Biking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: May 2017
The Towpath Trail runs 20 miles through the national park following the original 308 mile Ohio & Erie Canal which was built between 1825 to 1832. The canal ran from Lake Erie near Cleveland south to Portsmouth on the Ohio River. We began bicycling north from the Boston Mill Visitor Center past Lock 32, one of many well-maintained locks with wayside exhibits. The canal is actually full of water in many areas and two of the locks are used to demonstrate to visitors how they rise and lower water. At one point along the bike trail we had the canal on the east and the fast-moving Cuyahoga River. We biked north past the Frazee House to the Canal Exploration Center and turned around after eight miles. We headed back south passing the Boston Mill Visitor Center to the Peninsula Depot where the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad train stops to pick up passengers. The railroad tracks paralleled some of the Towpath Trail as we biked south. We reached the historical Hunt House Park Farm and Beaver Marsh about 9.4 miles south of Boston Mill. We relaxed at the wetland habitat overlooking a lily covered pond looking for fish, beaver, and turtles.
We biked north a half mile and turned left onto Everett Road where we biked a half mile to the haunted Everett Covered Bridge. I conducted a paranormal investigation there which is a separate adventure which you can find under the Paranormal Category. We eventually biked back to the Towpath Trail and biked nine miles back to the Boston Mill Visitor Center. Overall, we bicycled about 35 miles north and south on the Towpath Trail.
