Buckeye Trail- Bedford Points 10-15

 
Monday we went back and filled in the middle part of the top of the T. This was only 9.8 miles, so we knew we'd be done in plenty of time to meet the reporter. More on that later.

We started from Shadow Lake, which we had walked around before, but I didn't take any pictures that day for some reason. I did talk to a man who was fishing. He was pulling in little sunfish just as fast as he could cast. As soon as the bobber hit the water it would disappear and he'd grab another one. We saw people fishing in nearly every little body of water we passed.



The day was pleasant, mostly on bridle paths although there was one trail detour of two miles that we had to do on road we hadn't been expecting. Another hiker told us the trail really was closed where it went beneath I-271. The next time we came to a detour sign, however, we decided to chance it.

There was some tree work being done, but they let us walk through. Thank goodness for small favors.



I don't want to duplicate what I had posted on Facebook, but this was the day we stopped for a snack at Willey Creek where the trail passed under Mills Road and Chagrin River Road. That really was a nifty place. We watched the sun play on the water, and listened to the birds. We could barely hear the traffic over our heads. I love being in "secret" places like that so close to civilization.

Here's another example of that. As we walked on trail beside Chagrin River Road, just to our right was a stone bridge abutment on the other side of a creek. You can see a barrier at the end of what used to be a road that crossed the creek and came into Chagrin River Road. Then look to our left.

Nothing but a guardrail, paved road and houses on the other side. I always wonder if people even are aware that there is something historical hiding in the woods, just hidden by some tangled vegetation.





The joke of the day was also on us. It seems that all the directions on the map between points 12 and 14 are written backwards. We were fine following blazes until we were past 13 and I decided to read the words. Then I got pretty confused and I started to make us backtrack. Stopped, thought about it. Looked at the map. Looked at the GPS on the phone. Decided we had to be going the right direction. Thankfully we didn't re-walk more than about half a block. Weird.

We finished early and called the reporter. It seems I had misunderstood, and he didn't want to meet with us until 5:30 anyway. So we drove a few miles to the town of Chagrin Falls where one can see... Chagrin Falls.



The picture I shared on Facebook is from the south bank. This one is from the north and puts the falls more in the context of the town. We ate our lunch on one of the little bench nooks of the walkway, then played on the rocks a bit and treated ourselves to ice cream.

"Chagrin" is an Americanization of the name of Francois Seguin, a Frenchman who traded in the area as early as 1742. By 1850, this falls was powering 14 mills in the town. It was an interesting place. For local people this analogy will suffice. It was a lot like Pentwater without the beach. The town was full of tourists, little crafty shops and humming with summer activities. I wouldn't have thought a waterfall, even a nice one, would be enough attraction to spawn that much commerce. But apparently it has!

I tried to get artsy with this picture. Not sure I really succeeded, but it's my best shot.



I guess I haven't told you much about our evenings. We like them quiet. We cook our dinner (as you saw in the packages beforehand), then play our games until we are pretty tired (outside if the bugs aren't bad, or inside if they are). We then read a few chapters of a book out loud. Most trips we have something with local history, or hiking lore. This time, we had tall tales from the Catskills. Not a close match for our location, but it was what we came up with. Then we either talk a while or fall right asleep!

Total so far, 72.3 miles- over halfway and the top of the T is done.

	See Buckeye Trail- Bedford 15-21
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