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Hiking

Winter Walks! Dayton’s Best

January 22, 2016 By Shana Lloyd

Winter blues? Nah! Winter fun!

Screen Shot 2016-01-22 at 2.24.15 PMHey Guys! Remember me? Found Dayton, left Dayton, came back to Dayton, got married in Dayton now working, living and loving being back in the city, back home. There’s a little more to it than that and whole journey that brought me home but long story short I’m back writing for DaytonMostMetro only this time instead of dating adventures, I’m covering outdoor adventures and all that our great city has to offer for us nature enthusiasts.

If you’re like most of us in Ohio, the dreary months of Winter tend to bring you down, either from the gray skies or your Vitamin D deficiency you find yourself lacking enthusiasm to get up and move more than you have to. What I’ve learned over the years is that getting up and moving, despite how you feel – solves the problem.

Way before the season of New Year resolutions (December) – I made the decision that I had to make movement a regular thing in the Winter, even it made me miserable. In the Spring, Summer & Fall I absolutely love hiking and my woodland strolls, I would trade the gym and treadmill for a walk amongst the trees any day but in the Winter, well you know – you live here – it’s flipping painful to breathe some days but I realized that without the serenity that comes from my nature walks I wouldn’t make it through the long Winter months. For me, the outdoors and playing in nature is a must – year round. Luckily for me, Dayton and the surrounding region offers some of the most beautiful trails and winter landscapes.

So for those of you like me willing to brave the cold, here’s a list of my favorites places to walk the paths of Winter!

Wegerzyn Gardens – The Marie Aull Nature Trail

Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall Wegerzyn Gardens is one of my favorite places to find calm and serenity! It’s gardens are something out of a fairytale and landscape brings instant zen. The Marie Aull Nature Trail might be one of Dayton’s best kept secrets because I’m usually one of a few people walking it. If you’re looking for quiet serene place to get your daily cardio on a low traffic trail Marie Aull is your spot. Get ready to do some bird watching too!

Possum Creek

Possum Creek Landscapes-10

Photo Credit: Tom Gilliam

Possum Creek has over 5 miles of trails that are perfect for walking and hiking. For the nature enthusiast it’s trails are home to many furry little creatures. I love downtown, but when I am looking to get away from the city – quiet places like Possum Creek bring back the calm. The Barn and farm animals are always fun too!

Huffman Lake

What a view! Last year I was on a mission to visit all of our Metro Parks in Dayton. Huffman was early on my stops being so close to home. It was absolutely freezing the day I went and yet I walked the trails for over an hour. The winter sky is incredible from the top of dam and for all you Instagram junkies looking for the perfect shot – you may want to visit. Huffman is also one of my favorites for birdwatching and other wildlife.

Photo Credit: Tom Gilliam

Photo Credit: Tom Gilliam

Sugarcreek


Admittedly, I just discovered Sugarcreek this past Spring and it quickly became one of my favorite hikes in Dayton. The old oak trees and songbirds make my own heart sing. The wooded trails are some of the prettiest in Dayton and the prairie offers bird watching like nowhere else locally I have found. The Spring is really beautiful here, but the snow capped hills and br
anches are something you want to see.

Twin Creek

Metroparks.org describes Twin Creek as nature’s best and they’re not far off. The backcountry trail, babbling brook and wildlife quickly makes you forget that busy week you’re so desperately looking to get away from. This is one of the most peaceful nature walks that Dayton has to offer and the prettiest scenery at dusk. While you may not see many other hikers, you’re likely to run into four legged visitors on the Twin Valley Backpacking Trail.

There are so many amazing trails and miles upon miles of wooded wildlife in Dayton to experience, these are just five of my favorites. To learn more about what Five Rivers Metro Parks has to offer for the nature lover in you visit their site. In the meantime, put on a hat, scarf and some mittens and cross these five off of your list!

There are so many health benefits to getting outside, especially in the winter! The invigorating cold air can clear your mind and reduce stress.

Possum Creek Landscapes-9

Photo Credit: Tom Gilliam

Tell us about your favorite hikes and trails in Dayton on Facebook! I try to unplug on my nature walks but the Instagram junkie in me always has my phone handy. If you bring yours along make sure to capture your photos and share them with us! Tag @mostmetro.

Stayed tuned for more adventures, interviews and more!

Special thanks to @DaytonGram and @TomGilliam for the Possum Creek photos!

 

Filed Under: Active Living, Hiking/Backpacking, The Featured Articles Tagged With: Dayton, dayton adventures, dayton outdoors, five rivers metro parks, Hiking, nature walks, outdoor fun, winter

Hike Your Way Through Every Dayton MetroPark!

January 5, 2015 By Dayton Most Metro

DaytonHikersLogo Join the Dayton Hikers New Year’s resolution challenge for 2015: hike at every park in Five Rivers MetroParks

The goal of the Dayton Hikers is to bring together those people who enjoy hiking and backpacking hiking. The Dayton area has hundreds of miles of hiking trails. With our Five Rivers MetroPark system, State parks and community parks, there are many nearby opportunities for day hikes. A hiker can easily find an enjoyable hike whether it is a shorter, easy hike or a longer, more challenging hike.

Dayton Hikers  welcomes newcomers to join whether you are a beginner or an experienced outdoors person. Their groups meets for both day hikes and overnight backpacking trips. Every Tuesday the Hikers Meetup Group, which has a membership of nearly 2000,  has a hike scheduled and you can find out more by joining the group.

The day hikes are  primarily in the Dayton area and their backpacking trips are to areas within a few hours drive. Most members are from the Dayton, Ohio area but anyone is welcome to join!

Filed Under: Hiking/Backpacking Tagged With: DaytonHikers, Hiking

The Yellow Springs Experience

July 13, 2011 By Nancy Mellon Leave a Comment

Summer is amazing, all of a sudden there is just so much to do. And I want to do it all! (Well not really, all. Would you believe 1/2?) But here comes another great summer weekend that I have been looking forward to for months! I want to play at the Cirque, pop my gob of gum onto the Traveling Gum Wall, dance with my sweetie under the stars, and, and, well you get the idea.

The Yellow Springs Experience is this weekend, July 15th-17th. There are special events for kids, events for families and lots of fun activities you can enjoy by yourself or with a friend. It starts on Friday night with The Dayton Street Cirque Carnival, the best street party ever.

The Cirque Carnival will be at the convergence of Dayton & Corry Streets from 6-10 pm.

Soul Fire Tribe, fire dancing at the Cirque.

On the Main Stage

• 6-7pm Sportfishing USA

• 7pm Egyptian Breeze

• 7:30-8:45pm YSKP Cotton Club Review

• 8:45pm Yoga Springs Studio

• 9-10pm The Undercovered

At the Acoustic Stage

• 6-6:30pm Coat Hanger Halos

• 6:30 Brendan Sheehan Solo Act

• 7-8pm Acoustic Reveille

• 8-8:30 John and Maria Booth (Spoken Word)

• 8:30-9:30pm Johnny, Stills, Stash, and Youngin

In the Ring of Amazement

• 6:30-7pm- the Jill Becker Group with Dance Improv
.

• 7-7:30pm -The Daredevil Circus Act 1 (aerial performance)

• 7:30 pm-Juggling .

• 8-8:30pm – Laylia – Tribal Belly Dance

• 8:30pm- Flash Mob Dancers

• 9-9:30pm -The Daredevil Circus Act 2

• 10pm Soul Fire Tribe

And there’s a Kids Parade (at 6:30pm, all kids invited!)- The Traveling Gum Wall, (a perfectly disgusting, interactive, public-art experience) –Artisan Booths –Massage and Tarot Readings, you can get Feathers Extensions for your hair and Spray On Tatoos and of course Food! Come in costume if you want. There will be lots of great people watching.

Whew, that’s just the beginning of this wacky weekend!

On Saturday, there are 4 great workshops! You can learn how to make “Sterling Silver Rings” (you make 3 rings to take home.) Or during “Japanese Paper Lanterns” a 2 day workshop, on Saturday you create your own handmade paper, then on Sunday you get to make the Lanterns. Saturday afternoon you can find out about “Ayurvedic Healing” or have a blast learning to “Belly Dance”. Registration is required for the workshops. To register- get artists’ contact info at yellow-springs-experience.org

Also on Saturday, from 3-6 p.m. at the Village Artisans, artist and children’s book author Kathy Moulton will be holding a book signing, talk and reception for the original art from her 4 new books. Kathy’s popular art is made up of a wonderful world of gentle humor. Ask her about her adventures in self-publishing and making art on her computer. Any child that comes to visit will receive free coloring pages (samples from her new books.)

Have a “Quick Sketch” done be Artist Clarice Moore. She’ll be set up at the Art Park, 100 Corry Street, all day Saturday. Or pop into EdenWorld and have a Wellness or Spa Session or have your tarot cards read..

If you love to hike in the woods, Saturday morning includes a docent-led “Birding Hike” through Glen Helen, Yellow Springs much beloved 1000 acre woods.

In the evening it’s mucho Music, mucho Dancing Events and Theater with the YS Kids Playhouse performing “The Cotton Club.”

(I covered that part in my last blog entry. There is so much going on during an Experience weekend that it’s too much for one post! If you would like to read about the Saturday night music and dance events read “Gotta Dance? Do It in Yellow Springs.”

O.K. on to Sunday. Come back and take a peaceful docent led “Wildflower Hike” in the afternoon. Or give yourself a treat and relax with an Edenworld massage. From 2-3 in the afternoon, at the Glen building you can hear a talk about the “Myths and Truths About Coyotes” and Sunday night, you can take in a performance of the Cotton Club.”

Well that’s the scoop, for details go to yellow-springs-experience.com

See you in the Springs!

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment Tagged With: Ayurvedic Healing, Belly Dancing, Children's Book Author, Cirque Carnival, Coyote's, Hiking, live music, Paper Making, Spa Sessions, Sterling Silver Rings, yellow springs experience, YS Kids Playhouse

Playing Possum In The Forest Of Argonne

May 28, 2010 By J.T. Ryder 6 Comments

Possum Creek MetroPark’s Hidden History

This man is exerting far too much energy for this to be considered a "relaxing" activity.

As Spring hurtles uncontrollably into Summer, my mind reaches out to find the activities I can do outside. My own definition of “outdoor activities,” however, has little or nothing to do with being active at all. More to the point, I like to try and find places where it can appear that I’m doing some sort of activity, while remaining completely inactive. Fishing usually fits this bill. I will confess here that I have rarely ever caught a fish (which would go against my goal of being inert) and sometimes, to insure that some fish with either a death wish or a very slow mental acuity won’t inadvertently leap onto my baited hook, I usually fish with no bait. This serves a twofold purpose: one, a fish will generally avoid my barren hook in search of a more agreeable dinner, thereby allowing me to remain in a seated position and two, it makes it so that I don’t have to put my hands near any icky worms which, on especially humid days, feel much like a semi-solidified string of undulating snot. I guess that while I’m confessing things here, I might as well add that, even if I had the misfortune of catching a fish, I would throw it back as I can’t stand to eat fish and I can assure you that a mounted fish on my wall would definitely clash with my rather eclectic form of interior design. Moving on…

The reason that I bring this up is that it reminds me of one of the places that I love not to fish: Possum Creek MetroPark. The first time I was there was sometime in the late eighties/early nineties… you will forgive me as time has been somewhat of an elusive creature my entire life, so remembering dates isn’t one of my strong points. I do remember that a group of us were supposed to be driving to Indianapolis for Pink Floyd’s Division Bell Tour, if that gives anyone a frame of reference. One of the group thought that the park would be a bitchin’ place to party before the concert. It wasn’t. Some of the group got lost and we damn near missed the concert. Fast forward to around ten years ago. I was scouting all the parks surrounding Dayton, exploring all of the wonderful points and playgrounds with my two youngest sons. We meandered over to Possum Creek one day and found that it not only had several fishable lakes, it also boasted some really interesting hiking trails, a community garden and a farm area with many types of animals on display.

On one of my excursions, I was trying not to fish on the shore of one of the lakes, but my wife insisted that I bait my hook so that I could catch her a catfish to fry up that evening. Not wanting to exert that much energy trying to reel in a catfish, let alone the potential injuries I may sustain from the stinging barbels, I convinced her that all the good catfish were in the middle of the lake. I got out my trusty inflatable raft and, utilizing the convenient foot pump, filled it with air and pushed off from the shore. Now I could actually lie down in public without seeming as if I were a lazy ne’er-do-well. This was pure genius. Well, while I was floating about on the water, I noticed some splashing and activity nearby. I didn’t even dare to have a hook on for fear that a catfish might be attracted to the shiny metal and hook it’s stupid self, so I just kept casting sinker in the general vicinity of the splashing, which seemed to create more splashing. From the shore, I’m sure that it must have looked impressive. Well, the splashing began to come closer to where I was floating and, after a few more casts, seemed to make a beeline directly for me. Now, I’ve seen Jaws I and II, so a tremor of fear trickled down my back until I remembered that the Great Whites were destined for deeper waters than those found at Possum Creek. I was rather shocked, however, when the splashing got really, really close and I found it to be caused by a very pissed off beaver that I had apparently conked in the head several times with my sinker. Apparently there are a literal ton of these flat tailed rodents gnawing about Possum Creek and, thankfully, I was able to extricate myself from the situation unscathed.

The walking trails are incredibly intriguing as well. You can explore areas that range from lakeside trails to wildflower fields to farmland and then into a beech tree forest, full of loamy trails and deep ravines. This is where I found some things that struck me as odd and made me explore the history of the park further. I came across a massive trestle, a large square expanse of concrete and several rusted out trolley car frames sitting inexplicably in the middle of the woods. The name of the woods also intrigued me: Argonne Forest. While it may sound like something out of Lord of the Rings, history’s most famous forest of the same name was a deadly battle site during World War I. Why would someone name a forest in Dayton after the site of such an epic battle?

In the late eighteen-hundreds, a boy was born named Null M. Hodapp. His boyhood friend was a boy named Ralph Clemons with whom he shared many adventures. They grew into adulthood together and enlisted in the Army to fight the Germans in World War I. In a sadly ironic twist of fate, Ralph was killed mere hours before the Armistice Treaty was signed. Ralph’s death was devastating to Hodapp as he returned to Dayton to resume his life. He eventually married LoRean D. Hodapp and became a widely regarded judge in the Dayton area. In the 1930s, Hodapp purchased 400 acres around Germantown Pike and dubbed the land Argonne Forest Park, in memory of his friend and the place in which he had died. The first building that was constructed was a clubhouse for veterans. Eventually, the park consisted of a dance pavilion, a horse track, a car racetrack, a shooting range and a swimming hole with a diving platform. “Swimming hole” is more than a slight misnomer as the “hole” was actually constructed by building a huge wall to block the Possum Creek, which created a massive swimming area replete with diving platforms, the remnants of which can still be seen today. Hodapp also bought several streetcars from the Oakwood-Dayton lines to be used as impromptu cabins and for the children to play in. Hodapp would also perform the Battle of Argonne Forest every Fourth of July, in memory of 322nd Field Artillery Unit who had fought there during World War I.

As the world moved into the next War, rationing and depletion of money contributed to the eventual demise of the park. Some sections were sold off, but the bulk of the park remained and was made into what is now known as Possum Creek MetroPark. Walking amongst the paths and seeing the relics of a bygone era, one can almost squint and see the shrieking children cannonballing off the diving platform or hear the music and the shuffling feet scrape over the dance hall floor. The grandeur is gone, but the memory remains indelibly etched into the sodden trails and the swaying branches of the forest.

Filed Under: Hiking/Backpacking, The Featured Articles Tagged With: Argonne Forest, farm, fishing, five rivers metroparks, Hiking, MetroParks, nature, Null M. Hodapp, Possum Creek, World War I

MetroParks Park Trek 2009

October 26, 2009 By Dayton Most Metro 1 Comment

pictures-1557

While volunteering on this important campaign for Issue 4, former MetroParks employee Angie Sullivan discovered something unsettling. “People just don’t know about the MetroParks,” Sullivan laments. “Most folks I talk to might be familiar with one or two parks they frequent, but when I tell them we have 25 facilities located throughout the county, they’re shocked.” Responses like those are the reason the Kettering resident decided to do something that would showcase all Five Rivers MetroParks has to offer – Sullivan, along with her fiancé Shane Sheldon, will hike to each MetroPark in just one week.

The couple will cover about 125 miles in approximately seven days, blogging, tweeting and snapping photos of the parks along the way. “We thought this would be a great way for people at home to take a virtual tour of all the MetroParks,” says Five Rivers MetroParks Outdoor Recreation Department Director Greg Brumitt. “It’s imperative during this election season that we make sure the voters know exactly what they get with a ‘yes’ vote – or what they’ll miss out on if they vote ‘no.’ Our park-wide festivals and entertainment events are fun, but if you just visit the parks during festivals, you’re not getting the whole picture. Park Trek will raise awareness of all our facilities in a context of nature and conservation, the core reasons why citizens founded the MetroParks in 1963.”

pictures-1805Park Trek started and will end in downtown Dayton. A kickoff celebration and press conference took place this past Saturday at the National City 2nd Street Market. Then, Sullivan and Sheldon commenced their Park Trek, heading to Eastwood, Huffman and Carriage Hill MetroParks. The next day, the couple traveled to Taylorsville, Aullwood Garden and Englewood MetroParks. Monday’s stops include Trotwood’s Wetland Mitigation Bank, then onto Germantown MetroPark. On Tuesday, the couple will hike to Twin Creek and Possum Creek MetroParks, followed by Cox Arboretum and Sugarcreek MetroParks on Wednesday. Hills & Dales, Sunrise and Wesleyan make up day six of Park Trek, and Sullivan and Sheldon wrap up the first-ever Five Rivers MetroPark facility circumnavigation at Wegerzyn Gardens, Island and Deeds Point MetroPark. When the couple arrives at Deeds Point at about 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, Sullivan, who is registered to vote in Montgomery County, will hike to the Board of Elections in downtown Dayton and cast her vote to “protect our parks.”

pictures-680Sullivan and Sheldon say they understand the importance and unique value of Park Trek, and they are looking forward to getting to know the MetroParks in a new way as well as generate awareness about the park system. “I know what people might think when I tell them Shane and I are going to hike 125 miles in a week,” Sullivan laughs. “But we love taking on challenges like this. It took us five months to hike the 2,170-mile Appalachian Trail, so I think it’s safe to say we’re prepared for Park Trek.”

Follow Angie and Shane’s Park Trek on their Trail Journal blog, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.

(from a post at the MetroParks 2009 Levy website)

Filed Under: Active Living, Hiking/Backpacking Tagged With: Hiking, MetroParks, Park Trek

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