Natural Ohio Adventures

How to get there:
Although it doesn’t seem like it, this waterfall is just a few hundred yards from the Brecksville Reservation’s main parking lot. If you’ve entered the park by exiting off Route 82, continue past the first parking lot for Chippewa Creek Falls (not this waterfall) and drive approx. ¼ mile down the road until you reach the parking lot for the Brecksville Nature Center, this should be the next parking lot. If you’re coming in from Riverview Road, continue up Chippewa Creek Drive for roughly a mile until you reach the same parking lot, which will be at the top of the hill. Once in the lot. Head towards the side of the street Chippewa Creek is on. If you came from Route 82, this will be on the left side of the road. If you came from Riverview Road, it will be on the right. Walk until you reach a wooden fence and trail that runs adjacent to the fence. This is the Chippewa Gorge Trail. This trail won’t take you down to the falls, but it’s a great hiking trail to explore if you have extra time. Directly below you is the Lower Chippewa Creek Falls, although you probably won’t be able to see it from here. The gorge is lined with steep rocky walls, but it is possible to safely get into it. If you want a safe route into the gorge, I recommend taking the Chippewa Gorge trail to the right for a few hundred yards, where the gorge walls become less steep and less rocky.

Lower Chippewa Creek Falls

Height: 15
Crest: 3-15 feet
Difficulty to reach: Medium-Difficult
Address: Chippewa Creek Drive, Brecksville Reservation, Ohio

​In dry weather, this is a pretty neat waterfall that pales in comparison to the dramatic surrounding scenery. After a rain, this waterfall transforms into one of Ohio’s most spectacular wild waterfalls. The waterfall turns into thundering cascade comparable to the gushing waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest. The crest increases to 15 feet, spilling off two different sides of the rock ledge. If has REALLY rained, the waterfall’s crest may spill over the whole rock face. This isn’t the largest or widest waterfall in Ohio by any means, but it certainly is one of the wildest waterfalls you can find in the Buckeye State.

Photo by Jacob Teed