How to Quest

Quest clues and maps—created by 

teachers, volunteers, and/or park 

staff—will help you discover the 

natural and cultural gems of the 

Ohio & Erie Canalway. At the end 

of each quest is a hidden treasure 

box. Sign your name in the logbook, 

stamp this page, and return the box 

to its hiding place.

The questing season runs from 

April 15 through November 15.

Notice a problem or have 

suggestions for improving this 

quest? Contact Doug Kusak of 

Cleveland Metroparks at 216-206-1000.

About This Program

I’m Arrye Rosser, interpretive and education specialist at Cuyahoga 

Valley National Park. I’d like to thank everyone who helped fulfill my 

dream of bringing questing to Ohio. This project was made possible 

by the generous support of a 2010 Parks as Classrooms grant from the 

National Park Service and is a partnership between many organizations.

So far, more than 70 teachers, volunteers, and park staff have been 

involved in writing and field testing our initial series of Canalway 

Quests. Our plan is to create many more in the years ahead. If you 

would like to volunteer, contact me at 440-546-5992 or 

arrye_rosser@nps.gov.

Special thanks to Emily Bryant and Steven Glazer.

The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the rails, trails, landscapes, 

towns, and sites that grew up along the first 110 miles of the canal 

that helped Ohio and our nation grow. 

For more information and to get copies of other quests, 

visit www.nps.gov/cuva and search for keyword “questing.”

Pipe cross-section. COURTESY/CLEVELAND METROPARKS

Canalway Quest

Quest for What Moves You

Enjoy word play on this moderate trek from the 

CanalWay Center, adapted for adventurers with 

mobility impairments.

Stamp here 

This quest was created by Doug Kusak, cultural history interpreter, 

Cleveland Metroparks.

Across the valley, the workers they nestle

Several pipes and a two-track trestle.

Spanning the valley, shortcuts for the trains.

Pipes move what you flush down the drains.

Pass under structures that help move the loads.

Your quest nearly over, well that it bodes.

A waterfall is the place we next meet—

But don’t look up, this fall’s close to your feet!

Canal liquid assets help products to move,

But flooding the market would not behoove.

Check water balance or canal’s kaput.

Withdrawn extra water now runs under foot.

A Zen-like peace completion centers.

We will be your quest move mentors.

Back to canal bridge, be sure to cross east,

Then pass what looks like a ring for a beast.

Time to go back up the path down you came.

It might look different, but backwards the same.

CanalWay Center soon comes into sight.

Move to path’s end, but only if right.

A Quest for What Moves You, you’re almost through.

Through our Hidden Valley we have moved you.

Some things revealed when read ’tween the lines.

“What Moves You” treasure is between the signs.

We’ll trade good impressions, each in our book.

Return all the items from whence you took.

Relax and refresh, for comfort we strive.

CanalWay Center—come in 9 to 5!

Clues Continued...
Horseshoe of blacktop, nay, not to your right.

Opposite way, for a new pair o’ site.

If it is night and you move by a star,

Polaris will guide you the best by far.

Continue on path ’til containers of white

Across the river are clearly in sight.

Pause in the circle, consider the bounty

Of fuel that you need to move through the county.

Inside containers, processed dinosaur—

Four million gallons, perhaps a bit more.

There are dinos no more; no, we’ll never see ’ em—

Decayed, refined into petroleum.

The tanks and this rail, as big around,

Across the river, dry higher ground.

Fuel up your car in Cleveland or near—

Three-quarters’ chance your gas was passed here.

Cryptic directions and clues we do give.

Head now for home if with Santa you live.

Posthaste past the Y that’s crossed like a T.

Don’t stop ’til you spot where the path goes to P.

1913 means more than just numbers.

No more canal boats, the flow is for “plum-bers.”

Dry bed was filled in or leased to rail line.

Want to know more? Start by reading the sign.

Businesses needed to use water still.

That house would pump it from here to the mill.

North, this the farthest canal water goes.

South, it goes further, as fisherman knows.

Towards the equator your body now move.

Make beeline for trestle, you’re now in the groove!

Past where we started, to systems we love.

See power lines that are stretching above.

On the right you will pass, and you may see

A place you can go if you need to pee—

Better than outhouse, a great improvement!

Please use our Romtec for your bowel movement.

Stick with this path though it throws you a curve.

Stay in the ballpark if you’ve got the nerve.

Like rounding third in the opposite way,

Everything’s fair when questing we play!

Keep eye to your southpaw to see who’s on deck.

A bit in left field, please, don’t strain your neck.

Line up at the railing, look down just for fun.

You’ll see a great river on its home run.

Named Cuyahoga, a native word—

Crooked, the meaning, moves undeterred.

Gaze at the river. How high can it get?

In winter ’08, your feet would be wet!

100 miles it flows, twists, and bends.

Seven remain, at Lake Erie it ends.

The river looks healthy and it might seem fine—

Things were more crooked in ’69.

Further down river, pollution caught fire.

Incensing the locals, raising their ire!

Clean Water Act, EPA legislation,

Cleaned up our water and moved a nation.

Natural resources lend to our wealth.

We are the stewards, we maintain their health.

Move to improve them through trouble or strife.

Remember fresh water is what gives us life.

Planning Ahead

This quest is adapted for those with mobility impairments. It can be 

done without assistance by people using a fully charged scooter or 

power wheelchair. Others may contact the CanalWay Center several 

days in advance to arrange transportation for questers and their 

manual wheelchairs up and down a steep hill. Call the CanalWay 

Center at 216-206-1000, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This treasure hunt takes about 60 minutes. All surfaces are paved. 

A hat or sunglasses, and drinking water are recommended. You will 

need a pen or pencil to sign the logbook. Some people prefer using 

their own signature stamp and ink pad or marker.

Getting There

Start outside the CanalWay Center at the Ohio & Erie Canal 

Reservation, 4524 East 49th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44125. This quest 

is entirely outdoors.

Clues

From CanalWay Center you will sally,

Exploring what moves in our Hidden Valley.

Descend a paved path, the one of your choosing;

Cross the canal bridge, towpath you’re perusing.

Scan at waist level for obelisk 7.

Go there, it tells you the miles ’til heaven,

Provided that Cleveland’s the heaven you seek.

Otherwise, it’s just days in the week.

This is no time to get touchy-feely.

Heed words assigned to Horace Greeley.*

Who wrote them first? Who mixed and who matched?

There’s uncertainty where phrase was first hatched.

* “Go __ __ __ __, young man!”

Moving through flood plains can be quite alarming,

Traversing fields once used for farming.

Plow past farm exhibits and we will take flight,

If you just “Straighten up and fly right.”