Night Hikes!

Okay. We all know it gets dark early during winter, making it difficult to to lots of outdoor activities after work. Of course ski slopes are lighted, so downhill skiing is an option. But, what about a night hike?

During winter, the trees are laid bare, abandoned by those fair weather friends, the leaves. This allows moonlight to penetrate to the forest floor. On nights with a full moon, the effect is transformative. Instead of a dark, shady hike, winter night hikes under a full moon are magically alive and bright.

Try it and you will be surprised. Don't use a flashlight. Just let your eyes adjust and get out in the woods. If you are reticent to try it alone, join an organized hike. Here are two upcoming full moon hikes being held at Cuyahoga Valley National Park:

Saturday, January 30
This easy 3.75-mile hike on the Valley and Towpath trails will begin at the Everett Road Covered Bridge at 7 p.m. and end at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Sunday, February 28
Another easy 3.5-mile hike on the Towpath Trail between Boston and Red Lock will depart from Boston Store Visitor Center and runs from 7 - 8:45 p.m.

Check out the Darke County Park District

The Darke County Park District has 12 parks with 500 acres of passive recreation opportunities. If you have never been to Darke County, it is northwest of Dayton, near the Indiana state line.

Check out a new page on the park district that we have just added thanks to Robb Clifford, Senior Naturalist with Darke County Parks: Darke County Park District, Western Ohio Parks.


This photo of the sugar shack at Shawnee Prairie is courtesy of the Darke County Park District.

Malabar Maple Syrup Festival

From a press release from Malabar Farm State Park:

The 33rd Annual Maple Syrup Family Festival is planned for the first two weekends in March (DATES: March 6,7,13,14, 2010) from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. daily. This free festival is a great opportunity for families and friends to step back in time, learn, and enjoy the history of Ohio syrup making at Malabar Farm State Park.

This festival includes demonstrations of sugaring techniques from the early days, when Ohio was home to Native Americans, through present day. A self-guided tour of the sugar camp and sugarhouse will reveal the evolution of sugaring equipment and how maple sap is transformed into maple syrup. A peek inside the summer bell house, behind the Pugh Log Cabin, will take you back to Ohio’s past. Presented by the Richland County Museum, the summer bell house is now set up as a pioneer’s cabin, where kids and adults can take part in daily pioneer chores like washing clothes, tending fire, making candles, and cooking. Kids and adults will also enjoy the horse-drawn wagon rides to the sugar camp provided by the Central Ohio Draft Horse Association.

Free samples of maple syrup will be available at the sugar house. Pure Ohio maple syrup, homemade Maple Walnut Fudge, Maple Cotton Candy, Maple popcorn, and other maple products will be on sale during the event, and in the Malabar Farm Gift Shop throughout the season. Live musical entertainment will be provided along with light refreshments and snacks during the festival in the Pugh Log Cabin located near the event. Bromfield’s historical 32-room mansion will be open for self-guided tours. Tickets can be purchased in the Visitor’s Center Gift Shop.

The Malabar Farm Restaurant will offer lunch and dinner specials featuring Malabar Farm products and maple food items both weekends – kids menu available. For reservations or more information call 419-938-5205.

Additionally, overnight accommodations for individuals, groups, and families are available at the Malabar Farm Hostelling International – call 419-892-2055 for reservations.

7 Reasons to visit a park during Winter

Don’t be a fair weather outdoorsman. Instead of being a wintertime couch potato, get outside and enjoy these extraordinary benefits:

Feel good
Getting outdoors and exploring nature provides an opportunity to exercise. Exercise releases endorphins. Endorphins make you feel better. What better cure for the wintertime blues?

Enjoy solitude
Witness the peaceful majesty of the winter landscape. By being one of the brave few that opt for a hike on snow covered trails, you will experience a unique solitude that is rarely possible at other times of the year.

Escape to another world
A snow covered landscape can impart an otherworldly feeling that may take you back to childhood or it might instill thoughts of places like Alaska or Antarctica. Icicle encrusted cliffs are particularly great places to visit during the winter for the feel of a real magic kingdom.

See more
During the dormant season, deciduous trees are bare and most ground cover has died back. This allows hikers to get longer views of the landscape, and sometimes reveals hidden gems, like glimpses of far off waterfalls, or cloistered little ravines that escape notice during greener times of the year. Go to a familiar landscape during winter and look upon it with new eyes. You just might like what you see.

Winter Tracking
What better way to learn or practice your tracking skills? Follow a deer through its daily routine. Creep along the path of a raccoon. It is much easier to track animals further with a nice blanket of snow.

Winter Tree Identification
Want a real challenge? Impress you friends by taking them on a winter hike and identify trees by their bark or twigs. It isn’t that hard when you know what to look for. And you can exercise your brain and body at the same time.

Sledding!
So much for the solitude listed above! Sometimes Nature appears to be chaotic. No where can that aspect of Nature be more apparent than on a busy sledding hill. With or without kids, there is no excuse to get out the old toboggan or sled and head to the nearest snow covered hill. That exhilarating rush that comes from gliding down a hill nearly out of control can’t be beat.

More evidence that Nature is good for you and not just an extra.

I found this article on the Beacon Journal's web site and thought I'd share it: Ohio.com - Plants can boost health and spirits in '10: "reduced negative emotions, increased positive feelings, increased sociability and reduced need for health care."

The article mainly discusses plants and gardens, but there is also a bit about proximity to green space. Take a look and then think about this. We complain about raising health care premiums while there is a way (exposure to nature) to reduce recovery times by large percentages. We worry about the supposed obesity epidemic when one part of a cure is nearly free (Get outside and hike!).

Some of the benefits of green space are felt simply by looking out the window. Think how much more valuable Nature is to people who actually go outdoors and immerse themselves in reality for an hour a day.

While the beginning of the new year is not any different than any other day, maybe we can all use it as an excuse to commit to getting outside in a natural setting every day.

Think about how much better off you would be. If you have kids, start this habit for them right now. Your lives will be enriched beyond measure.

Get outside and enjoy the snow!