Portraits of Adventure / East 185th
East 185th
What the spillway won’t let through
2026 - In Progress
The East 185th Street Spillway sits about a mile and a half up Euclid Creek from Lake Erie, and for decades it's been the main thing keeping fish out of the water above it. This chapter is part of a project to restore that connection, giving fish and other aquatic life a way past the spillway and back into the upper creek for the first time in a long while.
This is the second of two sites Portraits of Adventure is capturing for the Cuyahoga Area of Concern project, paired with the Gorge Dam upstream in Cuyahoga Falls. Where the Gorge chapter centers on recreation, stewardship, and history, East 185th leans toward commerce, history, and the people who show up here without much fanfare: local anglers, the bait shop that's long served as an informal hub for the fishing community, and voices who can speak to what this stretch of creek has meant before the barrier comes down. Subjects are still being finalized.
Portraits and interviews are scheduled through this fall. Paired with the Gorge Dam, this chapter will document a river system's recovery from both ends, the headwaters and the mouth, through the people who use it, protect it, and are watching it change.
Portraits of Adventure reveals the human connection to land and outdoor spaces, the culture built around them, and the experiences shaped by place. It exists to protect the spaces where those connections take root.
Chapters
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The Buckeye Trail
The volunteers who keep a 1,400 mile trail connected across Ohio, one blaze and cleared log at a time.
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The Connecting Thread
Kite surfers, mountain bikers, skaters, people met in passing rather than by appointment.
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Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Where this project began, a free national park that taught me how much people shape a place.
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3 Trackers
An adaptive ski program where students and volunteers make the slopes work for everyone.
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Vultures Knob
A 50 year old private trail, its final season open before logging moves in on land once used as a landfill.
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University of Akron
Portraits of Akron students building a life around the outdoors, met through a campus climate symposium and the people who followed.
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Gorge Dam
A dam removal on the Cuyahoga River and the people affected by the restoration. Coming Fall 2026.
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E 185th
A spillway rebuilt so steelhead trout can find their way back to Lake Erie. Coming Fall 2026.
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What's next?
Each chapter is handled with care, honesty, and respect. Here is what it takes to be considered for the next one.
