Saturday was “my” day, and I started it out with a 16.5-mile run on the Towpath. I went home and got ready, and once Mer was ready, we headed over to the South Chagrin Reservation, to hike the reservation in general, but the Squaw Rock Trail specifically. I had read about it in my 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cleveland book, and it sounded worth visiting. It was.
We got to the park, and headed down a steep trail to the Chagrin River, to a small and very pretty multi-level waterfall. The river is only a few inches deep here, so Mer and I went wading with the understanding that I would run back to the car to get her sandals after we were done (as opposed to her running shoes she wears on hiking trails). Mer understandably did not want to put wet feet in her shoes; it does not bother me as long as I have my socks off.
The wading was fantastic. The river was cool on our feet, and we were able to wade over to the other shore, and then made our way down one level of the falls. It was very pretty. There were several people around, including some anglers upstream; I’m not sure what fish they catch in four inches of water, but it was a good day for it.
After the wading side-trip, we walked upstream. There were several impressive rock outcroppings, and the trail was well shaded. We came upon the eponymous Squaw Rock, a large rock with carvings on it from the 1880s. The figures were carved by a local blacksmith, but he never said why. One of the figures is of a Native American woman, and so the entire rock became known as Squaw Rock. One of my happy moments was when I was standing on the riverside overlook of the rock, and Mer was looking everywhere but at the carvings. She could see I was waiting for something, so she looked again and then saw them. That made me smile.
The return path back to the parking lot took us on an upper trail that overlooked the lower trail, and had two bridges that spanned some of the rock formations we had seen earlier. It makes an excellent and scenic loop, and is only a mile long or so (although it involves some climbing).
Once we got back to the parking lot, we followed the rest of the recommended hike – a loop along the access road that follows a fitness (parkour) trail. The trail was pleasant – not too challenging, and the road it followed was not busy. It brought us back to the parking lot, although I took one “hey, that looks cool” detour that added a bit to the hike.
After the hike, we were in the general area of our friend Jordan’s house, so we swung by. He and his family were home, so we swung in to visit for about twenty minutes. I have a small mission to bring the Maine-style drop-by visit to Ohio. Jordan and his wife recommended we check out the popcorn shop in Chagrin Falls for their ice cream, so we did that. It was good ice cream, but the real pleasure is sitting in the cute town and watching the world go by (with a side-trip to the town’s falls).