Day Eight- Ottawa CG

Pleasant night at the Heritage Farm CG. Up at 6:15 to a pretty sunrise and then I walked the half mile to the Peninsula Coffee Shop for breakfast. (I know, tough life.) When I returned to my campsite I packed up and hung out until 9 when the post office opened. Got my resupply box and I was on my way.

Just north of Peninsula there is a spot where the Cuyahoga River makes a sharp turn and the O&E Canal builders had to construct an aqueduct for the Canal to go over the river. This required a lock to raise the boat to the aqueduct level and the on the other side another lock to lower it to the canal. It is gone now, but it must have been something. The southern lock still exists and is the only one that shows the fitted sandstone blocks that held water by virtue of the precision of their fitting. All the other locks were faced with concrete in the 1900’s.

I decided to travel the towpath this morning rather than the Buckeye Trail route, which wound all around to the east and then to the west. Eventually the Buckeye joined back with the towpath so I was going the right direction. I am finding the towpath more interesting than the winding through woods of the Buckeye. The two paths generally go the same way at this point, but the Buckeye takes more miles to get there.

Interesting note on the labor to build the canal. They would have up to 2,000 men working on the canal at any one time. German and Irish immigrants were hired at $8/month working sunrise to sunset 6 days a week, but they got room and board.

I eventually got to a point where I had to leave the towpath and get back on the Buckeye Trail to get to my campsite. It was a nice, if sinuous trail through the woods and after a couple of hours I arrived at my campsite. Unfortunately I will be leaving the towpath here as it heads north and I start to ease northeast. Tomorrow will be mostly a road walk and I will end up in a motel for the next few nights as I hit the outskirts of the greater Cleveland area.

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!