The Glass Bridge

70°f/20°C, light overcast. No rain in sight. Watering.

We said goodbye to Lake Erie and headed towards our next destination. I had seen Nelson Ledges State Park on Facebook, and I was intrigued. A bridge with a glass floor over a steep ravine and waterfall? That reminded me of the rope bridge i had crossed at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Wales, and also of the steel grate bridge to Tintagel which I had crossed just days after it's opening. I used to have vertigo pretty badly so would not even attempt such things, but nowadays I love the challenge.

It was a short drive to the park, and we took a slight detour to cross this beautiful covered bridge, the Harpersfield bridge. 

It was clear that a great deal of restoration work had recently been done. I was glad to see the old structure being strengthened so thst it will serve for years to come. What is it about covered bridges that makes them so attractive?

There were several cars in the parking lot at the park when we arrived,  and there was also this fellow, who apparently has taken up a postion as guardian of the park.

I hope someone comes with a trap to catch him because although the old boy is eating well, he is not safe from predators.

The trails to the bridge we were seeking are marked for difficulty: white for easiest, blue for medium, and orange for the most difficult. The problem is that they are poorly marked, so there were quite a few people, including us, bumbling around out there, thinking they were on one trail only to find it was the hard one, or a dead-end. We went ahead good ways on a trail we thought was the white trail until we came to a steep ravine with a creek crossing at the bottom. Turns out that was the hard trail. I wasn't about to tackle that climb, so back we went. We finally found our way to the bridge. The rock cliffs along the way were worth the walk.

 

In this photo you can see clear through the crevasse.

Finally, the bridge.

I admit, I was underwhelmed. Where was the waterfall? This?

Yup. Apparently this was it. They have been in a drought, so i guess that explains the lack of water, but it was a disappointment.  Also, the "glass" is not very clear. To get the photo below, I laid my phone directly on the glass.

The walk was only a total of less than a mile, although we probably made it a little longer with our wrong turns, but it was lovely to be in the woods, even on a hot, humid day.

Next stop: the old mill.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.