitions of nearby parcels expanded the park to 258 acres. In 1956, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources completed construction of a nearby dam, intended to create a reservoir for industrial water needs. As the reservoir of the adjacent Firestone Golf Course filled, the water table rose downstream, forming the large wetland and marshy meadows of Firestone Metro Park. Along with the Tuscarawas River and Tuscarawas Race, which once channeled water to the Ohio & Erie Canal, the area is home to fish, crayfish, frogs and turtles. The meadows and forest shelter foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, muskrats, rabbits, mice, voles and moles, along with many beautiful summer and fall wildflowers. More than 175 bird species have been sighted in Firestone Metro Park, including various types of wrens, thrushes, warblers, woodpeckers, herons and ducks. A number of different raptors – including bald eagles – have also been spotted. A note to visitors: Poison sumac is found in the wet areas of Firestone Metro Park. This small tree/shrub contains a powerful skin irritant, similar to that of poison ivy. To avoid it, stay on designated trails.

The Chuckery Trail

2.4 miles completed
29.97 miles completed total

The Chuckery Trail is home of the Indian Signal Tree.  The Signal Tree was believed to be shaped by the Indians to direct travelers between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga Rivers.

I did find some more interesting fungus.  I wish I did better identifying it.  I think I will ask one of the naturalist for a recommendation of a book or something.

And some brown fungus

I also found a mature privet.  Usually they have been very small and they look very different from when they were mature.

Never really noticed the spines on it till I saw this one. It had the purple berries so I'm pretty sure it is a privet.  I didn't realize how dark it was getting while we were hiking but looking back at the pictures it really was getting dark even by this point in our hike.

The kids were resting after a strenuous hike up a killer hill.  They did real well though.  I have a cold so my lungs were on fire at this point.

This is a nest that was right next to the trail a little below eye level.  It looked to be a bird about the size of a robin or cardinal.  I don't know enough about their habit to determine what kind of bird made it. 

This tree trunk was buried in the dirt but had been cut and cleared from the trail by a park worker.  The worker had been creative and had made the stump into a seat.  Of course the kids felt compelled to model in it for all of you.

By this point the kids were having so much fun posing for me I didn't have a chance of getting any other nature pictures.  They weren't going to allow it. Plus I lost light after this anyway. 

The last half mile of the hike was in complete dark and we were the last car to leave the parking lot.  I would have liked to get a shot of the rocks by the Cuyahoga River and the 6 deer grazing by the Signal Tree but maybe next time.  Guess I didn't plan this hike very well.  Better luck next time I guess.