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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Beyond the Solar System

You might remember a post I wrote last year about one of my walks in the Cleveland Metroparks.  There is one section along the paved pedestrian and bike trail in the Rocky River Reservation where there are plaques picturing the planets of the solar system.  They are spaced apart proportionately to their actual distance from each other in space.  On that walk, I passed the plaques of the outer planets as I walked northward.  I stopped at the planet Jupiter before heading back.

The Sunday before last was a beautifully sunny day, so I decided to take another long walk in the park.  I drove along the Valley Parkway to the South Mastick Picnic Area and parked my car there.  Nearby is the plaque of Jupiter where I had left off last year.  It is also near the 6.5- mile marker along the trail


The outer planets are a considerable distance from each other, but, as I continued my walk, I saw that the remaining planets and the sun were all grouped close to each other.







Well, that wasn't much of a walk.  I hadn't even passed the parking lot of the picnic area.  So, I continued my walk northward along the path, following the course of the Rocky River as it flows toward Lake Erie.



The river curves away from the path, and I passed the Big Met Golf Course, one of several public golf courses in the park system.  The course was open and there were golfers out.




Beyond the golf course there is an area of wetlands.



A Canadian goose gliding along the water



A couple of turtles sunning themselves on a log




The path returned to the course of the Rocky River.  On the cliff overlooking the valley is Fairview Hospital.



The Lorain Road Bridge, a steel girder bridge built in 1935, passes over the park high above the valley.



In a number of places the parkway crossed the river as fords where the road was built just above the water level.  In times of high water the parkway would be impassable, so many of the fords have been replaced by bridges.  Here you can see one of the abandoned fords with the swollen river flowing over it.  It is a popular spot for fishermen.


Not far from here I reached the 3.5-mile marker.  I had walked three miles.  I turned around, and retraced my steps for a round-trip walk of six miles.

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