Dear Cuyahoga Challenge Participant,
Congratulations on making it to your final destination! I hope this year you have been tested and pushed by all of the challenging trails! No matter your skill level; whether you have forged on through the mud, climbed steep hills, or braved bad weather you have rewarded yourself this summer by taking in views of this lovely valley! The trails in Cuyahoga Valley National Park are a signature source of solitude and they are one of the many things that make this park unique and beautiful.
Enclosed is the 2010 Cuyahoga Challenge patch, designed by local artist Chuck Ayers, commemorating the kick-off of TRAILS FOREVER with the Brandywine Gorge Trail Bridge. . . .
And so begins the letter that each one of us received at the end of our tenth Cuyahoga Challenge hike this past Saturday.
If you've been following along on our journey, you'll know that the letter is right and wrong.
Skill level
We had a wide variety of skill levels in our troupe. From a 3.9166 year-old girl to a 14 year-old Star Boy Scout and lots of variety in between, we finished the ten hikes. And no, we didn't carry the little girl.
Mud
Actually, we didn't find much/any mud. Just on some spots of the bridle trails. Otherwise, nope, no mud.
Steep hills
Yep! Lots of steep hills including a really nice 400 footer at the beginning of the Boston Store trip.
Bad weather
Huh?! Nope, no bad weather this September. Now, if we'd started in June, July or August, well, there were some nasty weeks of weather then.
We did it!
Much to my amazement when we picked up the patches at the Trail Mix store in Boston, I was able to quickly identify the bridge on the patch as being the footbridge over the Brandwine gorge on one of our hikes. Ironically, we followed the path from the south on the upstream side and forded on the rocks. The prettiest bridge in the whole park and we chose to wade.
Here's to the Cuyahoga Challenge 2011!
