Best Rush Found in Nature: Experience the Falls Edge Glass Walkway at Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park

You can hear visitors’ gasps as they gingerly take their first steps onto the Falls Edge Glass Walkway at Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park. Opened in May, the riveting 137-foot-long glass-bottomed pedestrian bridge takes visitors near Minnehaha Falls and 50 feet above Sylvan’s Creek gorge. It’s the first Ohio Department of Natural Resources property to have a glass walkway.

“You’re getting a thrilling experience,” says park manager John Trevelline. “It’s surreal.”

After a climb up the easy 0.4 mile White Trail, you reach the walkway. Decking eases visitors onto its surface. Adults cautiously inch onto the glass, looking down, as kids drop and press their faces up to the glass. On the right, see lower Minnehaha Falls. To the left, carefully examine the creek to locate a bubbling artesian spring.

“That water that’s coming from the quarry park over there in their pond,” explains Trevelline, “it’s percolating up.”

The real showstopper appears as you reach the end of the walkway, which cantilevers over upper Minnehaha Falls — giving you the sensation of hovering above the waterfall.

“As you get to the edge, you’re gonna feel your heart race,” Trevelline says. “There’s not many places you can get out over a waterfall.”

Constructed with galvanized and painted steel, stainless-steel cable railings, fiberglass grating and glass panels, the robust S-shaped structure slightly sways by design.

Reactions have been glowing. “It’s nice. It’s secure. It’s safe … brings out the elements of the world,” says a Youngstown hiker. “You look down — oh my, God! Super cool.”

Past the walkway, continue to other trails, such as the adjacent, difficult 0.2-mile Red Trail. Intrepid hikers can climb through a small rock opening and down a ladder into the Devil’s Hole. There, they can experience a dark, cool microclimate. To enter the nearby Devil’s Icebox, hopscotch across stones in Sylvan’s Creek. Your eyes need a moment to adjust to the darkness within. Another microclimate, it is so cold that you can see your breath — it’s said to hold ice through spring.

These are just a few of the awe-inspiring wonders at Nelson-Kennedy Ledges, which is also home to the 40-foot Cascade Falls. The walkway consistently fills the parking lot and brings visitors from Ohio and beyond.

“It’s spectacular,” says Trevelline. “There isn’t anybody that I’ve seen come up that hasn’t been smiling and amazed.”

12440 state Route 282, Nelson Township, ohiodnr.gov