Glacial Grooves State Memorial

The Glacial Grooves on the north side of Kelleys Island are the largest easily accessible such grooves in the world. This memorial is very well-​maintained and clean. There is a lot of historical info available on-​site to read and learn about the grooves. Very cool, and rare! From a walkway, footbridge and stairs you can look down on the immense grooves, which are 400 feet long, 35 feet wide and up to 10 feet deep, suggesting the tremendous power of the ice that formed them. Average visit time: Allow 30 minutes–
History:
Of Devonian limestone, Glacial Grooves Geological Preserve contain marine fossils that are 350 to 400 million years old. They were scoured into solid limestone bedrock about 18,000 years ago by the great ice sheet which covered part of North America.
Glacial Grooves Geological Preserve is locally managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Lake Erie Islands State Park. It’s definitely worth a visit!

Just need a quick visit here. Not much to see, but it is history so say been there, done that. Don’t plan on walking from the Jet Express drop off. We were told it was a 5 minute walk. HA! Rent a golf cart!!!

Great place to visit for the historical and natural significance. Hubby and I visited in September one year for our anniversary and had the entire place to ourselves. The tourist crowd was gone and no one was even in the parking lot but us. We got to walk around at our leisure and take pictures without any tourists in the way. So I’m going to upload a bunch of pictures and let them speak! Beautiful!

Yes, they are here and you can see them!

Time for a refresh on this site. C’mon State of Ohio, pony up a few bucks and provide some additional landscaping, clean up the scratched/​foggy plexiglass on the signage and make this site something more than it is.
Much of the interpretation of the Glacial Grooves is repetitive — basically, the same information is presented multiple ways and said differently on the half dozen markers surrounding the Grooves.
Also, please add a bike rack in the parking area. It’s unfathomable that there is not one there.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if huge sheets of ice, peppered with rocks and boulders, over thousands of years slowly worked their way through solid bed rock like frozen sandpaper? I never really did either but since we were on Kelley’s Island and there’s not much to do unless you drink or want to buy a sparkly foam sun visor we decided to stop at the glacial grooves.
I don’t know. I just don’t get impressed by stuff like this. I don’t get all weepy when confronted by the majesty of mother nature. I’d probably be the guy standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon wondering what all the fuss is about. So here I was, walking around the fenced-​in granite gully, stopping to read the little signs posted near the edge, snapping pictures and wondering the same thing. Maybe you’ll be awestruck by the natural beauty. I just didn’t care all that much. If this is on your bucket list I just don’t know what else to say.
How do you rate something like groovy rocks? I don’t have anything to compare it to, now, do I? Maybe these are some 5-​star grooves. Maybe there are some grooves in Canada or Norway or some other far away place once covered by miles of ice that would make these look like some really sad and pathetic, no, second-​rate grooves. I wasn’t really sure what to give them so I had to go with how they made me feel. I guess they did exactly what one would expect from glacial grooves. They kind of sat there, staring back at me with their eons of wisdom as if to say ‘We hope you enjoy your tiny, insignificantly short existence on this planet. We’ll be here thousands of years after you’re gone, sucker.’ I don’t need rocks to make me question the meaning of my life. Stupid rocks.

While staying across the street at the state park campground, we wandered over to check out the Grooves. It is a nice little spot. We arrived close to sunset, which is a good time to go. When the sun is low in the sky, there are more shadows in the grooves, making for good photography.
There are no facilities other than a parking lot. The groves themselves are fenced by rather run down chain link, and the interpretive plaques had seen better days, but that may just have been because it was the end of the season.
Overall, it was a great, quick prehistory lesson.

Put the beer down for a few minutes. C’mon, you can do it. Now head north up Division Street and take in some geologic history.
The world’s oldest, most accessible, and therefore, MOST FAMOUS glacial grooves. Take some time to read the plaques and meditate on the meaning of 18,000 years. On the bulk of a mile-​thick slab of ice. On implacable, inexorable movement — an inch a day. On the power that drove boulders into the ground, and used sand as a geologic weapon.
Done?
OK. Now, go back down Division Street and pick up your beer. Cry into it because you’ll never do anything that will match the glacial grooves for sheer durability and majesty.
Thus endeth the sermon.

A neat geological formation, formed when a glacier scrapped up against the limestone that makes up most of the island. Informative plaques line the observation areas that discuss the history and creation of the grooves. It’s apparently «the most accessible glacial grooves in the world,» so that makes it at least worth seeing. Parking is up a road a bit, unless you have a golf cart, where you can just pull right up.

A neat little state park/​landmark, created 18,000 years ago when the great ice sheet scraped against the limestone that made up a good portion of Kelleys Island at the time. Features a bunch of little plaques that talk about the history of the island as well as the creation of the grooves.
Free and open during daylight hours! Great for a nice little walk.