National Park Diary: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Well, here I am on my way to my next assignment at Prince William Forest Park. I had plans and God laughed as I clipped an Ohio turnpike toll booth last Sunday and had to stay here for a few extra days to replace the RV passenger side mirror. I like this new plan, though, because I've had a great time with Walt and Tanya Lemonovich and even got to drive to Pennsylvania to visit with Bonnie Auman. All good friends and former volunteers at Big Bend National Park. (Tanya didn't volunteer there, but I felt like I knew her a little because Walt and she talked every day when he was at Big Bend. :-)

We all knew that when Walt left Big Bend 2 years ago he would probably not be returning as a volunteer. His wife, Tanya, likes to swim and Lord knows you cannot swim much in Big Bend! Lots has happened since I saw them last: Walt had a heart attack as well as open heart surgery to do a triple bypass, his mother and Tanya's father passed away, Tanya's mom is moving from Canada to Ohio in October, Tanya & Walt are going to Australia next month so Tanya can compete in an Iron Man competition (!), and they are visiting New Zealand afterwards, then after Tanya's mom is moved to the U.S. Walt & Tanya are going to Mexico so he can participate in a motorcycle race, then next year Walt plans to hike the entire Appalachian Trail! Holy cow! I am so proud for them for all their accomplishments!!

And to top it all off they graciously gave me a personal tour of their lovely home & "home park" and Walt helped me install my mirror!! I was so impressed with their home which is less than 100 yards from park forest. They have all kinds of lovely birds including those huge monster pileated woodpeckers and deer, wild turkey and all kinds of wonderful critters to enjoy. As we returned from our tour a wild turkey hen and her brood of 8-10 hatchlings crossed the busiest street around, stopping all the traffic of course!

Cuyahoga park is the 10th most visited park in the National Park system (because it is in an urban location), covers 33,000 acres along the former Erie Canal linking Akron to Cleveland and Lake Erie. It is 20 miles long and is a bicycle and hiker haven. All the volunteers and rangers live in the area so it does not have the same sense of community as more remote parks like Big Bend. However it has almost weekly races and events to entice visitors.

Yesterday I drove to Bonnie's home in the mountains of Spring Mills, PA (located right where the staple is in the road atlas!). Her husband, Dean, died this last April of the effects of Agent Orange syndrome. She amazes me with her wonderful attitude towards life and down-to-earth, practical outlook. She is keeping her mountain home but also making plans to trade her RV in for a smaller one and dearly wants to tour the Oregon coast in October. Go Bonnie!! She does not currently want to go alone, so if anyone reading this wants to join up with her for this adventure let her or me know!

Tomorrow (Friday) I'll be driving most of the rest of the way to D.C. but cannot pull in until Saturday. More after I arrive there!

One of the visitor centers in Cuyahoga NP>

The first canal resident I saw

Ranger talk at the Beaver Marsh. The Beaver Marsh was the former site of an auto salvage yard. Volunteers hauled out as much junk as they could. In the meantime it takes the government a few years to get the plans rolling to convert it to a parking lot, when the beavers beat the government to the punch! They built a dam, the area returned to its natural state, and the government allowed the beavers to have their territory! Yay Mother Nature!

The turtles have all hatched out but the indentations left on the ground and the white debris are the remains of the nests and turtle egg remnants.

Great Blue and mallard hanging out on the same log in the Beaver Marsh

Little Green Heron

One of the most striking things about this area of Ohio is the huge amount of dead ends of branches (especially of oak trees). I learned that this area is noted for large numbers of cicadas and their favorite place to lay their eggs is at the tips of the tree branches. The eggs hatch out, eat the vegetation, the larvae drop to the ground to burrow in for a few years until they hatch out and the cycle begins anew. By the way, all those dead branch ends drop off making it look like autumn in July!

Cicada carcasses on the underside of tree leaves. Tanya told me that the birds abandon the feeders during cicada season in favor of the delicious bugs. Yuk.