Unplanned Hike (5/29/2016)

Sunday, May 29, 2016

We were planning on hiking another section of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath Trail, but frst stopped to see the Everett Covered Bridge that crosses Furnace Run.

1986 reconstruction of an 1870s bridge that was damaged,
then swept away in a 1975 spring storm

Everett Covered Bridge, the only remaining
covered bridge in Summit County

We noticed there was a 2-mile Furnace Run Loop Trail, and decided to walk that today.

The area is covered with Hesperis matronalis/
Dame's Rocket flowers in purples and white

Dame's Rocket is distinguished from
phlox because it has only 4 and not 5 petals

Unfortunately it is an invasive plant,
although it looks lovely in the woods

Gus and Kent on the trail through the Dame's Rocket

A moss-covered fallen tree 

What's that on the Podophyllum peltatum/Mayapple leaf?

Magicicada septendecim/Cicada that
has recently shed its nymph exoskeleton

They were everywhere! They are part of the 17-year brood
that is emerging from the ground in 2016!

You can just about hear the juvenile cicadas with their mating song:

It should get louder in the coming weeks.

Holes in the path from the emerging cicada nymphs

Re-forestation in progress

Lilium sp/Yellow lilies

Ranunculus bulbosus/Buttercups

This trail crossed the road and had steps

Gus and Kent cross a bridge

The trail was not really a loop, but dead-ended at Furnace Run

A house of multiple additions on Wheatley Road,
with gingerbread trim

Back near the covered bridge was Founders Wayside, with
information panels about John F Seiberling and Ralph Regula

John F Seiberling, grandson of the founder of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, came up with the idea of creating a park, and as a member of Congress was able to have the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area created in 1974. Once created in name, it was the work of Congressman Ralph Regula to get appropriations to develop the park and in 2000 he had the name changed to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He also sponsored the legislation for the Ohio & Erie Canalway.