Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Some of the earliest portraits in this project were created inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a place that shaped my understanding of what Portraits of Adventure could become. While not an official partnership, these images show the beginnings from which this projects visual language has developed. CVNP is where I learned to slow down, pay attention, and recognize the depth people bring to the landscape, it largely revealed the whole story of outdoor and open spaces. This section gathers portraits made within the park, a place that continues to influence how I see connection, environment, and the people who move through them.

When I moved to Ohio in 2023, CVNP became my introduction to the state. I did not realize how close it sat to so many communities stretching from Cleveland down to Akron and Canton. The park offers access to the outdoors for thousands of people who otherwise might not have the time, resources, or opportunity to reach wilder places. Coming from Colorado, where most of my adult hiking took place, I was not used to seeing such a wide range of people on the trail. CVNP felt different. It felt open. It felt used. And that felt right.

I noticed hikers in tennis shoes, families in everyday clothing, people carrying whatever they had rather than whatever an outdoor retailer said they needed. It was humbling to see. I grew up without money for branded gear, and being on these trails felt full circle in a way. It reminded me that adventure has never required the perfect outfit or the perfect destination. It only requires a willingness to step outside and be present.

CVNP also introduced me to a kind of diversity I had not experienced in one shared outdoor space. Not just diversity in age, skin color, or background, but diversity in belief, life experience, and perspective. The trails brought together people who might never cross paths elsewhere. It made the park feel less like a scenic escape and more like a community landscape, a shared place that reflects the people who move through it.

The park’s accessibility plays a big role in that. CVNP is one of the few national parks that does not charge an entrance fee, which removes a barrier many people face when seeking time in nature. The park also works alongside local and regional partners, including Cleveland Metroparks and other agencies, to protect land, maintain trail systems, and expand access. While CVNP holds deep natural and cultural history, it is also a relatively young national park. It was established as a National Recreation Area in 1974 and redesignated as a National Park in 2000. That history reinforces its purpose as a place where people come first, where use and protection coexist.

For Portraits of Adventure, Cuyahoga Valley National Park became the first landscape where I truly saw how everyday people shape a place as much as the place shapes them. It remains a grounding force in the project and a reminder that meaningful adventure can happen anywhere that people show up with curiosity and intention.