Park Series: O’Neil Woods

Last Sunday, November 15th, I hiked another new trail for the Fall Hiking Spree. This one was O’Neil Woods near the Cuyahoga Falls border. I’ve begun to realize, from traveling to these various metro parks, how connected everything is. I’ve lived in Akron for 20 of my 25 years on this earth and I am constantly finding new things to love about it.

Throughout this series, I’ve gotten to see and experience the seasons changing. It has been breathtaking because hiking is still fairly new to me. I can say with confidence that before last year, I could count on one hand the amount of times that I’ve hiked anything. There’s something absolutely grounding about it all.

This particular trail gets your heart rate up, especially on an empty stomach. You start near the top, weaving your way through beautiful tall trees and then you slowly work your way down by way of stairs. But if you come down, you got to come back up. And the path up was rocky and steep. We actually got lost for a second because we somehow got off trail.

By “we”, I mean me and my lovely significant other who happens to join me on a lot of my hikes. They have proved to be an amazing bonding experience and leaves me with lots of fun photos. (I’m pretty sure he almost got a splinter in the above photo.)

I think my favorite part of the trail was seeing a bit of the river and checking out that big red barn. It was definitely a different experience than the other trails that we’ve been on because of the way the road intersects the trail. The top of the trail before the stairs would have to be my second favorite. You can see the Chapel, for those of you who know what that is, from there.