Our Creek

Our creek has been variously identified as "Headwaters of the Rocky River", "part of the East Branch of the Rocky River", and "a nameless tributary of the Rocky River".  Clearly, the water flowing through our camp winds up in Rocky River!  Or to put it another way:  our camp is part of the Rocky River Watershed. 

The ambiguity with the name comes from the fact that nature doesn't always arrange itself neatly to fit into the nice, neat categories that we like.  This far upstream from the main river, there are probably hundreds of streams contributing to the Rocky River.  Who's to say which of them are THE headwaters?  All of them could claim the honor, if creeks cared about such things. 

Looking at the most recent topographic map of the area [West Richfield, Ohio 1994], it appears that our creek flows through St. Bernard's Golf Club, brushes by the Medina County border, then quickly turns back into Summit County as if it thinks it will be safer there.  Then it joins another stream coming in from the northwest that is actually labeled "East Branch of Rocky River".  The two of them meander southwards together, picking up several more tributaries.  Then they all go careening around the corner formed by Whipps Ledges and go splashing into Hinkley Lake.  Even more creeks enter Hinkley Lake at other points.  By the time a single stream exits the lake, it is clearly, majesticly, Queen of the Valley.