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| - Yes, this is the same Cuyahoga River that caught fire and burned in 1969 in downtown Cleveland, but that was decades ago and many miles downstream, and it was probably an oil slick on fire, not the river itself. The beautiful, serpentine Cuyahoga River Valley was acquired by the National Park Service soon after and became a National Recreation Area and was then upgraded to a full National Park a couple of decades later. This park is sandwiched between the teeming urban areas of Cleveland and Akron, forming a green lung in a metro area of some 4 million people. It incorporates the scenic and historic Ohio and Erie Canal and towpath and a 1940's era scenic railroad. The heavy forest canopy and meadows are home to beaver, coyote, and thousands and thousands of deer and millions of birds, including bald eagles and hawks of many kinds.
Fall foliage and the beautiful effects of a winter snowstorm make this a great cold weather destination as well as a beautiful place for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and picnicking. Perhaps the Cuyahoga, immortalized in Randy Newman's song Burn On Big River, should really be famous as a river of supreme beauty and natural bounty instead.
Information at: http://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm
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