Beyond Cleveland On Foot 2nd Edition by Patience Hoskins | Cleveland Books | Gray & Company, Publishers | Guide and Gift Books about Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, and Ohio.

Hiking time: 2 hours

Description: This easy hike is on a flat trail that skirts the shorelines of Turkeyfoot Lake and Latham Bay and crosses several picnic areas. There are many views of the lake from several vantage points along the trail. Since the picnic areas and beach are heavily used in the summer, the park is much quieter in the spring, fall, and winter.

Directions: Take I-77 south to exit 129 for I-277; east on I-277 to Exit 2 for Manchester Rd./Waterloo Rd.; left on Waterloo; right (south) onto Manchester (SR 93) for 4.5 miles; park entrance on the left, just past Vanderhoof Rd.

Parking & restrooms: After entering the park, pass the road to the park office and continue to the first parking lot on the right at the turnoff to Big Oaks Picnic Area. Restrooms are near the parking area.

Portage Lakes State Park, located south of Akron, is on one of the highest points in the state, from which water flows either north to Lake Erie or south to the Ohio River. Boating, swimming, camping, and fishing are the main attractions of this state park, but there are several miles of scenic hiking trails in its developed portion. Because this recreation area contains 2,520 acres of water to 1,000 acres of land, it attracts many kinds of waterfowl, shorebirds, and mammals. At various times you may spot mallards and wood ducks, Canada geese, herons, deer, skunks, raccoons, hawks, owls, and many species of songbirds.

The Portage Lakes are a chain of natural, glacier-formed lakes, of which there are very few in Ohio. Large chunks of ice broke off the glacier, settled into depressions, melted, and formed kettle lakes— the bogs and marshes located here are aged kettle lakes . . . [ Read More Free Samples ]