Cuyahoga Valley National Park

I thought this would be a hard national park for me to visit. Not because it’s really remote (it’s basically a stone throw from Cleveland), but because its in a part of the country I thought I’d never visit other than to see this park. Fortunately, through a series of events, one of my best friend’s bachelor parties ended up being in Cleveland. What a perfect opportunity to loop in this park!

I have to admit that I was surprised at how beautiful this park was. With it’s close proximity to Cleveland and it’s developed infrastructure, I thought it’d feel more like the city than the wilderness. But! There were actually some pretty decent little hiking trails, beautiful waterfalls and boulders, and the developed infrastructure actually made it feel refined. And the success of the Cuyahoga River cleanup, which had caught fire at least a dozen times over the years due to pollution, gives hope to how we can restore our environment. I don’t know if I’ll make it back to this park, but if I did, I sure would be happy about it!