Spruce Flats Falls - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 

In late November 2019, I drove to the Tremont Institute in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and hiked to Spruce Flats Falls. From the parking area to the falls is about 0.9 miles with an average grade of about 12% uphill for the first 0.6 miles and 10% downhill for the last 0.2 miles to the base of the falls. I've posted about this waterfall seven times previously describing visits in April 2012, March 2015, March 2016, June 2016, November 2016, March 2017, and May 2018. The falls is one of my favorite places in the park. My best description of the hike is from my March 2016 visit.

The trail is overdue for reconstruction

Follow the signs

Institute's water tank

The final sign

Side-hill climbing

A beautiful view

Another view

Fall colors

Narrow trail

Nature's rock garden

More side-hill climbing

Near the summit

More fall color in late November

Descending toward the falls

Looking back at the log stairs

The waterfall comes into view

Spruce Flats Falls

Upper tier

Lower tier

View downstream to Middle Prong and Upper Tremont Road

There is no entrance fee at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm.

Beaver Marsh - Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The last stop on our November 2019 trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park was to watch the sunset at the Beaver Marsh. Located near the southern end of the park, the marsh is bisected by a boardwalk section of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Located ¼ mile north of the Ira Trailhead, the trail surface to the boardwalk consists of packed fine gravel that is ADA compliant. The trailhead has paved parking for about 30 passenger vehicles, but no parking is available for RVs or busses. A pair of vault toilets are also located there.

Quoting from the trailhead informational kiosk entitled From Salvage Yard to Beaver Marsh:

Follow the Towpath Trail ahead to Beaver Marsh—one of the best places to view wildlife in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Only a quarter-mile north, a boardwalk crosses this 70-acre wetland, transformed from an old salvage yard.

Humans and beavers turned this site back into a marsh in the 1980s. Volunteers organized by a local Sierra Club removed cars and materials from the former business site. About the same time beavers flooded the area by building a ddam across the Ohio & Erie Canal. The waters awakeened long-dormant seeds of wetland plants—a stunning example of nature recovering an area if given a chance.

You may see a beaver nibbling on a willow branch, turtles sunning themselves on logs, and, if you are fortunate, otters at play. In spring and summer, frogs and songbirds sing in an exuberant chorus. 

 

Vault toilets and informational kiosk at Ira trailhead

View south from the canal

View north from the canal

Towpath trail

Frog on the pathway

Stagnant water at Lock 26

Northern end of Lock 26

Lock 26 and towpath

Canal and beaver marsh north of Lock 26

Looking back at Lock 26

Beginning of the boardwalk over the marsh

View east from the boardwalk

View west from the boardwalk

Wildlife viewing deck

View to the southwest

Another view of the wildlife viewing deck

Sunset reflections

View southeast

A last view of the park

There is no entrance fee at Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm.

Ledges Trail - Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The Ritchie Ledges are a mesa-like geographic feature in the Virginia Kendall Unit of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Composed of Sharon Conglomerate laying atop layers of less resistant shale, sandstone, and siltstone, the rock forms a 75-acre capstone that is thirty to forty feet higher than the surrounding terrain. An arrowhead-shaped 1.8-mile loop trail along the base of the cliffs encircles the mesa. The trail network and other improvements in the area were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Located in the southeast corner of the park, the Ledges is about a 15-minute drive from the Boston Mill Visitor Center. The trailhead is located north of county road 187, known as Truxell Road west of the Ledges and Kendall Park Road east. A large parking area is located near the trailhead containing 233 paved spaces including 8 accessible. There is no bus or RV parking available. Picnic tables and a reservable shelter are also located near the trailhead. We hiked the southern two-thirds of the loop in a counter-clockwise direction during our November 2019 trip to the park.

Trailhead informational kiosk

Ledges Shelter

The main access trail is an old road

Approaching our turn to the right

An informational display and map

A single bench marks the trail junction

Approaching the edge of the ledge

Rock fracture

A wide fracture

Typical trail conditions atop the ledges

A narrow fracture

Loop trail junction at the base of the ledges

Typical trail conditions on the east side of the ledges

A narrow fissure

A much wider gap

The missing slab of rock is ...

... across the trail

Storm debris

The longest bridge on the trail

Descending to cross another drainage

Crossing the road

Southern end of the grassy meadow

Restrooms were closed for the season

Picnic area

View from the overlook

Another view

Looking back as we descend to the base of the ledges

Signpost

A bit of uphill hiking

Cliffs almost hidden by the trees

Trees growing out of rocks

A seemingly solid wall

An easier part of the trail

Walking along the base

Boardwalk around the base of one ledge

The trail veers away from the ledges

Typical trail conditions on the west side

Back at the base of the ledges

A wide fissure

An even wider fissure

Time to head back to the shelter and parking area

Atop the ledges again

Back to the information display and bench behind the tree

There is no entrance fee at Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm.