Raccoon Falls & Romane Falls: Hidden Waterfalls in Cuyahoga Valley

Hiking to Raccoon Falls and Romane Falls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a great way to spend a few hours exploring some of the park’s lesser-known waterfalls. The mostly off-trail hike in CVNP requires crossing the Ohio & Erie Canal, along with climbing over and ducking under scores of fallen trees, making it best suited for hikers who enjoy off-the-beaten-path adventures. For those willing to leave the main trails behind, the reward is a quiet, scenic hike and the chance to see two hidden waterfalls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park that most visitors never know exist.

Trailhead elevation 623'

Water seasonal throughout the ravine

Don't miss hiking in winter when the falls are frozen

Hiking to Raccoon & Romane Falls

We’re back in the single digits (-20 with the wind chill) when Heather and I head out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park for a few miles, which is just about perfect for chasing frozen waterfalls. The plan is to check out two falls that neither of us has been to before. From the Station Road Bridge Trailhead, we cross the bridge and turn left onto the Towpath, heading north.

About 0.4 miles in, we pass Mudcatcher Falls, a man-made cascade at the mouth of the ravine that leads down to Twin Sister Falls. We were just out there last week, so we keep moving.

At 1.15 miles, we pass another ravine, then a third a few hundred feet later that holds Contour Falls—another recent stop—so we skip that one too. Finally, at 1.6 miles (near coordinates 41.339068, -81.586769), we reach the fourth ravine from the trailhead and cross a wide section of the frozen canal, where the scenery changes quickly.

As we enter the ravine, it immediately feels familiar—steep walls, plenty of downed trees to step over or duck under, and a nice mix of hardwoods and hemlocks. It’s not quite as beautiful as the ravine cradling Crazy Man’s Hollow Falls a few miles south of here, but it seems like a good place to spend some time exploring.

Like the other streams in the area, the unnamed tributary here is frozen solid after three weeks of bitter cold, and the snow from Winter Storm Fern hasn’t budged much. About 0.4 miles after entering the ravine—2 miles into the hike—we reach a split. The left branch leads to Raccoon Falls, the right to Romane Falls, and we turn left to check out Raccoon first.

More of the same scenery unfolds as we walk deeper into the ravine, until finally, at 2.2 miles into our day, we reach the 30 foot Raccoon Falls. It doesn’t appear on any park maps, and its name’s origin is unknown, but it’s an interesting waterfall—one that both fits in with, and stands apart from, many of the others found off this stretch of the Towpath.

After snapping a few photos, we backtrack to the split and head toward Romane Falls. Here, the hike gets a little trickier, with far more downed trees to climb over and plenty of spots where our footsteps punch through the thin ice.

This stretch of the hike isn’t just a tree or two to duck under or climb over—it’s huge piles of fallen trees that slow our pace considerably.

At around 2.7 miles in, we reach the 20-foot cascade—a single-drop, horsetail waterfall that we both agree is more scenic that Raccoon. Without a view from above—which isn’t possible from where we’re standing—it’s hard to be sure, but it appears two separate streams spill down from the rock walls overhead to form two cascades, not one.

We stick around for a few minutes before retracing our steps to the canal and cross it once again.

Then, it's back on the Towpath to make our way back to the trailhead. It ended up being a great way to spend a few hours in the park, exploring a couple of the area’s lesser-known waterfalls. I’m looking forward to coming back in late spring, when the streams are flowing again, to see how different they look without the ice. For now, though, another stretch of well-below-freezing temperatures means frozen waterfalls and icy trails are here to stay.