Sight · Cuyahoga Valley National Park
A modest canal lock with a surprisingly human dairy-era story.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cuyahoga Valley Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Beaver Marsh from Ira Trailhead“You're nearing Ira Trailhead, the starting point for a short walk to Beaver Marsh.”
Plays as you drive up to Lock 26 in the Parkwolf Cuyahoga Valley Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Lock 26 is a historic lock site beside the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath, just south of Beaver Marsh. From Ira Trailhead, walk north on the Towpath to reach it. This is a brief interpretation stop, best paired with a walk to the marsh. The site is wheelchair accessible, with a tactile exhibit and audio description.
Lock 26 was part of the system of 44 locks that let canal boats climb from Lake Erie to the Portage Summit in Akron, about 968 feet high. The locks turned a long change in elevation into a series of manageable steps for boats carrying goods inland.
The nearby Carter family worked in both canal travel and dairy farming. Charles Carter was a boat captain and locktender, while the family's 56-acre farm grew corn and hay for its cows. The area's dairy trade earned it the name “Cheesedom”; the interpretation includes an early self-portrait by Edwin Bell Howe, with cheese hoops ready for shipment behind him.
Lock 26 is also called Pancake Lock. A local story links the name to an 1828 spring flood that stranded boats here, leaving passengers and crews to eat pancakes while they waited for the canal to clear.
Wildlife
319 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
103 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
248 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
492 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
99 sightingsTrumpeter SwanMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cuyahoga Valley. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBeaver Marsh Walk0.6 mi · 30 min · 0.1 mi awayA level Towpath stroll to Beaver Marsh's wildlife boardwalk.
ModerateDeer Run Trail2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.1 mi awayRolling woods, Yellow Creek, and an old farm barn.
ChallengingPerkins Trail3.8 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.3 mi awayA covered bridge gives way to two rough creek crossings.
ModerateFurnace Run Trail1.9 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.3 mi awayMore than 90 stairs lead into a quiet wooded loop
ModeratePlateau Trail4.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA long woodland loop past three ponds and a pine corridor
EasyOak Hill Trail1.4 mi · 45 min · 2.4 mi awayA gentle loop past Sylvan Pond and old farm traces.
ModerateWetmore Trail4.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayA hilly woods loop with creeks and old farm paths
ModerateLanges Run Trail3.3 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayA hilly woodland trail shared with horses, creeks and wildflowersSight · 0.2 mi awayBeaver MarshA short boardwalk crosses a wetland shaped by returning beavers.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayHowe MeadowA seasonal market pairs local food with open-air summer concerts.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayIndigo LakeA former mine turned low-key lakeside picnic stop
Sight · 0.6 mi awayIndigo Lake StationA train stop for an easy lake loop and Towpath connection.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayLock 25A crumbling wall makes this canal's working past tangible.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayHale Farm & VillageHistoric houses, farm life and working crafts make a full afternoon.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayLock 24One surviving canal wall marks the vanished village of Botzum.
Store · 1.1 mi awayThe Neitenbach FarmA working vegetable and herb farm with an on-farm stand.Parkwolf’s Cuyahoga Valley ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
