Sunday, December 20, 2015
Sunny with temperatures above freezing means we can still take a hike!
This time we went to Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the Brandywine Gorge Trail.
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| This ain't your flat Towpath Trail! |
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| Frozen bits of Brandywine Creek |
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| Boardwalk |
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| Gorge icicles |
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| Boardwalk into the gorge |
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| Brandywine Falls overlook |
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Brandywine Falls cascades over Berea Sandstone
and undercuts the Bedford Shale below it |
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| Kent at 60-foot tall Brandywine Falls |
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A remnant of the Village of Brandywine,
the ruins of the Champion Electric Company (1920)
where Willis Hale produced restaurant appliances |
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Inn at Brandywine Falls,
originally the home (1848) of James Wallace,
whose father, George, built a sawmill at the falls in 1814 |
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| Gate to the Inn at Brandywine Falls |
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| Sign with stained glass waterfalls |
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Panicum virgatum/Switch Grass,
a native prairie grass |
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| "Misty mass of seedheads" of Switch Grass |
We drove to the Hines Hill Conference Center, an "architectural" wonder that caught our eye.
The Hines Hill House was built in 1904 by Charles H Jaite of Jaite Packaging, as a summer house. In 1975, Bobby Gioia purchased the property. Since he was a demolition contractor, he was able to take pieces of other buildings, including the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the Case Western Reserve Infirmary, and the original East Tech High School, and create the "patchwork" we see today.
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| Pond with stone walls |
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| 1800s bank barn |
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| Entrance to Hines Hill Conference Center |
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| Entrance lamp |
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| The Hines Hill House (1904) |
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| Gateway |
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| Hines Hill property |
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| Hines Hill Conference Center |
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| Stone Cottage at Hines Hill |
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| Stone Cottage cupola with bronze owl |
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| Stone Cottage details |
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| Salvaged baker |
Stone reliefs featuring a baker, tailor, and scholar were recovered from the old University School building.
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| Salvaged tailor |
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Hines Hill Conference Center
chimney and bell |
The impressive stone chimney on the conference center was constructed from a torn-out curb in Cleveland.
Next we drove to the trailhead to hike to Blue Hen Falls.
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| Blue Hen Falls where Spring Creek drops 15 feet |
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| Partially frozen falls? |
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| It seems the Cuyahoga Valley National Park bought these bridges in bulk |
Remember the snowless ski slopes of last week? This week the temperatures dropped enough to allow man-made snow.
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| Boston Mills Ski Resort |
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