Two More Unsuccessful Attempts to see West Falls, Elyria

After lunch we drove over to Elyria.  It is such a nice day that we decided that we would take the hike to the West Falls.  We found a sign by the Police Station that was kind of buried in bushes that told us to follow the trail. 

The start of the trail

We followed the trail for quite awhile and it kept getting more and more rugged.  In one area we came across a three story home that was above us and half of the basement had fallen away and was below us in the Black River.  

As we walked farther, the trail we were on suddenly disappeared due to a wash out.  Some dedicate hikers had made a sort of make shift path around the wash out so we followed it for awhile longer. 

Here Lee is looking at what used to be the path!

Finally, the non-path became so hazardous that I chickened out and we went back the way we came without getting to the falls.  At that point there was really no trail to follow!  Yikes, I don't know how a city would advertise this trail because someone could get very hurt and they could be sued.  

Not to be deterred, we decided to try and find another path to the falls so we drove over to the South entrance of Cascade Park.  We parked right across from a trail labeled West Falls.  We found that the trail wasn't marked very well and we ended up taking a couple of wrong turns that took us in the wrong direction before we were able to get back on the path.  

Black River

Here is the good section of the trail we were following

This is where we gave up again!

We hiked for a long time over very rugged terrain and the path kept getting worse and worse.  We descended some steps where we thought the trail would pick up but what lay ahead of us was not what we would call a trail.  Well, maybe in the jungles of Brazil, it could be considered a trail but it looked at this point like we could be endangering our lives again so we had to give us.  We wonder if there is a way to see these falls!  The third try was not a charm!!

Mutant Mallards

Lots of Mutant Mallards In The Area - These ducks must not be too discriminating!