Glacial Grooves — Attraction in Kelleys Island

First, you will need to take a ferry to get to the island. Ferry rates can be found online. The rate is a per car/vehicle (by type) and a per person and each way. So, for one person, the cost will be the car and per person there & back. So 30+12+12=$54 for entire trip for one person. However, car rate only charged once. So each additional adult would be $24 round trip. They do have military discount and children under a certain age (I believe) is free.

Now you can go over on foot (no car charge) and rent a golf cart once on the island. Or, if you have your own boat or someone that you know owns a boat, take that way for waaaaay cheaper or free.

The Glacial Grooves is a huge part of the Great Lakes history and how they were formed. The coolest thing that I learned, even before going to the island is that underneath Lake Erie and part of another Lake is a HUGE active salt quarry. That the lake is like a huge limestone bowl and under it is the salt quarry, that is active in extracting salt from. Plenty of YouTube channels you can learn about this from. The Grooves are pretty cool and the cat walk has changed a lot since the last time I was here 20 years ago. There are also several landmarks on the island and hiking trails/preserves you can visit. Also home to another of the 88 State Parks, with a campground, store,...

This is an fun, easy adventure on an island off of Ohio in Lake Erie. We went in October. No crowds. It was a cloudy cool day in Marblehead where we boarded the ferry. Once we made it to the island in about 15 minutes, it was sunny and warm. The waves were 1-3 feet but the boat ride was smooth once we got going. We took a van and did not have to get out from arriving and buying the tickets, driving onto the ferry and driving off the ferry. Then we drove directly to the Glacier Grooves. We spent about 30 minutes taking our time and following the new cement path that goes all the way around. There are a few areas off the path for bird watching over the abandoned quarry. There are some trails in the woods not part of the exhibit that go further into the quarry and back out to the main road. Many photo ops around the grooves. Clear signage explaining what you see and things to look for in the grooves. It is wheel chair accessible but not sure if it is all the way around or just near the bottom. We found restrooms a short drive away in both directions. One flushes at the state park entrance. The other does not at the beach. We also drove around Kelleys Island for all the views of Put-in-Bay, Cedar Point and the...

I was quite excited to return to this landmark as I’ve recently been reading a lovely set of books, the Earth’s Children series, that touch heavily on the slowly moving mass of ice that cut this beautiful formation into existence. Though the works are fictional the scientific aspects are impressively well researched and I’ve learned much about the glacial movement and how it impacted everything along its path. It was refreshing to look upon something I took for granted as a kid with an entirely new perspective. I was able to gradually make my way around the entire natural display, fully taking it all in. As I walked there were plaques stationed along my route that I was able to peruse for further information. While it was quite enlightening I would like to see at least some of the plaques replaced as, over time, weathering has made them difficult to read. Other than that this is a quick stop for the family to take in some really magnificent ancient history in its...