Do you love hiking and waterfalls? Do you live in or will you be visiting Northeast Ohio? Well, I’ve got a few fairly easy hikes with some really beautiful scenery! In my opinion, these are all kid-friendly and great for even non-seasoned hikers. The State of Ohio is very rich in parkland! There is a TON of trails and beautiful scenery throughout the state. The Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park are vast areas of free, natural entertainment.
- Blue Hen Falls is named for an upstream spring that feeds the creek in Brecksville, OH. Hidden not far off Boston Mills Road (2001 Boston Mills Road), you’ll find the entrance to this park. Honestly, you might not feel like it’s a road, but it is. It feels almost like you’re driving on a bike path! Park and walk a fairly short distance (about a half-mile in) over a pretty rocky/dirt path to the waterfall. You can’t miss it and will be glad you found this little spot of serenity! At the end of the Blue Hen trail, you’ll see a sign indicating so. But wait, there’s more!
Buttermilk Falls
WRONG! So NOT the end of the trail! Well, officially I guess it is… but if you keep walking for about a mile you’ll find another, unadvertised, waterfall called BUTTERMILK FALLS!
Stay on the beaten path along the creek. The trail is NOT marked. You’ll need to cross over the creek about three times when the path ends to pick up the path on the other side of the water. When that side runs out of trail you’ll cross back over.
You’ll end up at the top of the falls. There’s another real steep path to the bottom. WELL WORTH the trip!
Buttermilk Falls is a good mile past Blue Hen Falls (Blue Hen is about .5 mile from the parking lot) and a much more advanced hike in than Blue Hen. Bring water! Blue Hen is good for children but the trek to Buttermilk will not be good for young children.
- Great Tinkers Creek Falls
Visit Viaduct Park near the mill ruins. (Willis St, Bedford, OH 44264). Take the paved, winding path down and have a look at these beautiful falls! Go off the paved path down to the bottom of the falls for some really spectacular pictures! - Olmsted Falls
Take a ride out to David Fortier Park at Water St, Olmsted Falls, OH 44138. If you blink you may miss the turn! There is a parking lot and a very short walk down some sandstone steps and through the woods to see the falls from the bottom. There is also a path with a bit of a climb up more sandstone steps (I’m guessing they were brought from the local quarry back in the day) to see the falls at various points of elevation. If you can go after a rain it will be pretty cool, but it’s beautiful whenever you can see it. There is also a path into the woods just a bit which leads to an old covered bridge. - Deer Lick Cave
The Deer Lick Cave Loop Trail is a beautiful 3.6-mile wooded trail through the Brecksville Reservation. If you park in the small parking area on the side of Valley Parkway right before the intersection of Meadows Drive, you can pick up the dirt trail and walk right down (probably about a quarter-mile) to see the moss-covered rock formations and a small waterfall. I’ve seen it in late winter and it’s gorgeous! Deer come here because of the salt contained on the rock walls of the cave. (If you enter Valley Parkway off of Brecksville Road, you will have to “just pass” Meadows to find the parking area (on the left). - Mill Creek Falls Overlook near the intersection of Warner, Turney and Broadway. Part of Garfield Park, but it’s not in the main park area, it’s quite a ways down the road from the main park entrance off Turney and Garfield Park Blvd. There is a viewing area to enjoy the falls from the top. I would say this is wheelchair accessible. These falls (also known as Cataract Falls) are Cuyahoga County’s tallest waterfall and is located in Cleveland. These Falls stand at 48 feet tall. I did not see a clear easy pathway to view the falls from the bottom, but for those not afraid of super steep, wooded cliffs, you can get some sweet photos.
