Episode Guest
Pamela Barnes, Community Engagement Supervisor
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Episode Transcript
Nestled between two US cities, you can weave in and out of this park on your daily commute or make it a destination for your next vacation. Join me as we explore Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I’m your host, Missy Renz, and this is the Parks podcast.
Missy Rentz
In this episode, I am so excited to chat with Pamela Barnes, who is the Community Engagement Supervisor at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Pamela, welcome to The Parks Podcast.
Pamela Barnes
Thank you so much. I’m really excited to talk with you.
Missy Rentz
I am so excited about this park. It’s so unique. We start each episode with some quick stats for everybody, so I’m gonna run through those. The park is located in Cuyahoga Valley, in which is in the Cleveland/ Akron area. It’s the 56th National Park. It was created on December 27th, 1974. It was established as Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, and then in 2000 it became a national park. At the time, Gerald Ford was President of the United States. The park is 33,000 acres. The highest elevation is at 1,180 feet at Brush Road, and the lowest elevation is 590 feet. at the Cuyahoga River. In 2024, there were 2,913,454 visitors in the park. And some fun facts. There’s 125 miles of hiking trails, more than 44 miles of horse trails, 10 miles of mountain bike trails. It’s home to the tallest waterfall in Ohio, which is Brandywine Falls. It has a diverse ecosystem that includes forest, wetland, grassland, and river. There are over 1,145 plant species, and this park is 20 miles long, six miles wide. It encompasses 15 cities, villages and townships. Two metropolitan park districts, eight working farms. Pamela, I think this is one of the most unique parks. There’s nothing like Cuyahoga Valley.
Pamela Barnes
You are so right and I hate using the word unique over and over, but that’s a great way to describe it. And if you think about, think of something that you like to do, you’ll probably find it here.
Missy Rentz
Yes,
Pamela Barnes
it’s that diverse.
Missy Rentz
It really is. And we are talking at the end of the 50th anniversary of the park. You’ve had a huge celebration for the past year and are starting to wrap it up. And it wa so I mentioned it was a national recreation area, it’s now a national park. Why is it important that the park is part of the National Park Service?
Pamela Barnes
If you think about it what’s the criteria to become part of the National Parks is it has to be somehow significant nationally. And so there were a lot of things where people went back and forth saying, should this be part of the National Park? Should it, is it a state park? Is it a local park? If you look at it it’s the Cuyahoga River in its watershed. The river that’s known for catching on fire. It’s not the only river in America that caught on fire, but this one, it really became the poster child for the American environmental movement. Now the fire didn’t happen out in Cuyahoga Valley. It happened in downtown Cleveland, but about one quarter of the length of that river goes through this park. So it’s a central feature. And so it was set aside to protect the Cuyahoga River Valley. And also it’s this, the way it’s so close to two metropolitan areas it’s been called the Green Shrouded Miracle, this valley that’s in between these two cities and so accessible to several million people. So that’s also part of it. It’s the part of our purpose statement is to provide the necessary recreational open space for the urban environment. So we’re recognizing that people need open space, they need green space. It was part of this during the Nixon administration, they came up with the idea of parks to the people, creating national parks that are close to where the people are, like a gateway to beginning to visit National Parks. It’s a half hour, 20 minutes, half hour down the road for many of these people that live locally. That was part of the, national significance. And then also just the ecological significance of where we sit. So it’s on the edge of the Appalachian Plateau and the Great Plains, and then the Great Lakes watershed to the north, the Mississippi Watershed to the South. So that kind of gives this intersection of all kinds of different ecosystems and species that either live here or make their way through. And finally, it’s that the history of the people, the Ohio and Erie Canal the CCC, there are remnants of that human history as well, going all the way back to when people started living here in the Valley.
Missy Rentz
Yeah,
Pamela Barnes
So it’s a lot.
Missy Rentz
it’s a whole lot and I love it because it’s got, because it’s a whole lot, because it’s got the nature and conservation and the activity and the history and the, the list goes on and on. It’s just such a, it’s got something for everybody. I think we’re gonna say that 50
Pamela Barnes
I think that was our time, that was our tagline at one point was something for everyone, and we used to, you say it’s like it’s a tapestry.
Missy Rentz
Yeah.
Pamela Barnes
So it’s what it is.
Missy Rentz
It really is. That’s a perfect explanation too, because I find with all the, just Ohio in general is a tapestry. So I think that’s a perfect explanation. Okay. So most parks, it’s an evolution. I think that was one of the things that surprised me when I when I first started diving into my love of parks, is that, they’re often created, started by community groups, and then the efforts grow and grow. And this park is no different. But it is unique in how it grew because it’s within the community and there’s partnerships of, is it Metro parks, is it, whatever the case may be. And so it’s fascinating how this park grew.
Pamela Barnes
It really is. And so there’s also a tension between, there were local people who really saw the value of protecting the valley, where it was just gonna become part of urban sprawl if somebody didn’t do something to protect it. But there was also the early years of land acquisition and becoming a park, the federal government buying property and making it. Part of a national park. And so over the past 50 years we’ve been working to have great relationships with our partners and especially the Village of Peninsula, which was actually truthfully hit hardest by this, by the park acquisition years. They have now designated them proclamation themselves as a gateway community and are seeing the value of this tourism that the park brings and the value to them as a small community.
Missy Rentz
And it did start, it was Native Americans that Forfeited their land and and in order to create, maybe it was a long time after, but it feels like this area was the. Get away from the city and recreate. That’s what,
Pamela Barnes
Absolutely.
Missy Rentz
18 hundreds that was seems to be, that’s the, that was the purpose that you see in so many ex, just outside the city parks.
Pamela Barnes
And at one time it was the great Western frontier, so that there was a, a time where the Cuyahoga River was the western boundary of the United States.
Missy Rentz
Oh wow.
Pamela Barnes
So that’s part of our history too. And beyond that the was the Great West.
Missy Rentz
Bit about is it called Mueller Camp Mueller?’Cause it was a camp a a kid’s camp.
Pamela Barnes
It was, so there’s a great history of Al also of African American recreation in the Valley. And so Camp Mueller was a, originally a place for African American student kids from Cleveland to come out and have a camp experience, and to learn to swim when they weren’t allowed in the public pools and swimming areas in Cleveland. And it was started by the Phyllis Wheatley Association which was providing services for Black Americans who were migrating north up from the south during the Great migration.
Missy Rentz
And I guess at a time where to be able to have a place to go where you could obviously learn to swim and recreate and learn how to use the outdoors, that was really valuable and unique.
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. And we’re, that’s still what we’re about is a place where you can learn the skills to to maybe take a shorter hike and a place where the cost of getting lost or making a mistake is very low because it’s really, you can get lost, but you’re gonna come to a road in a very short time. So it’s not true wilderness where you can start to feel more comfortable in an outdoor setting. You can join activities with other people when, if you don’t feel comfortable going out by yourself and you can learn skills like we, we you can borrow some snowshoes and try that out without having to buy them. You can just try it for free with us.
Missy Rentz
Do the Rangers do programs on that sort of thing too?
Pamela Barnes
They do. They do. We’ve been really leaning into the idea of parks for Health and Wellness, and so rangers are leading hikes of different lengths and maybe partnering with other people to do things like yoga or tai chi or learning how to build your physical fitness and build the length that you’re able to hike over time.
Missy Rentz
Yeah. That’s cool.
Pamela Barnes
And it’s mostly about being comfortable and feeling prepared.
Missy Rentz
So important co conservation is really big and I love the just start and I’m just starting to learn the the conservation of the river of the fire and how important that was. And now it’s pretty clean and a lot has been done in the past 50 years in that, in the region. But what are some of the projects that you all are working on in the park for conservation?
Pamela Barnes
One of the biggest things is a rather large reforestation project. So we’ve planted thousands of trees to restore. There’s some former mine sites. Extraction was one of the industries here in the valley and trying to replant trees in places where historically they were eastern deciduous forest. And so there’s a big effort to remove non-native plants and replace non-native plants with native trees. So if you drive through the valley, you might see little plantations of little trees with some protection around them to keep the whitetailed deer from eating them all and giving’em a chance to survive. And that’s a long-term project. We’ve been restoring the river banks. One of the challenges is having infrastructure right next to a river that wants to be a river. So we’ve got the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. The tracks are pretty close to the river. The Ohio and Erie Canal to Path Trail is very close to the river. So we have been. Fortunate to receive money from the Great American Outdoors Act to do some major riverbank stabilization, to keep those are two beloved experiences that we want to make sure that people have. So in, in restoring that as best we can to allow the river to be a river. So they employed some really creative ways to do that. And the one place where they couldn’t was in the village of Peninsula, there were, there’s a retaining wall to keep the river from coming around the bend and just taking out the railroad tracks. But in other areas, they really tried to use natural features to keep the river, to move its course away from that infrastructure that we wanna keep.
Missy Rentz
And one of the, this is bringing up something that I think is so important because, my mission is to talk to people who are curious, but maybe haven’t started going to parks yet. And when you’re in a park and the plastic fencing because some or a sign that work is being done for reforestation or whatever it’s so important that you don’t go in those areas. And it might be, it might not, it might mean you’re going a little bit outta your way, but you’re not going that far outta your way. And walking on these areas is harmful and it’s important that we’re paying attention and helping you do this amazing work of conservation.
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. Thanks for mentioning that.’cause one of the things that we’re really excited about is we were able to purchase the land that was a former golf course. And there are two streams on that property that have lost their little connection to the Cuyahoga River. And some of them it’s been culverted. So part of our long-term plan is to re, is to help those streams to come back and to protect the species that are living there. They actually found some really cool cold water species. Just a little thing like stomping through the creek might be disrupting some of those species that we’re trying to protect. And, it’s all about numbers. I remember as a kid stomping through streams, but if you multiply that by 3 million people, that’s where the Im where you have to think about the impact and thinking about the idea of leaving no trace when you visit a park.
Missy Rentz
And staying on the trail and just respecting, especially, I think especially those areas where it’s very obvious there’s work being done. There’s work being done everywhere in a park, but those, that reforestation that takes a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of manpower That happen. So I do think it’s so important. The other thing you mentioned was with the restoration is native removing invasive species and bringing in native species. Why is that important?
Pamela Barnes
If we want to maintain the ecosystem that is here in northeast Ohio we do need to think about what species have come here because of humans moving from place to place. And the reason that we want, some of these, some species are not native, but they don’t really wreak havoc. If a non-native species is brought in, it doesn’t have any natural predators. Nobody eats it’cause they don’t know what it is. And so it hasn’t had time to become part of the ecosystem. And our human timeline is very different than the ecosystem timeline. So we’re trying to just give a chance for those native plants to survive. A lot of the non-native plants are they might be a little more opportunistic by creating so many seeds that it crowds out the other ones or they green up earlier in the spring and crowd out the native species.
Missy Rentz
Do people do invasive species come because somebody took a plant and planted it there? Do they come because a seed happened to be on my shoe? Like how do they get there?
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. The answer is yes.
Missy Rentz
Okay.
Pamela Barnes
Some of those, like the multi-floor arose, was brought from Europe. By some peop by people who came and settled because it really makes a nice natural fence line. And sometimes we do things, we have no, we don’t know what the impact is going to be. I don’t wanna place blame on anybody in the past for just living their life. So some of them were brought here on purpose, and you’re absolutely right. Some things just hitch a ride on people. So some of that is we have a small cave in the park that we’ve closed because of a fungus that gets carried by the spores, get carried by people on your clothing and shoes, and it affects the native bats that live here. So we’ve got a big gate closing off the cave where that’s to protect the bats. So sometimes we do have to make decisions on what we give access to and what we don’t. Because it’s a dual mission, of the whole National Park Service, protect and preserve, and yet provide for the enjoyment of the people. We have to do both of those things at the same time.
Missy Rentz
Yeah, that’s a tough one Sometimes, I’m sure. One of the things I think is so unique about Cuyahoga Valley is how it is part of the community and I mentioned the number of, cities and towns and farms and whatnot. But you don’t have you can be driving through the park and you can not know you’re in a park there.
Pamela Barnes
That’s one of the more confusing things. It’s not like you come up to the gate, you see the ranger at the gate, and boom, you’re in the park when you’re. When you’re traveling through the park, you’re going through residential areas and you’re, you might be thinking, wait a minute, am I still in the park? And you’ll see a, then again, you’ll see a welcome to Coga Valley sign because you left the park and now you’re reentering it. So there’s so many ways to get through the park. A lot of people their morning and evening commute is through the park, which is also pretty cool. So there are it’s a lived in valley.
Missy Rentz
It is. And I think, like I have some friends in Cleveland and have spent time there and you all have a relationship with the Metroparks, which is this huge park system in Cleveland and everything intersects to give accessibility to people like the bike trails and whatnot. It is a little confusing, but it’s also for the benefit of the users too.
Pamela Barnes
Oh my gosh, yes. So our trails connect and the river is a physical connection too. And we’ve just, in the past few years the idea of paddling on the Cuyahoga River 50 years ago, you never would’ve thought about paddling on the Cuyahoga River. It’s don’t touch it, stay away. But now we’re encouraging people to paddle and we’re working with Metro Parks to provide that access to the river for people who would like to paddle or just be next to the river.
Missy Rentz
Yeah. That’s it.
Pamela Barnes
of it. Yeah.
Missy Rentz
It’s got an unfortunate reputation because of what happened so long ago.’cause it really is a beautiful area and clean and fresh and you guys have done a great job of reestablishing the nature in that region. I mentioned the also the farms, and this is something I had read a book that talked about the farms not long ago. I can’t remember the name of the book at this right now, but can you tell me a little bit about like, it’s kind of cool that, sometimes you’ll go to a park and it will have a working farm, but this is like winery. You can buy wine from that’s grown there. I mean they’re like real businesses that are
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. So back in, in 1999, this started and the idea that this, historically, this was a pastoral valley. There were subsistence farming, there were families who lived here in the valley and farmed. And so now we had the park owns all these properties, and as we were going through growing into the park that we are today, there was this really unique idea of why don’t we. Fix up these properties and lease them out to people who are farmers. So that’s what happened is it’s a competitive process to become one of the farmers. So you have to write up your plan of how are you going to farm sustainably, what’s your product going to be, what’s your business plan? And so that’s how those farms are. Farmers are chosen. They live there, there are people that, they live there, they raise their kids. It’s they’re absolutely part of the fabric of the community. And they, it’s a 60 year lease, so it’s a long-term commitment that so we didn’t want people to be coming and going. And there’s things, there’s some challenges like the quality of the soil that farmers have to deal with. And it’s been really wonderful and there, and it’s such a cool thing to drive through and see. You can see the signs like Greenfield berry farm. You can, in the summer, you can go and pick blueberries. I know he has a CSA where you can join as a member and go pick up your weekly bag of goodies. The winery that you mentioned is right across the road from Blossom Music Center, and so you can stop in the winery, Sarah’s vineyard and they have really good food too. So they’re one that has a restaurant. One of the other farms has a storefront right in town. So you can walk in when you’re enjoying the Village of Peninsula, walk in and buy some of the the wares from the purple Brown farm. What else? You could earn, you could get your Thanksgiving, Turkey or some, turkey, chicken, eggs, other kinds of thing produce from local roadside stands. And some of the farms do programming where you can get to know them and learn about the process of how, what, why do they become a farmer in the valley and why do they value it and what’s the value to the public? And it, it’s a different way to connect to the land. Yeah.
Missy Rentz
Yeah, I’m, I’ll put a link in the episode page on the parks podcast.com so that if listeners wanna learn more about the eight farms, that they can do that. But it is also on your website. The other part of that and being a community or within communities is the art and music that you all showcase in the park.
Pamela Barnes
So top of the list would be Blossom Music Center, which I mentioned is the summer home to the Cleveland Orchestra. And. You can a, as you visit some of the places in the valley, you might hear something coming from Blossom. And I have heard some musicians who come there and say, I love coming here. It’s like coming to camp and it’s one of the most beautiful outdoor music venues. And for our 50th anniversary, we had a very special performance there of a piece that was performed for our 50th. And so we’ve been really partnering more with Blossom Music Center, with we had a kids’ activity book where they could, kids could earn their junior ranger badge by doing activities at Blossom. And our partner, the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park has been putting together a really fantastic summer concert series called, on the river. And so on a Sunday afternoon you can come, it’s totally free and it’s a big open field venue where you can come bring your lawn chairs and just enjoy an outdoor concert. There’s food trucks they also have indoor concerts and lecture series. They do a program called Low Power Happy Hour, where you can come and just hear from maybe a musician or somebody that does an interesting talk. They do national park trivia, so you can sign up with a group to come to a trivia night. So if hiking maybe isn’t your thing, then we have this whole slew of music and arts offerings that you could partake of.
Missy Rentz
I think, one of my inspirations for starting this series is the value that parks bring to us, the physical, mental, emotional benefits of parks. And I think sometimes when people think of a park, they think of, rock climbing or extreme activities, but really sitting on a blanket and having a picnic or, meeting somebody and having a conversation on a bench like those are as valuable, maybe more valuable in certain ways as the extreme fitness. So parks are for everyone. Cuyahoga Valley is really for everyone.
Pamela Barnes
Yes. I, I think of parks too as places where significant life events can happen too. I hear so many people say, we’ll post a picture of a location, and somebody will say, I proposed to my wife at that location, or we got married there. So you can also have these very memorable life events in parks too.
Missy Rentz
And I was having a conversation with somebody recently. They were relaying a story that they were doing a big event and lots of families came to the park and the parents were really concerned that the kids were gonna be bored. And the Ranger said, I promise you they’re gonna be just fine. And they’re like, yes, but they, there’s no wifi. They were like, really concerned about this. And as soon as the kids were set free to play, their imaginations just opened up and they, it was just like transformative. The what their brains let them do once they got into the park.
Pamela Barnes
Oh my gosh, that’s such a good point. We’ve been having conversations about the importance of play in the development of young brains. And the answer to there’s no wifi, I am like, huh.
Missy Rentz
Yeah, exactly. Thumbs up.
Pamela Barnes
Exactly. There’s mud. There’s,
Missy Rentz
Yeah.
Pamela Barnes
Wooded areas. One of our local metroparks has put in a kids’ natural play area at their nature center, which I love. So we really, yeah. So to encourage kids to be kids and adults, to be kids too is find that inner child in yourself is unplug recharge is what you can do here.
Missy Rentz
So important. Let’s talk about planning a trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. What do you recommend, like what’s the first step? If somebody listens to this and is like peaked interest, what’s the first step you recommend they take in putting together their plan?
Pamela Barnes
Look at our website. There’s a plan your visit page on nps.gov. Every park has a plan. Your visit page, download the NPS app. Because the app can tell you maybe what other parks are close by that you didn’t even know existed. So there’s those electronic ways to plan. And if you’re not that much of a planner, you find out how to get to the park, go to the visitor center, go to Boston Mill Visitor Center. There are smiling rangers just waiting to help you plan your visit. And they’ll ask you things like what do you like to do? How long are you planning to be here? So they’ll help you plan an itinerary that matches what you like to do.
Missy Rentz
Yeah. They’re so informative and they have also, I was there and it was so busy. It was like a summer weekend. And I didn’t really wanna be with the crowds, and they were able to say if you do this, then it’s, you’re not gonna be with the crowds. And
Pamela Barnes
right? Yeah.
Missy Rentz
What kinds of activities can you do in Cuyahoga Valley?
Pamela Barnes
Of course you can hike you can ride a bike, you can kayak on the river, you can ride a train. You can you can also use the train as a shuttle. So you could put your bike or your kayak on the train in one direction and travel back to your car in the other direction. That’s a really cool, unique experience. You, if you bike on the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail, that trail is, eh, now almost a hundred miles long. It extends well beyond the National Park to the south and all the way into downtown Cleveland. And so that is a way that you can ditch the car and travel through the valley.
Missy Rentz
Does it go to Columbus yet or is it not that
Pamela Barnes
No, it goes to New Philadelphia.
Missy Rentz
Okay. Wow, that’s
Pamela Barnes
There’s actually, yeah, so beyond the national park, there’s a national heritage area that encompasses that bigger area. That’s the Ohio near, that’s the Towpath Trail.
Missy Rentz
Huh. I might have to
Pamela Barnes
so you can go on a driving tour. There’s a scenic byway that you can just go on a driving tour and enjoy the valley.
Missy Rentz
That’s the scenic train ride was something first, so I’ve been to Cuyahoga a couple of times, and I’ll probably have to go a hundred times to see everything because there’s so much to see. I think you can go there for a long extended visit, but it’s also one of those parks. You could have an amazing time for the day, see a couple things, and then go back through another time when you’re in the, when the, when you’re in the area.
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. I’ve talked to people who they stop in and they’re like, Hey, I saw the sign on the turnpike, so I got off the highway. What’s here? And so you can go hike the ledges trail and which these spectacular rock formations, you can do a little bit of it or you can do the whole thing or you can connect to other trails
Missy Rentz
yeah
Pamela Barnes
it’s something for all seasons too. So people think of summer, that’s when we’re really busy, like other parks. But in the fall you can see spectacular fall colors. In the winter, you can enjoy a quieter experience. I love the quiet of a snow covered trail. If there’s enough snow, you can cross country ski or you can snowshoe, and in the spring you can enjoy the wild flowers and birds that are and see that, see everything come back to life.
Missy Rentz
So many people your comment on the seasons is something that’s, I think really important. Because you guys do have good winters in that you have the cold snow. How do you approach planning a trip in the different seasons? Yeah.
Pamela Barnes
Life. So you have to really think about your clothing for one thing. And like many places, the weather may change quickly. So if you think about having a waterproof base layer and other layers that you can put on or take off depending on, how the temperature changes a waterproof outer layer. I find that with winter hiking, you start out being overdressed and then it’s dangerous if you work up a sweat and it’s really cold out, so you, it’s good to have layers that you can take off. A good pair of shoes or boots is really important because the trails can be super muddy and just so I would say layers and watch out for poison ivy and sometimes of the year you do need some bug spray or a way to protect yourself from ticks is a big concern.
Missy Rentz
Yeah, absolutely. You have mentioned the Conservancy several times, and I know they’re a, they were a really big part of the 50th celebration, but they, that the conservancies or friends of groups and parks are really valuable to it. Can you tell us a little bit about the conservancy and how people can support or get involved in the work that they’re doing?
Pamela Barnes
Thanks so much for that. The Conservancy was a group that actually predated the park. There was the Cuyahoga Valley Association that started actually before we were created as a national park. And they’ve grown into this organization, which is Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And I like it. Even their tagline is for CVNP, we are for the park. And so as a nonprofit friends group, they do a lot of things to support us. They, for bring financial help, they bring the expertise. They have a very large staff, almost as big as the park. And they run, something else unique about this park is our volunteer program is run together with the conservancy. And so that’s one of the big ways to support the park, is to join in and volunteer or to go visit one of their stores in the park. And any of the proceeds from the sales in their stores comes a percentage of that comes to the park and people can join as a member of the nonprofit organization. So it’s really, it’s very important that people know what these friends groups do. It’s vital to the success of parks.
Missy Rentz
Yeah. And one of you, I had I had a, you gave me a fact sheet about the park, and one of the things that blew my mind was that in 2024, you had 4,642 volunteers that volunteered over 109,000 hours of work to the park. So that’s a lot of work that has to be done in order to have these amazing parks.
Pamela Barnes
Yeah. And a lot of that is those the removal of invasive plants and the tree planting. Even if you’re not even local, there are drop-in opportunities advertised. So if you follow us on social media, you can say, oh, I’m gonna be there on Thursday afternoon, there’s a invasive plant removal session. You can go join in or you can join in and plant a tree and come back and visit your tree years later. So there are ways for people to get involved for a couple of hours, or we have people that have given thousands of hours over the years where they come and they help in the visitor center. They they talk to people, they help maintain the grounds. They do administrative work. They help with programs. So any kind of job you can think of, we ha we probably have a volunteer opportunity.
Missy Rentz
Do people find those out through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park website or through the conservancy?
Pamela Barnes
Both Since we run it together we each have it on our page and we have, so we have a yearly open house. But that’s not the only time that you can get involved. So on our website, on the volunteer page, it has a email and a phone number to contact the volunteer office if you’d be interested in finding out more.
Missy Rentz
I’ll put those links on the episode page, on the website as well. And also I, I follow Cuyahoga Valley, so I’ll try to also, I recommend everybody follow your socials, but I’ll also share some stuff regularly just so people can be reminded of the opportunity. This is a park that doesn’t have camping or lodges it within the park, but you are within communities and close to cities. So how do you recommend people find lodging information if they’re staying for an overnight or a couple of days?
Pamela Barnes
I think one thing to do is to go to the convention and visitors bureau websites like Destination Cleveland or Akron Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau, that’s one way to find local lodging or just there’s a lot of Airbnb opportunities that people can find it. It’s such a, it’s such a diverse community that all around us there are different types of lodging available.
Missy Rentz
Yeah. And the other thing I wanted to ask, because it’s 20 miles long how do you recommend somebody go about determining where in that 20 miles they may want to stay or they may wanna enter the park?
Pamela Barnes
That’s a good question. So I would say if you’re coming in through Cleveland Airport, the North End along Rockside Road at the north end of the park has some great opportunities. So I know a lot of people end up staying up there because they’re, they end up close to the airport down to the South. Akron and Kaiga Falls if you’re if you’re interested in things to the South or if you’re, if you wanna include a trip to Blossom Music Center down in the, excuse me, down in the Southern end. So I would say, look at what kinds of activities you might be interested in or look at the communities that are closer to the center of the park and, start the start by going to the visitor center. It’s smack in the middle. But there, so a lot of the hiking opportunities are in the south end, and then the connections to Cleveland Metro Parks is in the north. We have Canal Exploration Center, which is a a place to learn about the history of the Ohio and Erie Canal. That’s up more toward the north end of the park.
Missy Rentz
Okay. They, and the you mentioned the plan, your visit, they are so amazing.’cause they’ll say, in the plan, your visit, you can use just what they, what you all post.’cause it’ll say, I’m here for a couple hours. I’m here for a day. You guys do such an amazing job of even online trying to steer people towards their areas of interest.
Pamela Barnes
Yeah, we really, we’ve tried to listen to people and look for trends in what people ask for. So that’s how we came up with those itineraries is just, and people want to know how do you get to Brandywine Falls? And so you can talk to the Ranger or you can look at our website and find your way to Brain DeWine Falls.
Missy Rentz
So it’s such a great park. It’s such a great park, Pamela. We finish every round with a every episode with a speed round of questions. Just answer with
Pamela Barnes
Okay.
Missy Rentz
first comes to mind. What is your earliest park memory
Pamela Barnes
I grew up in Allegheny National Forest and so I, my elementary school was right by a park, so I remember walking from my school over to the little campground in Allegheny National Forest.
Missy Rentz
and what made you love the parks?
Pamela Barnes
It’s that early connection to the outdoors. And I always had that connection. I was outdoors all the time, but what really made me connect to the National Parks was I had an amazing aunt who took me on trips to visit places like the Ever Glades and the Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park in Yellowstone. And I met these people who had these incredible jobs. And so that, that started me on a lifelong love of parks.
Missy Rentz
What is your favorite thing about Cuyahoga Valley National Park?
Pamela Barnes
I like hearing the surprise, seeing it on people’s faces or hearing it in their voices I didn’t even know this place existed and how did I not know this? And it’s so surprising that’s what I just love so much.
Missy Rentz
What is your favorite thing to do at Cuyahoga Valley National Park?
Pamela Barnes
I do hiking, so that definitely is my favorite thing.
Missy Rentz
What park have you yet to visit, but it’s on your bucket list and why?
Pamela Barnes
I have the Alaska Parks on my bucket list, and it’s because that wide expanse of wilderness is just something that I wanna go see it and experience it for myself.
Missy Rentz
What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
Pamela Barnes
Oh my goodness. Snacks, food. You gotta have food. A camera or a phone with a good photo a good way to take pictures because you don’t wanna take anything from your park visit, but you can take pictures. And also lots of different layers of clothing for the changing weather.
Missy Rentz
What is your favorite campfire activity?
Pamela Barnes
I would’ve said singing songs from all my years doing environmental education, but I really just, I like sitting around and chatting and talking about memories. So I think it’s just those family stories that I enjoy the most.
Missy Rentz
And are you in a tent, camper, or cabin?
Pamela Barnes
Now, I’d say cabin years ago, I would’ve I still love tank camping, but I think I’m more of a cabin type person now.
Missy Rentz
And are you hiking with or without trekking poles?
Pamela Barnes
Definitely with.
Missy Rentz
What is your favorite trail snack
Pamela Barnes
always have an apple with me. My kids actually joke that I’m driving the car, I’m eating an apple, I’m walking along eating an apple, so I gotta have my apple every day
Missy Rentz
and what is your best or favorite animal sighting?
Pamela Barnes
Here in Kea Valley, I think it was 2007, seven-ish is the first time we saw a nesting pair of bald eagles. And it was one of those moments where, it’s historic. The hair on the back of your neck stands up and it’s like these eagles, they’re here because they’re finding food in the Cuyahoga River. That is crazy. And now it’s become a commonplace thing to see a bald eagle here.
Missy Rentz
What is your favorite sound in the park?
Pamela Barnes
that would have to be the wood thrush. It’s a bird that has a flute like sound and in a lot in the wooded areas you can hike and just hear it off in the distance and it just, no matter what’s going on, it just makes me relax.
Missy Rentz
And what is the greatest gift that the parks give to us?
Pamela Barnes
I think the parks give us this lasting legacy, something that is, is going to be there in the future. I, it, there’s something, isn’t there something comforting in knowing that it’s going to be there for your great-grandchildren and theirs?
Missy Rentz
Yes, it is. Pamela, thank you so much for taking time to tell us the stories of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I’ve got a permanent smile on my face hearing all of it. I really appreciate it. And I’m gonna have to come back and I’ll have to come say hi when I explore Cuyahoga Valley again.
Pamela Barnes
For sure. Come visit.
Missy Rentz
I absolutely will. Thanks for listening to this episode. Until next time, we’ll see you in the parks.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please be sure to like and share on your favorite podcast platform. Music for the parks podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. For more information, please follow us at The Parks Podcast, or visit our website at TheParksPodcast.com.