10/10/2026
Our trees are just getting started, and October is one of our favorite times of year to point the car somewhere and see what turns up.
Our newest story, “Take the Long Way: An October Adventure in Crawford County,” is built around exactly that idea. Route 6 carries you through Linesville, Conneaut Lake, Meadville, Saegertown and Cambridge Springs, and the back roads in between are half the reason to go. Woodcock Creek Lake, Canadohta Lake, the farm country around Guys Mills and Titusville. All of it is gorgeous right now.
When you are ready to get out of the car: the paved Spillway Trail runs 3.25 miles from the Linesville Spillway out to the fish hatchery and the Messerall Truss Bridge, built in 1876 and beautifully restored. Sugar Run and the Tamarack Trail wind through Pymatuning State Park. The Tsuga Trail at the Erie National Wildlife Refuge near Guys Mills is 1.2 miles the short way or about 1.6 the long way, through meadows, wetlands, hardwood forest and hemlock thickets. Bring binoculars. The fall migration is passing through.
The eating and drinking is its own reason to go this time of year. Davenport Cidery & W**ery presses c***r from the apples growing right outside, and their dog-friendly patio looks out over the orchard while you drink it. In Cambridge Springs, Riverside Brewing Company sits inside a reconstructed 1890s timber-framed barn on the old Riverside Inn grounds, where maple from the owners’ own Howles Maple & Beef Farms turns up in the b**r and in the kitchen. There are orchards, pumpkin patches and taprooms waiting in the story, too. If a brewery is on your route, line up a designated driver so everyone gets to enjoy it.
The whole guide is here, Halloween happenings and all: https://loom.ly/xtJmUPQ
This is the month Crawford County shows off, and there is nothing we love more than hearing where people ended up. Take the long way this weekend, then come back and tell us what you found.
Picture credit: Wild Heron Photography
