Tinkers Creek

Tinker's Creek, in Cuyahoga, Summit and Portage counties, is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, providing about a third of its flow into Lake Erie.HistoryTinker's Creek was named after Captain Joseph Tinker, the principal boatsman of Moses Cleaveland's survey crew, who died in a boating accident while returning to New England in the fall of 1797.Tinker's Creek GorgeThousands of years ago, when the Wisconsinian Glaciation retreated, dips and valleys like Tinker's Creek Gorge Elevation: 896ft were created due to erosion in the underlying shale. The awesome, severely sloped gorge sculpted by Tinker's Creek became a National Natural Landmark in 1968. A raised viewpoint over the gorge is easily accessible from the Gorge Parkway in the Cleveland Metroparks' Bedford Reservation. The stream is sometimes run in whitewater kayaks and is arguably the most challenging creek in the state of Ohio (when there is enough water to make it runnable).Great FallsThe continuous downward flow of water erodes the underlying shale faster than the harder sandstone, causing sandstone outcropping collapses and features such as the 25-ft-high Great Falls of Tinker's Creek or Gates Mills Falls Elevation: 853ft, in Bedford, Ohio.Tinker's Creek AqueductTinker's Creek Aqueduct Elevation: 610ft, on the National Register of Historic Places, was built to bridge the Ohio and Erie Canal over Tinker's Creek near its confluence with the Cuyahoga River. The aqueduct and surrounding area are subject to flooding by the Cuyahoga River and Tinker's Creek.