Parking
Use the small gravel lot at Daffodil Trailhead, 3100 Brush Road. It has limited space and can fill during the spring bloom.
Overview
About Daffodil Trail
Why go
- Daffodil beds follow the route instead of appearing at one payoff
- Short, easy circuit with benches for pausing
Heads up
- Small lot can fill during peak bloom
- Flower timing and density vary by year
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cuyahoga Valley map
Full mapElevation1,032–1,107 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Cuyahoga Valley alerts
- ClosureTowpath Trail improvement closureThe Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail from Boston Trailhead to Lock 29 in Peninsula is closed for improvements during the August 24–November 20, 2026 closure period.Official details
- CautionCuyahoga River paddling closure and hazardsPaddlers must portage the current river-wide closure near river mile 17 and avoid serious river hazards. - The closure is due to bridge demolition and construction.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cuyahoga Valley Tour Guide
Your drive to Daffodil Trail, narrated.
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 trailhead
Daffodil Trail0:00 / 0:26
“You're approaching the Brush Road access for Daffodil Trail, a short woodland loop known for its spring flowers. Allow about half an hour for the eight-tenths-mile walk, with daffodil beds spread along the path.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cuyahoga Valley Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- How a Jay Plants an Oak
- An Arena Becomes a Meadow
- The Sounds Behind a Silent Flight
- Flowers Before the Leaves
- 97 audio storiesacross Cuyahoga Valley’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bald Eagle, River Otter, Coyote, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 63 trails, 88 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Daffodil Trail
A gentle spring walkDaffodil Trail is an easy 0.
Daffodil Trail is an easy 0.8-mile loop from the 3100 Brush Road entrance to Furnace Run Metro Park, a local park unit within Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The natural-surface path winds through deciduous woods with daffodil beds spread along the walk. Give it about 30 minutes at an easy pace, longer if flowers are the point. This is a small spring outing, not a long hike.
The shape of the routeThe path reaches a junction on a short shared approach, makes the circuit, then returns to the…
The path reaches a junction on a short shared approach, makes the circuit, then returns to the lot along that same spur. It dips into low ground and climbs back out; visitors generally describe it as easy and mostly level, though the natural tread can be muddy after rain. Benches make this a good route to take slowly.
Catch the bloomThe daffodils run along the trail, not just at a single stop.
The daffodils run along the trail, not just at a single stop. The show shifts from year to year; peak is often around mid-April, though weather moves the timing. If you are driving mainly for flowers, check the park’s bloom update before you go. A 2015 account estimated about 40,000 daffodils, with nearly 30 types planted and 11,224 bulbs added since 1997.
H.S. Wagner’s plantingThe alternate name, H.S.
The alternate name, H.S. Wagner Daffodil Trail, honors the district’s first director-secretary and former owner of the Brush Road property. Wagner planted the first bulbs in the late 1930s. After he sold the land in 1958, the district later discussed opening the area to visitors to see the flowers.
Start at Brush RoadPark at the small gravel lot at 3100 Brush Road; it can fill during peak bloom.
Park at the small gravel lot at 3100 Brush Road; it can fill during peak bloom. Picnic tables are shown near the trailhead. No drinking-water source is listed for this entrance, so bring what you need. Pets are allowed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Cuyahoga Valley
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.
