Ohio's only national park hides a small body of water with an outsized pull. Kendall Lake, a 12-acre lake in the town of Peninsula, is the largest lake in Cuyahoga Valley National Park — and one of its most relaxing corners for hiking, fishing and wildlife spotting.
The lake is entirely man-made. In 1935, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps — the Depression-era programme that put unemployed Americans to work improving public land — dammed Salt Run, a tributary of the Cuyahoga River. A beach, bathhouse, fishing pier and trails followed. The swimming days are gone, but the setting remains: a stone-and-wood bathhouse built into the hillside on the eastern shore, ringed by cattails and forest.
Hiking is the main draw. The Kendall Lake Loop is an easy 1.5-mile circuit, mostly unpaved, that skirts the shoreline before climbing through cherry, maple and pine woods with views back over the water. Deer and even coyotes turn up on the path, and in winter the trail converts to snowshoe territory. Want more mileage? The Cross Country Trail adds a moderate 3-mile loop through wildflower meadows and over a footbridge, while the tougher combined Kendall Lake Loop and Salt Run Trail stretches 4.5 miles up wooden staircases along the stream.
Anglers have it good here too. A wooden pier juts into the lake from the bathhouse lawn, where picnic tables and benches make it easy to settle in for an afternoon. The water holds bluegill, channel catfish, largemouth bass and pumpkinseed, with beavers, waterfowl and the occasional kayaker for company. Fishing is free of park fees, though anyone aged 16 or older needs an Ohio fishing licence — and catch-and-release is encouraged, if not required.
Getting there is straightforward. The park sits between two airports: Akron-Canton (CAK), about 27 miles south with nonstop flights from roughly two dozen mostly East Coast cities, and Cleveland Hopkins (CLE), 30 miles away with a wider route map. Entry to the park and the lake costs nothing.
Why it matters: if your mental image of a national park involves crowds and entrance gates, Cuyahoga Valley — and Kendall Lake in particular — offers the opposite. It's a low-key, fee-free escape within easy reach of Cleveland and Akron, and it pairs neatly with the park's Ledges Trail, which threads through rock formations to a standout overlook, or the ghostly remnants of nearby Boston, Ohio, a once-bustling canal village that has all but vanished.
