Cache Owner JoesBar asks us to find Gordon, as we hop on the interstate toward Cleveland. A few thumb clicks are not going to work to cover the distance. We have logged out of digital time. Now we must operate in the slow gravity of roadway, Honda Civic, and eyeball-to-eyeball facetime.
The silent, stunning change of seasons animates, as red and yellow trees find their own voices amid the summer greens of juniper, sage, moss and jungle. A fierce wind persuades reluctant leaves to take the downward plunge, adding fresh energy to next spring’s new growth.
Our GPS lands at the Lakefront Nature Preserve, where unfolds the phenomenon of industrial skeletons repurposed into a vibrant sanctuary for birds, butterflies and all manner of species.
For decades, manufacturing waste, dumped into the Cuyahoga River, was then dredged into the open waters of Lake Erie. Horrified by the resulting poisoning of lake life, protectors of the mother lake pushed back. Confined Disposal Facilities were the answer, established as above-ground landfills for dredge collection. The outer boundary of the land where we stand is actually a freighter, dropped into the lake to confine dumped sediments against the shore. Now this retired CDF breathes and blooms. Rebounding bird routes intersect above an extravagance of flora, slowly exfoliating grace and beauty over a graveyard of wealth-mongering rapacity.
The geotrail is fine. Others have come to savor this place.
What happened to Gordon? He retailed the first mega grocery store chain, brokered iron ore deals to manufacturing interests, speculated in land and real estate sales, and generally benefited from the era of plentiful treasures from the earth. No longer Gordon Park, the Lakefront Nature Preserve returns to public ownership.
Next door, the entrails of the Nike Site CL-02, loaded and ready from 1957 to 1971, have found new life as a memorial to a native son, killed at Pearl Harbor.
Like a toddler dragging a rosy blanket to bed, the sunset trails us homeward.
OH Love Of Geocaching 