Sunday, September 11, 2016

Bedford Reservation (9/10-11/2016)

Saturday, September 10, 2016
Now to start filling in some missing sections of the Cleveland MetroParks "Emerald Necklace" of green space around the city. The various "parks" are called reservations, and we needed to do two parts of the Bedford Reservation.
First, the eastern section between Northfield and Richmond Roads.
A peek at Tinkers Creek
Rains last night caused the creek to be somewhat swollen
Since the trail next to the creek was covered with water,
we used the All Purpose Trail (marked with green stripes
in the MetroParks), which ran along the road
I-271 for horses?

Sunday, September 11, 2016
Next, the western section of Bedford Reservation between Dunham and Canal Roads. Because it had also rained last night, we planned on doing only the southern part of the Sagamore Creek Loop Trail, since the northern part required fording the stream.
Um, is this our trail? Kent said it is where Linda falls down the
steep decline to the trail, but as we were also following
the Buckeye Trail with blue blazes, this was our trail
Is this supposed to be Linda Falls? (No)
We had to cross several side creeks leading to Sagamore Creek
Goldenrod meadow
Solidago sp/Goldenrod; who knew there were
about 22 species of Goldenrod in Ohio?!
Vernonia missurica/Missouri Ironweed
Verbesina alternifolia/Wingstem
The trail followed along a ridge (note the blue blaze markings
on the trees, for the Buckeye Trail that cross the state of Ohio)
Those side streams we crossed had deep ravines
A branch the size of a tree got caught
in a bigger tree
A snake skin caught on Chicken of the Woods fungi
More Laetiporus sp/Chicken of the Woods
It looks like this blaze was painted over
marks on the beech tree that looked like a face,
yet someone had to scratch in a heart
Yikes, a really deep ravine
The side stream leading to the ravine
Brynne and Gus already crossed that stream
The stream where it drops into the ravine
Well! This is Linda Falls!
Finally a peek at Sagamore Creek
Why a bridge here, and not over all those side creeks?
We came down to the level of Sagamore Creek
Raccoon tracks
At this point, Tamiko slipped in the mud!
Sagamore Creek from Canal Road (KSS)
Since we already had wet feet from all the creek crossings, we decided to complete the Sagamore Creek Loop Trail.
One of two ford crossings of Sagamore Creek (KSS)
Sagamore Creek did not appear too effected by the rains (KSS)
Probably Pleurotus ostreatus/Oyster Mushroom (KSS)

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