Went on a little hiking trip yesterday to a nice spot in the Cleveland Metroparks, Deer Lick Cave, in Brecksville (about 20 minutes outside of Cleveland).
It was a lovely 80 degree day, so we figured a walk in the trees would provide some shade 🌴
...But it's still early Spring I'm Cleveland, so there's not exactly a lot of leaves up there yet!
Luckily, the cave and rocks provide a nice cool atmosphere.
There is also a nice little creek that trickles through.
Apparently the name, Deer Lick Cave, comes from the fact that the local deer will seek out this drippy cave and give it a few licks for it's mineral content.
No licking for me, I'll take the deers' word for it!
A cool little bridge tunnel that runs under the road.
I made the joke, calling it "deer tick cave," but we actually didn't see any deer 🦌 while we were out there.
Probably because it is a popular place to hike... Although it is rather secluded and private, you'll hear some folks walking by every once in a while.
It's actually unusual to see it so well lit up in the first that is usually pretty thick and shaded.
The water was a little chilly but relaxing to the touch.
We layed in the sun on some rocks for a while, just listening to the soothing sounds of the water 🌊
Saw a handful of fish in the water... Maybe about 4 inches big.
The Brecksville reservation part of the Metroparks is the of the thickest parts of the forest in the county.
It is really not that far from the Cuyahoga Valley National Forest.
We get plenty of critters around here, including coyotes-there are signs posted that warm of them.
We have even been known to have black bears that can travel into the cities near the forest-although I have never seen one around here.
But they do make the paper every once in a while!
Rumours are abundant of a mysterious troll that lives under this bridge.
Actually, I just made that last part up.
There's a lot of scrolling so I had to make sure your still playing attention!
Seriously, this is the middle of the post, I could probably just write what I had for dinner last night and no one would notice.
I won't though.
There are some wonderful ledges too look at as well.
But you probably noticed then by now unless you were getting hungry by my mentioning of food.
Perhaps I can harvest salt from the cave to add to my recipes!
Or perhaps I can cook dinner for the troll if I have to bargain for my life.
Next time that I come here, the trees will probably be filled in!
I could probably figure out some kind of ripple token joke here if I tried hard enough-but I won't.
Yeah, I'll just leave that note there explaining what I MIGHT do.
Just
A
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Hopefully you enjoyed my anecdotes that accompanied these photographs.
But if not, the photos can speak for themselves!
If you ever find yourself in the Cleveland area...
... Perhaps take a trip down to Deer Lick Cave in Brecksville!
It's fun for the whole family!
Just watch out for that troll!
...and the coyotes.
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked my post!