By Brad Nellis
So Sunday, January 26, 2026 was a pretty snowy day here in The Land. Breaking news, I know! And we got snow in January…shocking.
Here in my little town of Twinsburg, we ended up with about a foot of snow over the course of the storm. I stayed put while it snowed, I may be kind of dumb but I’m not reckless. However, I’ll confess I was out hiking and snowshoeing less than 24 hours after it stopped snowing though.
I headed over to Tinkers Creek State Nature Preserve for a snowshoe hike. It’s a flat, fairly short trail that offers scenic views of several ponds and old-growth forest. With a foot of snow on the ground, breaking trail in snowshoes wasn’t too bad, would’ve probably been a little difficult for standard hiking.
I also hit up Brandywine Falls for a frigid hike. With the extended cold weather we’ve had, the falls have been frozen over for a little while now. I’m not a huge fan of frozen waterfalls but I do find it interesting just how big that “block” of ice gets on those falls. Judging from about where the drop is, the block of ice is probably 10-15 feet thick near the top!
The final stop on the post-snowpocalypse tour was the Bedford Reservation in the Cleveland Metro Parks. Spent a little time at Bridal Veil Falls and the Hemlock Creek Picnic Area. Bridal Veil Falls are gone with the ice and snow but it’s still a very scenic spot and nice trail. And it was interesting to see all the human footprints on the frozen creek as folks took the opportunity to get down into the gorge and explore a typically unreachable area.
And though I may not prefer frozen falls, I did find the iced over Hemlock Creek Falls pretty interesting. In fact, that might’ve been the first time I’ve been out to that spot frozen as it was.
I really began to embrace winter a few years when we had a doggo who was part husky and who LOVED being out in the cold. We’d hike together almost no matter the weather and I grew to love the visuals in the area after a snowfall.
So even if you tend to hibernate in the winter, I’d recommend getting out at least a couple of times to enjoy our beautiful parks. I think you’ll be glad you did!
By Brad Nellis
