By Brad Nellis
Hello, I’m so pleased and honored to share my thoughts with you here! I appreciate the
invitation very much. In my inaugural post, I wanted to share a little bit about myself as
an introduction and also some pics from a recent visit to one of the Cleveland Metro Parks.
About Me
I’ve lived in the Cleveland/Akron area for right around 50 years now (holy cow!), moving
here from Texas with my family as a child. I attended HS, college, and grad school all
locally and worked my entire professional career in the region, retiring recently from a
sales/marketing role in the tech industry.
My love for the Cleveland Metro Parks
I’m a little embarrassed to share that I really only discovered the Metro Parks around
2009/2010 or so, even after living within 15 minutes of three different reservations for
the prior 20 years! The trigger for the discover and exploration was adopting a sweet
pup in ’09, Ducati was my dedicated hiking companion for 14 years until we had to say
goodbye to him in 2023. Along the way, we explored countless trails together as well as
a lot of areas off trail.
Our exploration was also the catalyst for my nature photography hobby. I started by
taking kind of random pictures on our hikes when something would strike my fancy. You
can probably imagine that there were A LOT of pics of Ducati wandering along with me.
But over time, we started exploring some of the well-known scenic areas, especially
waterfalls in the Bedford, Brecksville, and South Chagrin Reservations. Those spots
offered incredible opportunities for beautiful pictures and several offered great spots for
a pup to splash around and swim.
Throughout nearly all of my hiking and exploration, a theme emerged frequently: the
striking beauty made it hard to believe I was just a few miles from Cleveland.
Some great examples include:
- creek-walking in the Chagrin River just a bit downstream from Quarry Rock Falls
as a vertical wall of rock rises on your left and you come upon multiple, small
cascades in the river; - hiking into the Chippewa Creek gorge in the Brecksville Reservation and standing on ice-age strewn boulders to observe a pile of tree trunks piled 20+ feet high by a raging Chippewa Creek after days of rain;
- a peaceful walk along Tinkers Creek in the Bedford Reservation and pausing along a small waterfall that spans the creek to watch a blue heron stoically hunt for its lunch in the deep pool below the cascade.
These are just a few examples, wander along the bridle paths, the MTB trails or
especially off the trails and you’ll likewise be amazed.
Winter Waterfalls
Over the years, I’ve developed an obsession (perfectly healthy, I’m sure, hahahaha)
with waterfall photography, especially the long-exposure style. While we don’t have
gargantuan falls in this area, Brandywine being the largest at about 65’, we do have an
abundance of scenic, smaller falls scattered throughout the region. Because they’re
smaller falls on smaller waterways, they’re quite variable with the season and with the
weather. So my (perfectly healthy) obsession draws me out all throughout the year.
Most recently, on a very snowy Sunday, I spent time in the Bedford Reservation
shooting Bridal Veil Falls and Hemlock Creek Falls. While they’re definitely NOT
impressive in low flow times, they’re stunning in the right conditions. And that snowy
Sunday was just about perfect.
My Encouragement to You
If you’re a regular visitor, keep it up and keep exploring.
If you haven’t been out for awhile, pick a new park and a new trail and go explore.
If you’ve never been, close down your computer and put down your phone get over to
the nearest Metro Park asap.
- check out my Pawsibilities fundraiser site:Â Â https://www.zazzle.com/
store/nature_with_brad - follow me on X: @Brad_Nellis
