Bedford Reservation (10/11/2015)

Sunday, October 11, 2015
Another sunny Sunday, and this time we headed to the Viaduct Park, part of the Bedford Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks.

A peek at the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Viaduct (1864)
over Tinker's Creek

The foliage was even too thick to see down from the viaduct!
We followed the Viaduct Park Loop Trail down to Tinker's Creek.

Bob, Brynne, Gus, and Kent at the
remains of the Millpond Dam

Tinker's Creek where there once was a dam
(removed in 1958)

Brynne at the remains of the dam

Platanus occidentalis/American Sycamore achene or seed ball

Oak Apple Gall of Amphibolips confluenta/Gall Wasp

Top of the Great Falls of Tinker's Creek

Grist Mill (1825) remains

Great Falls with a layer of Berea Sandstone
over faster eroding Bedford Shale

The millrace of the grist mill

Millrace pond area

The water power of the waterfalls was shared with a saw mill that opened in 1821, and later with a power plant that opened in 1891.

The Arch (1901-1902) was built to
control the flow of Tinker's Creek and
to provide a base for the railroad viaduct

We drove into Bedford Reservation and parked near the Bridal Veil Falls trailhead.

Deerlick Creek

Deerlick Creek

Bridal Veil Falls

Eek! Where was the water of Bridal Veil Falls?! Without the water you can't see how deep the gorge plunges.

A nice stone wall along the Buckeye Trail

We hiked just over a mile (mostly uphill!) to the Tinker's Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook.

View from the gorge overlook

Disappointing view with all the trees hiding the walls of the gorge and the creek 200' below.
Hiked back along the all-purpose trail to the car.