June 30 - Vanderhoof

Starting Weather: Sunny, 69°

Ending Weather: Sunny, 69°

Distance Covered: small area near trailhead

Time: 6:20 PM - 6:40 PM

Today we went to Vanderhoof for bug photos.  The wildflowers there are spectacular and were filled to the brim with insects of many varieties.  Love to watch dragonflies feeding; they look like little aliens.  We also saw several hummingbird moths, which are quite beautiful and unique-looking.  Fast little critters though; couldn't get a good shot... yet.  Left early to go to Copley and celebrate Billy's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Bill!!

June 29 - Clinton

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 70°

Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy, 70°

Distance Covered: 2.8 miles

Time: 5:45 PM - 8:03 PM

Today we took an early evening trip to Clinton, always a great experience with locks and boardwalks and nesting boxes.  This is a wonderful park filled with many species of birds.  We ran into a couple who have been birders for over 40 years.  They pointed out many birds to us, and told us about other birds they had seen here recently, including sandhill cranes and whooping cranes.  They took us to a red bellied woodpecker's nest in a tree.  We could see the baby woodpecker waiting for its parent to feed it.  We also noticed a campsite here that we had never seen before.  The mosquitoes were active tonight, so as the sun went down, we headed back to the car.

June 27 - Vanderhoof

Starting Weather: Partly Sunny, 87°

Ending Weather: Partly Sunny, 88°

Distance Covered: 1.36 miles

Time: 1:13 PM - 3:00 PM

Today we went to the Vanderhoof trailhead,  It was very hot,, about 88 degrees, and the sun was scorching.  We only walked about a half mile in, drinking water furiously.  It is hard to believe that a few short months ago, we had t leave this spot because of the freezing drizzle, and that there were times we couldn't walk the trail at all because the snow was too deep.  We actually long for the cooler weather now, since it is much more conducive to hiking.  We were able to photograph several types of insects, including butterflies, dragonflies and bumble bees.  It's always fun to note what each month will bring at each location.  This was an area we came to in the winter to photograph birds.  Now the place is filled with wildflowers and bugs.

June 26 - Manchester Road, Summit Lake

Lotus Flowers

Red Admiral

June 25 - Krieger Center, Cuyahoga Heights

June 22 - Lake Avenue

June 21 - Lock 4 Park

Starting Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 82°

Ending Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 81°

Distance Covered: .51 miles

Time: 6:35PM - 7:05PM

The first day of summer!  Usually this day is cause for celebration.  I admit that I am enjoying the explosion of plant and animal life that spring and summer have brought.  But looking at the cool, crisp photo of the replica lock-tender's house from early March makes me yearn for fall and early winter again.

June 19 - Boston Mills Road

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 74°

Peregrine Falcon

Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy, 82°

Distance Covered: 3.65 miles

Time: 8:45 AM - 12:25 PM

Gray Squirrel

Catalpa Flower

Cabbage White

Always a treat is the Boston Mills area.  The Boston Store sits at the trailhead, and the trail runs under two spectacular bridges.  Today there was a Peregrine Falcon sitting under the I-80 bridge between the trail and the Cuyahoga River.  I couldn't figure out why it let me take some many photos without flying away, but i learned later that it was a fledgling.  Lots of beautiful wildflowers lined the trail, and one of the most beautiful was the white flower of the Catalpa tree, with its burgundy and yellow accents.  I saw a bluebird sniping at a squirrel, who may have been near its nest within a tree, but only managed to get individual photos of the two.  It was another beautiful, hot day, drank lots of water to keep hydrated. 

June 19 - Brecksville

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 83°

Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny, 87°

Distance Covered: 2.2 miles

Time: 12:45 PM - 2:30 PM

After Boston Mills, I drove to Brecksville, mainly to check on the eagles.  There was so much greenery, I could barely see the nest.  It looked as tough one of the (very large) eaglets was standing in the nest to the right.  I was told by a man on the trail that the other eaglet had been spotted perched on a branch of a nearby tree.  I looked around for awhile but I was very hot and tired and didn't spend much time here.  I did see a robin with a mouthful of worms, and followed her to her next.  I saw a family of Canada Geese, with 5 goslings, swimming in the canal.  The goslings are getting so big that it is difficult to see which is an adult and which is a juvenile!

June 18 - Canal Fulton Canalboat

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 84°

Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny, 84°

Distance Covered:  Less than a mile

Time: 3:25 PM - 3:38 PM

Not much going on today.  Kay and her mom decided to ride the St. Helena III today.  I went there straight from work in the hopes of photographing the boat working its way down the canal.  By the time I got there, however, they were already docking.  It was a beautiful day, quite unlike the day Kay and I rode the canal boat.  I took a few photos and then walked around the grounds for a bit.  A picturesque area in any weather!

June 17 - Lake Street

Common Grackle

Gray Catbir

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 71°

Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny, 72°

Distance Covered: 1.99 miles

Time: 5:00 PM - 6:55 PM

Red-wing Blackbird

Today I went to Lake Street and walked south.  The difference in this area since we first cam here in January is stunning.  The starkness of January has been replaced with June's green growth.  Birds could be heard everywhere, but not seen as well, because of the leaves on the trees.  Geese swam in the river, just like in January, but this time they were accompanied by their young.  I almost felt sad, longing for the winter days when we were still exploring the unknown, and we unable to imagine what the area would look like in the spring. I took photos of several landmarks for comparison through the seasons.  When I came back to the parking lot, i noticed a "Towpath Trail Safety Stop," a tent that had been set up to distribute drinks and bicycle bells.  As I started taking photos, a woman who had pulled up to the tent on a bike proceeded to fall off her bike.  So much for safety. :-)

June 16 - Canal Fulton to Lake Lucerne

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 81°

Ending Weather:Partly Cloudy, 81°

Distance Covered: 1.5 miles

Time: 5:53 PM - 7:00 PM

Tonight was a trip to Canal Fulton.  I parked just north of the Cherry Street Creamery and walked north.  Took a lot of flowers photos.  Very pretty, lots of lilies.  While I was photographing a bee on a flower just off the trail, a woman yelled to me, "I sure hope you aren't allergic to poison ivy."  Oops! also spent a little while at Lock 4 Park, looking for birds.  It was a pretty, puffy cloud evening.

Gray Catbird

June 15 - Canal Fulton

Starting Weather: Partly Cloudy, 76°

Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy, 75°

Distance Covered: Less than a mile

Time: 8:11 PM - 8:49 PM

Tonight was just a quick run to Canal Fulton for ice cream.  Of course, we went to Cherry Street Creamery, which is right on the trail.  Snapped a few photos while we ate our cones.  Yum!

June 13 - Botzum to Beaver Marsh

Great Blue Heron

Starting Weather: Partly Cloudy, 81°

Ending Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 73°

Northern Flicker

Distance Covered: 2.2 miles

Time: 5:20 PM - 8:00 PM

After spending some time at Big Bend, we drove to the Beaver Marsh.  As we neared the board- walk, passersby were calling to us to hurry because there was a big heron or crane on the boardwalk.  The heron was no longer on the boardwalk when we arrived at the marsh, but one did fly into a tree soon thereafter.   We also saw some flickers tending to their nest in a crevice in a sycamore tree.  It's exciting to watch this area throughout the seasons and to see how the plant and animal life change.

June 13 - Big Bend

Starting Weather: Partly Cloudy, 78°

Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy, 81°

Distance Covered: 3.4 miles

Time: 2:04 PM - 4:35 PM

Today we went to the Big bend area on the northern end of cascade Valley and southern end of Sand Run.  As I was walking along the trail, I was startled by a deer who approached the trail on the left.  It stood there for several seconds and stated, then let out a loud yelp and turned tail and ran back into the woods.  I had never heard a deer make such a loud sound before.  Shortly after that, I saw another deer with a fawn just inside the woods.  Again, she stared for a couple seconds and then turned and ran with her fawn.  I hadn't been to this part of the trail since there was several inches of snow on the ground, so it was a very different experience today. When I got back to where Kay was stationed on the trail, ready to brag about the deer I'd seen, she wasn't at all impressed.  She had just photographed  doe suckling two fawns.  We spotted several other deer before we left, as well as some cedar waxwings and lots of bugs.

June 11 - Warmington Road

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny, 79°

Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny, 75°

Distance Covered:  1.69 miles

Time: 6:26 PM - 8:29 PM

We went to Warmington Road, John Glenn Grove, tonight. This is a beautiful area, and tonight we walked north.  We have seen some new species of birds almost every time we've hiked here.  Today it was harder to see into the canal in some spots because everything was so overgrown.  I went to a specific spot where I had seen a snapping turtle on a log on a previous visit.  As I walked to the spot where I'd seen the turtle (only long enough to watch it splash into the water) I looked back over the vegetation and into the canal.  No snapping turtle today, only two painted turtles on a log - in front of a green heron.  I set up my monopod and started "snapping" away, all the while trying to call Kay.  She didn't answer the first time.  The second time I whispered into the phone to tell her my location and what I had found.  She was actually very close and the heron stayed for quite awhile to pose for both of us.  On the way back to the car, we watched a woodpecker feeding its young in a tree cavity.   It was a great evening on this part of the trail

June 10 - Lock 4 Park

Starting Weather: Partly Cloudy, 74°

Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy, 77°

Distance Covered:  .71 mile

Time:7:16 PM - 9:09 PM

June 10- Towpath Avenue

June 9 - Lock 4 Park

Starting Weather: Partly Sunny, 76°

Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny, 75°

Distance Covered:  .7 mile

Time: 6:00 PM - 7:55 PM

June 6 - Clinton

Starting Weather: Cloudy, 66°

Ending Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 66°

Distance Covered:  2.87 miles

Time: 12:10 PM - 3:25 PM

Today we went to Clinton.  It was a beautiful day, greener and lusher than the day before.  It amazing how much greener places are that we have visited recently.  This is what happens in the spring.  Summer will bring its heat and dryness, and things will become less green, less lush.

Clinton always affords photographic opportunities.  Today there were some orange lilies near Lock 2, nowhere else on the trail between there and the parking lot.  I stalked a monarch butterfly and several other insects today.  Saw some bluebirds, cedar waxwings and yellow warblers.  Even though the leaves are on the tress, birds are so much more plentiful now that if we are patient, we are bound to be treated to several sighting each time we go out.  Our list of species on the trail is growing.  After we update it, I will post the number.

June 5 - Lock 4

Starting Weather: Rainy, 71°

Ending Weather: Rainy, 71°

Distance Covered:  parking area

Time: 3:00 - 3:45 PM

Today we had a graduation party to attend, Kay's nephew Aaron.  I stopped at Lock 4 prior to the party.  It was pouring down rain.  I got out of the car and took some photos under my umbrella.  At one point I looked up and saw the canal boat coming.  It never occurred to me that I'd be there at just the right time to see the boat.  It was a nice surprise on a rainy Saturday. 

June 4 - Lock 4 Park and St. Helena Heritage Park

Starting Weather:

Ending Weather:

Distance Covered:  1 mile

Time:

An after-work stop on the trail.  We drove to Lock 4, and we weren't two minutes on the trail when Kay spotted a green heron in a dead tree off to the west.  She got some great shots with her long lens.  We kept walking north, and I made my way to St. Helena Heritage park in Canal Fulton, another very picturesque spot.   There are three foot bridges that span the canal here, offering wonderful views of the water and the trail.  There are some beautiful trees here, including a gorgeous black locust tree from which a silver maple was growing halfway up the trunk.

June 1 - Lock 4 Park

Back to work today after ten days off.  And after work a trip to Youngstown to visit with cousins.  I wanted to spend at least a  few minutes on the trail because today is the start of a new month - our sixth month on the trail!  I drove over to Lock 4 Park, because it is so close and also so beautiful.  Everything looked so green and lush in the morning sun.  I took a few photos, then off  to work.