Cuyahoga Valley National Park Trails: Don't Miss These 3!

Ohio’s only national park, despite being a national park, is a bit of a hidden gem. When you visit, you won’t want to miss these 3 Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails! With over 125 miles of hiking trails, you won’t want to skip the most beautiful spots in the park.

The 3 hot spots, plus a few bonus locations, are must see items when you visit this national park. Whether you have a few days here or just a few hours, you’ll want to make time for these short and easy trails!

But first, let’s check out these important links and discuss a few key items before we dive into these 3 must-see trails.

Important Links

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Website

Hiking Information

The Historic Train

Location

Located in northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a great place to spend a day! Its close proximity to Cleveland and Akron make this the perfect place to visit and step into nature for just a little bit.

Cuyahoga Valley is just 30 minutes south of Cleveland, OH, 2 hours northwest of Pittsburgh, PA, 3 hours from Buffalo, NY, and only 3 hours from Detroit, MI. This centrally located park is perfect for a day trip or even a weekend getaway.

Fees

Great news! Cuyahoga Valley National Park is free to enter! All the more reason to go visit this beautiful section of Ohio.

Dogs

Cuyahoga Valley is a dog friendly park! So feel free to bring Fido along for the ride and take him for a few walks. Just remember to bring enough water for your dog if you’re stopping here.

One other thing, other dogs are GOING TO BE there, so if you have a reactive dog, please be careful with all the other dogs that will be on the trails.

Dogs are not welcome in any of the buildings within the park.

Phone Service

Because Cuyahoga Valley National Park is in such a populated area, you will not lose service in this park. If you’ve visited any of the other national parks, you know how rare this is!

This also means you will be able to use your phone’s GPS for all these popular trails. So enjoy the phone service, but don’t forget to look around too. This area is beautiful and not to be missed.

Parking

There are plenty of parking lots throughout the national park, however, just like anywhere, the popular trailheads fill up quickly on the weekends. Brandywine Falls parking lot, for example, was nearly full by 9am on the Saturday we hiked here.

So whatever you decide you want to do, make sure you get there early to ensure you get a parking spot.

Must Do Trails!

While there are over 125 miles of hiking trails throughout Cuyahoga Valley, these 3 trails you just can’t miss!

We did all three of these in just a couple of hours. So it’s entirely possible to hit the highlights of Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails within a day. So let’s start with the most obvious!

Brandywine Falls

First up is Brandywine Falls. This is the most impressive waterfall of all the Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails! This 60 foot waterfall is both beautiful and easily accessible, making it a very popular place.

I recommend starting with Brandywine Falls and getting there fairly early so you can get a parking spot. The lot is large, but considering there is also a running/biking trail that begins in this area, you’ll be competing with hikers, bikers and runners for a spot.

Anyway, this trail is less than a mile and hardly has any elevation gain. You’ll park at the Brandywine Falls Parking Lot and begin by going to the right of the bathrooms.

Once you start on this trail, you’ll stay on the boardwalks until you come to a split. Now, you’ll start by going left here onto the Lower Boardwalk Trail. This takes you as close as you can get to the falls. It’s a beautiful view!

After you have had your fill of the beautiful falls, head back the way you came, and then continue on the Upper Boardwalk Trail. This will take you to a higher overlook where you can again see the beauty of the falls from a new perspective.

Then you can head back the way you came to the parking lot. Let’s get ready for the second most popular trail!

The Ledges

Next up in our list of Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails you can’t miss is what is known as The Ledges. This short loop trail offers plenty of parking and you can make this trail as long, or as short as you want with the many off-shoots along the way.

If you do the “main loop”, this trail is 2.3 miles long and will take about an hour (or so) to complete.

You’ll pass many moss-covered boulders and loop through the woods on this easy hike. This trail is perfect for any level of hiker who wants to witness the greenery of these moss-laden rocks.

After you’ve completed the loop, you’ll want to get ready for a slightly harder hike as we approach your third point of interest!

Blue Hen Falls

The final must-do Cuyahoga Valley National Park trail leads you to Blue Hen Falls. This trail begins right across the street from the Boston Mill Visitor Center and has a decent amount of elevation gain on this hike.

Starting from the visitor center, you’ll follow the Buckeye Trail for about 1.25 miles until you come to Blue Hen Falls before heading back the way you came for a grand total of 2.5 miles. Now the reason this trail might be considered moderate is throughout the 2.5 miles, there is nearly 600 feet of elevation gain. So feel the burn on this short hike that leads to a beautiful waterfall.

The Buckeye Trail begins and ends with a good amount of stairs, and while this shouldn’t deter you from hiking, you might find yourself out of breath. Don’t forget to bring water!

At about the 1 mile mark, you’ll be walking parallel to Boston Mills Road before crossing the road and hiking further into the woods. The final 0.25 miles is a peaceful downhill, walk under trees until you come to the end of the trail.

Finally, you’ll see this beautiful waterfall that appears blue in just the right light. When you’ve had your fill of watching the serenity of the water, you’ll head back the way you came. At this point, I highly suggest stopping to visit the visitor center, there is some great information there.

But after these 3 hot spots, how much time do you really need in Cuyahoga Valley National Park?

Blue Hen Falls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Time to Spend Here

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a small park, with only 33,000 acres of land. The waterfalls here are beautiful and the stretches of wooded areas are very peaceful. But this isn’t Yellowstone. There aren’t such a huge amount of highlights that you need to stay for days or weeks on end.

To see the highlights and a few other spots throughout the park, you will need between 1 – 3 days. A day to see the highlights and another day or two to see the lesser known areas of the park, or to dive into the park’s history.

+Our Itinerary

My husband and I spent about 6 hours in the park. We hit the 3 hot spots listed above, as well as the couple others listed below. We felt this was an adequate amount of time in this small park, but we could have also stayed longer and done a few other trails too.

Our day looked a little bit like this (Feel free to copy this or ignore it!)

8am: Arrival – We started our day by parking and admiring Brandywine Falls.
9am: Headed to hike The Ledges trail.
10am: We hiked the Buckeye Trail down to Blue Hen Falls
11:30am: We spent some time walking around the Boston Mill Visitor Center and the historic gas station there.
12pm: Headed up to the Station Road Bridge to admire the handiwork.
1pm: Drove down to admire the Everett Covered Bridge. We walked around this area before heading back to the car.
2pm Departure: We headed back to our campground

If you are like us and just have a few hours in the park, then you can easily copy what we did to see the highlights. If you have more time, there are other trails and areas to explore too!

We also hit a few other highlights throughout the park that we highly recommend as well! And there are other trails that we wanted to do, but didn’t have time for.

Other Highlights in the National Park

In addition to the above Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails, we also stopped by a few of these highlights. Let’s dive right in!

Stop by the Boston Mill Visitor Center

The Boston Mill Visitor Center has tons of history as well as information for kids and adults alike. There is a souvenir shop where you can buy your favorite sticker or T-shirts. Plus this is a great place to ask a Park Ranger any questions you have, as well as pick up a map!

Visit the Station Road Bridge and View the Brecksville-Northfield Bridge

This area of the park is north of the visitor center and has a large parking lot. This railroad station used to be a loading place for lumber and milk, but has since become just a stop along the scenic railroad that runs through here.

The Station Road Bridge is the gateway to many different trails perfect for walking/running/biking. While you might not have time for this entire trail system, this is a great place to view the Brecksville-Northfield Bridge that travels across the Cuyahoga Valley area.

Visit the Everett Covered Bridge

The Everett Covered Bridge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Next up is this picturesque red covered bridge that is now just part of an elaborate trail system with miles and miles of trails. This can be a quick stop to see and photograph the bridge, or you can take a walk along the many trails here.

Ride the Historic Train!

And finally we have the Historic Cuyahoga Valley Train. This train takes a two hour round trip tour of the park as it winds through the valley. Tickets range from $18 to $40 per person depending on how you want to travel (Coach, Glass-Top, or Table Service).

While we opted not to do this, we have heard it’s a beautiful experience in the fall! For more info about the Historic Train, check out this website where you can get information and buy your tickets.

Other Trails to Hike

Now this post wouldn’t be complete without at least mentioning some of the other amazing Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails throughout the park! I couldn’t possibly list all of the trails, or you’d be here all day reading them, but I can mention the trailheads.

All of these trailheads you can put into your favorite GPS app and check out the trails!

Each of these trailheads are linked to more information about the trails in each area. Feel free to use these links to find more info about all the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails.

Conclusion

If you are looking to hit the hiking highlights along the Cuyahoga Valley National Park trails, look no further! With over 125 miles of trails, this park can be a bit overwhelming, but the 3 in this post should help you get started!

There is so much to do and see in Cuyahoga Valley, but the highlights listed above are truly can’t miss items!

As always, feel free to email averagewildexperience@gmail.com with any questions about the park!

-Happy Hiking!

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Trails: Don’t Miss These 3!