Brandywine Creek Falls part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park

 

Video Collage

 

Hell Hollow Wilderness Area- Lake County Ohio

 

I relearned that just because it’s called Wilderness and it’s not in Montana, Maine, or Michigan it should not be discounted.

I have seen Hell Hollow a few times on an Ohio Map, but again I discounted it.  I never gave it a fair shake.  Information for the park can be found here and here

I strapped on my waders and unlike the last time I was here in February Paine Creek was flowing with no ice jambs.

I arrived and people were at the pavilion having a little family picnic celebrating graduation.

I hiked in my waders and wading boots to the high falls that be found here N41° 40.953' W81° 06.915'. This is a double waterfall. This has two waterfalls that have been created through water erosion done differently.

A lot of the shale was covered in brown algae. This stuff grew where the water was not constantly moving over it.  This stuff was slick so slick I fell once while not really paying attention to where my feet were going.

I walked back 1.2 miles in the creek to the main falls that everyone sees and the bottom of the stairs after you walk through the woods, I am guessing 300 yards.

This creek was primarily a exposed limestone bed and extremely smooth.  It has several smooth potholes in the creek bottom from water erosion.

I remembered seeing other waterfalls downstream from the aerial photos I have seen.  I continued my creek hiking downstream.  I saw two more waterfalls after this one and I could hear another.  This waterfall can be found here N41° 41.880' W81° 07.483'

I looked downstream and the riverbed looked to had dropped 15 feet vertically downstream.  I could also hear another waterfall.  This waterfall was higher than the other one at the north most end of my hike.

This southern waterfall can be found here N41° 41.919' W81° 07.461'

This waterfall, like the more northerly one, has a great swimming hole at the bottom of it.

I climbed out of the creek and jumped onto the trail. The trail was established but it was hard to follow them as you get closer to the bottom of stairs to climb out of the gorge.

I ended my hike after climbing out of the gorge.  Hell Hollow Wilderness is an amazing little gem. This area would be great to watch birds.  The other time of year that would be great would be fall. All the hardwood trees with a mix of hemlock trees would be a great mix of fall colors and greens.

Here is an aerial view of the route.

Here is my mapping program overall hike path.

Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park Ohio Part 2

In Ohio you can find gems in plain sight. I have been close to this park in my travels through Ohio. I have never stopped until today.  Herre is the State of Ohio Park link 

With all the rain I knew the waterfalls would be running hard. I had full access to Cascade Falls and they are getting close to wrapping up the construction project on Minnehaha Falls.

This place has a lot of mud after it rains so be very prepared. I wore my waders, and a wading jacket and I was dry as it continued to rain all day.

This place is close to the road, it’s in the country but I am sure as the water is wet it teams with people in the warmer months.

The rock formations are incredible. I want to believe with my limited knowledge of geology and erosion patterns these have eroded by an ancient river.  This is not sitting go no plateau or atop a mountain and constantly being bombarded by winds.  The other point to make the erosion patterns appear to be from the bottom up.  Water still runs at the bases of a lot of these huge pieces or rocks.

Here are some better sources that explain the geology of Nelson – Kennedy Ledges:

Ohio State Link 01

Geology Link 01

Ohio Department of Natural Resources Info

Ohio State Link 02

There are loops you can hike. I only did 1.8 miles but there is more to hike by using other loops.  I hope you enjoy the videos!

Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park Ohio Part 1

I have been in near this park several times in my travels. Today the weather was wet and I knew the crowds woud be zero today with all the potential of alot of mud. 

The rains have been relentless around the Great Lakes lately. This is our spring weather and it will help us alot during the summer months. 

I hope you enjoy the artwork.

Hoofing it in Hocking on 4.12.2025

I went to bed at 1700 because I needed to be up at 0400! Yea, we love what we love lol. I made breakfast and ground some fresh coffee and headed to the Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio.

I chose the same route as I have taken before. Last time it was a hair over 11.25 miles and this time well should be the same.

I choose this route because normally there are very few people on it.  I got on the trail 0800 and it was frosty and 27 degrees.

I purchased over Christmas a few R1 Air Zip-Neck from Patagonia, and I am truly impressed. It has kept me warm during the day off and one rain two weeks ago when I went hiking at Paine Creek.

The rain came and gone the other day and some of the exposed clay was wet and you needed to be careful.

As I would pass a few small creeks I heard the water flowing through them. This hike would turn into a waterfall extravaganza. All the waterfalls I saw were discharging into the few gorges I walked on top of.

I would end up doing 12.9 miles on purpose and it was worth every step.  I saw a few ppl, but they were mostly at the bottom of the gorges. I did see two rappelling classes going on around the ridges I was hiking.

I found a beautiful waterfall this day. I have never seen a video of it and I will be doing some recon to get into the gorge to take some other videos of it. I will not share its location because she’s a gem.

I did something on porpoise today. I set my GoPro up today to take videos at 30 frames per second instead of 60 frames per second. I knew the quality would not be the best, but they still look ok, I think. I will return and retake them in the heat of summer.

I hope you enjoyed the write-up.

Sonder

3.30.2025 Hike - Paine Creek Ohio

Paine Creek here in Northeast Ohio has a lot to offer if one looks! I went on an almost 7-mile hike today in my waders on Paine Creek. I wanted to hike up to the base of Paine Creek Falls. This is the only legal way you can access the falls because the park has forbidden access close to the falls because of people injuring themselves.

With all the rain we had overnight if Paine Creek was muddy, I was not going to attempt this hike. You must cross the creek 5 or 6 times and getting caught in a highwater moment did not appeal to me.

The creek appeared to me like it was clearing. Well, I would be wrong, and the water level would double by the time I got to the falls.  I reached the high Paine Creek Falls and put it into high gear to get back to where I entered the creek.

A few times I had to wade across the creek with all my weight on the balls of my feet to resist sliding and this is with carbide studded boots mind you.

I did have one miscalculation today and had to claw myself up a muddy bank lol.

On Paine Creek counting the high falls at the park I counted seven total waterfalls in the creek.  I was nice to see mother nature’s handy work!

I visited Chair Factor Falls on my way home.

Two Days Two Hikes 3-8, 3-9 2025

 

Well, hello the month of March

 

Here you are teasing us about temperatures we have not had in months.  You’re making us feel secure in your web of lies lol. We all know you are going to snow one or two more significant times between now and April.

I went to an extremely small tertiary stream that discharged into the Grand River. The elevation at the top of the gorge is about 847.4 feet and at the toe of the falls it was 760.6 feet.

The gorge was 86 feet deep and extremely narrow as you can see from the videos. I was smart to hold off after the snow melt and after ice out.

I have attached the videos below for your enjoyment.