Towpath Trail IX (12/13/2015)

Sunday, December 13, 2015
We can't really complain that it was overcast today, since the temperatures were in the 60s! Today our Towpath Trail hike was from the Boston Store back to Red Lock.

The Boston Store (1836) was built by the Kelley brothers
to store items (a warehouse) from Ohio & Erie Canal traffic

We first followed the Valley Bridle Path,
which had steps! (KSS)

Stanford House(1843) and Farm (1806); the land was procured
by surveyor James Stanford, and the house was built by his son, George;
now it is used for lodging for visitors

Stanford Farm outbuildings (KSS)

Heading back towards the Ohio and Erie Canalway (KSS)

Tamiko, Brynne and Gus in Lock 33, or Wallace Lock (KSS)

Kent on a displaced canal bridge

Fourdrinier paper machine of the Jaite Paper Mill (1905)

Lock 34 or Red Lock (KSS)

Brandywine Ski Resort slopes in mid-December

Cuyahoga River with probably Lonicera maackii/Amur Honeysuckle
causing the reddish tinge of undergrowth (KSS)

Cuyahoga River erosion as it is constantly forging a new path

Like a coyote paw print (KSS)

White-tailed deer hoof print (KSS)

Tamiko with Phragmites australis/
Common Reed, an invasive (KSS)

Phragmites australis/Common Reed plumes (KSS)

Seed tufts of Clematis virginiana/Wild Clematis, an invasive (KSS)

Lock 32 with Kent & Brynne

Lock 32 with Tamiko (KSS)

M D Garage (restored 1940s gas station) (KSS)

An old gas pump (KSS)

Who remembers gas at this price?!

(We hiked the "first" section of the Towpath Trail that follows the old Ohio & Erie Canal on July 6, 2014 from Harvard Road to the Marcy Trestle. We started at the Canalway Center near the trestle and walked to the overpass of Route I-77 on November 9, 2014. On December 26, 2014, we walked between the I-77 overpass and Quaker Steak on Canal Road in Valley View. On September 27, 2015 we hiked between Quaker Steak on Canal Road and Lock 38. On October 4, 2015, we went between Lock 38 and Alexander's Mill. On November 8, 2015, we hiked from Alexander's Mill halfway to Station Road Bridge. On November 29, 2015, we went from Station Road Bridge halfway back to Alexander's Mill. On December 6, 2015, we went from Station Road Bridge to Red Lock.)