Yellow Creek Park Photo Tour (56k beware, many pics!) (Hamilton: trees, area)

[truemuck]

At the request of CortlandGirl, I'm posting my pics of Yellow Creek Park. Yellow Creek Park is Mill Creek Park's less developed, (and less maintained) "sister park" over in Struthers. The park follows the aforementioned creek which was the site of the Hopewell Furnace, the first blast furnace built in Ohio and west of Pennsylvania. There was also some grist milling done in the area as well. Nowadays its reverted more back to nature and is one of Mahoning County's seemingly forgotten gems.
Anyway, here are the pics:

Entrance to the park:


Historical Marker for the Hopewell Furnace:


The way there:


Warning for all who attempt this trip, bring your waders!


One of the many weir dams along Yellow Creek. Some may be remnants of the milling in the area, some may be for the water pipes that criss cross the area, as its near a water supply area.


One of the many awesome rock formations at Yellow Creek Park:




The biggest problem the park seems to have is graffiti, as witnessed here:


Probably how the creek got its name:


A view along the creek:


I call this the "Yellow Column". Its probably one of the most unusual, (and beautiful) rock formations in the park:




Another one of the many weirs along Yellow Creek:


Just upstream from the last pic is this awesome ice-laden cliff:

[truemuck]

More of the ice cliffs:








Beautiful stone bridge and icicles:


From the bridge:


Unfortunately, the bridge is not a footbridge, but rather gets the unglamorous duty of carrying a pipeline!


A better view of the bridge:


Upstream from the bridge, this was as far as I got yesterday:

[truemuck]

Went back this morning with my waders on for creek crossing and
saw these little waterfalls:


Crossing the creek:


Finally across the creek!


Finally made it to Hopewell Furnace, (or whats left of it!)


Just up the hill from the furnace lies this waterfall, (please excuse my roommate):


And this dam:


Which leads us to the end of the park here at Lake Hamilton:

[Traveler87]

Great pics! Those ice formations look awesome.

[CortlandGirl79]

Thanks for posting!

[Cisco GT]

Great pics truemuck!! I ventured out there once last year while I was doing a little exploring around Struthers/Campbell... I guess I didn't go far enough upstream as I never found the furnace or that sweet waterfall!

Thanks for posting these!! Definitely the motivation I needed for a return trip once the weather breaks

[CortlandGirl79]

How about finding the motivation to post more pictures, Northwoods? lol

[Cisco GT]

Actually, I have a few of the Hopewell Memorial (time capsule & ingot) on the other side of Lake Hamilton. I now see that I was closer to the furnace than what I thought... or at least the dam anyway, which looks like it would be a blast to climb around on.

Which leads me to a question:

Is there anyway to access the furnace from the lake? I'd be all for wandering through the creek during the Spring, Summer & Fall months but being that I'm wader-less, the idea of crossing the water during the winter months isn't very appealing.

[truemuck]

Originally Posted by NorthwoodsZJ

Which leads me to a question:

Is there anyway to access the furnace from the lake? I'd be all for wandering through the creek during the Spring, Summer & Fall months but being that I'm wader-less, the idea of crossing the water during the winter months isn't very appealing.

Yes!

Go the NE corner of the Lake, just North of the stone dam and you'll see a trail heading downhill. Go like halfway down the hill, and you'll see it in the middle of some trees on your left. Look for the little brown sign in the pic, and you should find it OK.

[Cisco GT]

Thanks for the info!