Field Notes Ohio

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117 parks in 7 regions

Blue Hen Falls

Boston Township · Summit County

Plunge falls over a shale ledge into a narrow wooded ravine

15 ftheight

Moderatehike

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed: September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source: Official page
Location confidence: Verified property location
Published coordinates for the falls or its trailhead
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

A small, photogenic shale ledge waterfall in a quiet Cuyahoga Valley ravine, reached by an easy to moderate hike on the Buckeye Trail.

Height: About 15 feet
Trail: About 1.2 to 1.3 miles round trip, dirt path
Managed by: National Park Service, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Best time: After rain, spring snowmelt, or winter ice
Fee: Free
Nearby: Trail continues downstream to Buttermilk Falls

When it flows

Fed by a small tributary called Spring Creek, so it is at its best after rain, during spring snowmelt, and when it freezes into ice columns in winter; it can slow to a trickle in a dry late summer.

The story

Blue Hen Falls drops over a ledge of Cleveland shale that is softer and less resistant than the sandstone caprocks at falls like Brandywine, which is part of why it is smaller and more delicate. The surrounding ravine was shaped by the same postglacial stream erosion that cut the rest of the Cuyahoga Valley's side gorges after the last ice age.

During Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s the Cuyahoga Valley was known for hidden stills and speakeasies, including the nearby Jaite paper-mill town and the tavern later restored as the park's Canal Exploration Center. Local tradition holds that the falls took its name from a flock of blue hens, a breed of fighting chicken, kept by moonshiners who ran a still in these woods, though park historians note there is no documented record confirming the story. The land became part of the National Park Service's Cuyahoga Valley holdings as the recreation area was assembled in the 1970s.

The falls sits directly on the Buckeye Trail, but that Cuyahoga Valley stretch is not one of the named sections in the given Buckeye Trail id list, so no bt id is assigned.

Stay behind railings and on marked trails. Wet rock at the top and base of a falls is slick in every season, and most Ohio falls do not allow swimming, wading or climbing. Flow depends on rain: many falls are a trickle in late summer and at their best after a wet spell, in spring, or frozen in a hard winter.

The bootlegger's blue hens

During Prohibition, the story goes, a moonshiner hid a still in the ravine below the falls and kept a flock of blue hens, a prized fighting-chicken breed, near his operation. Word of the birds spread among locals, and in time people started calling the waterfall itself Blue Hen Falls.

Behind the legend

Park rangers and historians who have looked into the name say this is the most commonly repeated explanation, but no deed, newspaper account, or other record has turned up to confirm a still or a flock of chickens at this spot. The Cuyahoga Valley genuinely was a Prohibition-era smuggling corridor, so the story is plausible, but the name's true origin is undocumented.

If you go

Treat it as local folklore rather than fact, and enjoy the short hike out and back on the Buckeye Trail; the ravine is prettiest a day or two after rain or when it ices over in winter.

Getting to the falls

About 1.2 to 1.3 miles round trip on the Buckeye Trail from the Boston Mills Road trailhead, on a dirt path with some roots, rocks, and a modest elevation change into the ravine.

Status

Open

Hours

24 hours, though hiking after dark is not recommended

Cost

Free

Phone

440-717-3890

Managed by

National Park Service (Cuyahoga Valley National Park)

Please note

Stay on the marked trail, no swimming, watch footing near wet rock, dogs permitted on leash