CUVA week2 L.E

Week two at Cuyahoga Valley National Park was awesome. I still continued to meet a lot of interesting park employees and I had gotten my first roommate in my 4 bedroom house called the Schmidt House.This week I still worked in the Law Enforcement division shadowing my mentor Justin Pugh. Justin introduced me to the parks major roadways and highly visited areas. I went out on Car patrol most days and some days I combined it with bike patrol or feet patrol. Foot and Bike Patrol seemed to be better for me because that is when I got the most contact with the visitors. Kendall lake and the Ledges are two of the many attractions of CVNP because they both offer beautiful scenery. Kendall Lake is filled with water and plentiful fish. It also has a Unique Structure Built by the Civilian Conversation Corp. The ledges are cool because of the rock structure and the overlook it has on the park. It also offers a hiking trail around the top and the bottom. The ledges has a cave that is called Icebox Cave but entrance is prohibited because of the bats living in the cave being sick. They have white nose syndrome. Patrolling around the cave is very essential to make sure visitors are not sneaking in.

The Ledges

Icebox Cave at The Ledges

Kendal Lake

The Rest of the Week consisted of Car Patrol Cruising around the park and hiking patrol. Justin and I worked close with another L.E Ranger who had the same shift as we did. Her name is Kelly. Kelly showed us some illegal trail she found out in the southern end of the park. the illegal trail led to a lot of park trees cut down and a Ti-pi like housing structure made with all the trees and branches. we went into the Ti-pi and found and illegal fire pit, cooking ware and signs of marijuana. Kelly, Justin and I made the decision to place video surveillance in a nearby tree to be able to take photos of the people damaging the park. 

         
     




















After the surveillance was set up and hidden. We left the area and met with a group of volunteers. this group of volunteers are very special to Cuyahoga Valley because they work under the law enforcement division. This Group calls themselves the Trailblazers because they monitor the Trails when Law Enforcement Officers are not present. The meeting consisted of making sure the trailblazers had the right emergency response equipment they need to help someone if they get hurt on the trial. At the meeting some of the people brought along their horses who are also apart of the team. These horses and their owners ride along the Bridle trails and monitor those horse trails. I had the chance to introduce myself to the trailblazers and converse with some of them one on one. I am glad I got to meet them and I am happy they are apart of the CVNP volunteer group




The Trail Blazers

Paint (the horse) and her owners                             

More Horses