New book is the definitive trail guide to Cuyahoga Valley National Park

CLEVELAND, OHIO – The Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council has released a new edition of its Trail Guide to Cuyahoga Valley National Park ($15.95; softcover; 272 pages). The book describes every trail in the park for hikers, bikers, horseback riders, and cross-country skiers. The new third edition is the first update in 11 years and the first since the land was officially designated as a national park in 2000. (It was formerly a national recreation area.) The guide was first published in 1991; a second edition was published in 1996.

The nonprofit Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council helps build and maintain trails and bridges in the park. It also works to inform people about the park and advocate its use, which is why the organization and its volunteers decided to put together the Trail Guide.

“We’d like more people in the area to get to know the park better and use it more,” said Rob Bobel, who is a co-editor of the Trail Guide and also a civil engineer in the Resource Management Division of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. “I run into people all the time who are really surprised with what they find here. They seem to be amazed that this is just a short drive from where they live.” 

Bobel and his wife and co-editor, Peg Bobel, have hiked all of the park’s trails. For the third edition of the Trail Guide they and other Trails Council volunteers spent more than a year and a half rehiking trails, updating trail descriptions and maps, and researching the park’s plants, wildlife, and human history.

“Trails change over time,” said Peg Bobel. “New trails have been added, some have been removed, and some were rerouted due to floods.”

Both the Bobels believe the trails offer visitors more than just exercise. 

“If you get to know the trails, you get to know something about nature and about local history, too.” says Rob Bobel.

The guide is organized into sections by area of the park. Each chapter has an introductory essay that describes recent human history in that part of the park, which has been used over the years for transportation (the Ohio & Erie Canal), farming, quarrying, and other business—as well as recreation. Many of the parks’ manmade features date from the 1930s and reflect work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

About the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council

The Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council (CVTC) is a non-profit all-volunteer organization dedicated to building and maintaining trails in the Cuyahoga Valley. CVTC was formed in 1985 from the Ad Hoc Trails Committee of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (now named Cuyahoga Valley National Park) Advisory Commission just after the completion of the park’s trail plan. Since its founding, CVTC has assisted Cuyahoga Valley National Park in implementing the trail plan by helping to build sections of new trail and maintain existing trails. The group holds monthly volunteer trail work sessions, helps coordinate the Adopt-A-Trail program, trains new volunteers, and encourages stewardship of the trail system.

Price and Availability

Trail Guide to Cuyahoga Valley National Park ($15.95; softcover; 272 pages) is available at Northeast Ohio bookstores and online from Amazon.com.