Blue Hen Falls

Blue Hen Falls is located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area about 20 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. This hike follows the Buckeye Trail which travels around the entire state. There are three excellent hikes in the Cuyahoga Valley. The trailhead is located in the historic village of Jaite bult in 1906. Remnants of the papermill town along the Cuyahoga River and Ohio and Erie Canal include a company store and houses that were once occupied by millworker. Today, Jaite is the headquarters of the National Park Service for the Cuyahoga Valley. The trail heads straight up from the valley to the ridgetop and travels a couple miles offering excellent views of the hardwood forest. The trail crosses several glacier carved ravines which often flood during thunderstorms. On one occasion we were trapped on the wrong side of the swollen creek while returning on a hike. We found a tree that was leaning over the flood and jumped over. The JRT's had to rough it through the rushing current which carried them far down steam, but on this day Nitro and Bandit cooled off in the slow moving water.

About a mile before you reach the falls, you must cross a road where caution is required. The trail heads down and crosses another glacier ravine and returns back up to the ridge. The deer population is extremely high along the trail because hunting is prohbited within the park area. Your Jack Russell Terriers will become very active if you run into a group of them. After about a mile you will move down into another glacier ravine where you will find Blue Hen Falls. A bench is available where we ate lunch while our Jack Russell Terriers played around the falls. We relaxed for about an hour, and then we returned the way we came. This is an excellent eight mile hike which required about four hours to complete. This trail continues down to the Cuyahoga River and returns along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath trail for a ten mile loop, but the towpath trail is very crowded with joggers and bicycles. This is not a good place for Jack Russell Terriers.