Deer Lick Cave

Deer Lick Cave is a low sandstone overhang in a wooded ravine at Brecksville Reservation. Despite the name, this is a shallow, shadowed opening beneath a rock ledge, not a cavern you can walk through. It's a brief stop for a striking bit of geology, especially if you're already nearby.

The quickest approach is down a short flight of stairs from the small cave lot on Valley Parkway. That lot is limited, so don't count on a large parking area. If you want a longer walk, the roughly four-mile Deer Lick Loop starts at Brecksville Nature Center and reaches the overhang through wooded ravines, hills, stream crossings, bridges and more stairs. The loop is a separate outing; you don't need to hike it to see the cave.

Water erosion shaped the Berea sandstone into this overhang. The name comes from salt left in the rock by an ancient sea: white-tailed deer lick the sandstone for salt they don't get from plants. Once you know that, the name makes more sense than the word “cave.”

The Buckeye Trail branches in three directions at Deer Lick Cave. Its statewide loop was connected nearby in 1980 after more than two decades of trail building, so this small rock feature is also part of a much bigger trail story.