Animals as weather predictors and Piney Woods Trail

Today we started the day at the Goodyear Heights Pavilion watching a presentation by a naturalist about animals as weather predictors.  It was really rather interesting.  We learned about groundhogs and wooly bears.  Where the traditions came from and even some interesting things about the animals themselves.  We saw a winter whistle pig (which is another name for groundhog) burrow and got to see a groundhog that lives with a wildlife rehabilitator. Annie got to make a craft and I got to take some pictures.

Piney Woods Trail
2.0 Miles Completed today
5.2 Miles Completed Total
Piney Woods is named for the pines that used to fill this trail.  The trail is giving way to other kinds of trees as well now. The dusting of snow seemed to obscure just about everything from view today and I really didn't get many pictures.  I probably should have taken a picture of the pines but didn't even think of it at the time.  Probably talking too much at the time lol. I did get one picture though it isn't too impressive but here it is.

 

Alder Pond Trail

1.4 Miles Completed
3.2 Total Miles Completed

Last night we hiked the Alder Pond Trail with the dogs.  It was starting to get dark but since I hike this trail just about everyday I figured I knew it well enough.  We had the dogs with us so I figured we would be safe as well.  Since it was getting dark I went back this morning and took some pictures.

 This picture is taken from a boardwalk that actually goes across the lake.  In the summer you can see lots of frogs from here.  The night before this picture was taken the dog was leaning over this boardwalk trying to sniff but since it was getting dark I don't think he could really tell where the water was and he fell in.  Poor guy had to walk home wet.

A little farther up the trail is a run-off where the kids always like to try there luck and balance and walk across the cement.  The dogs never like this part so luckily there is a little bridge that me and the dogs take while Annie tests her luck.  I liked the way the snowflakes were making little circles in the water so I tried to capture that in this picture.

Goodyear Heights

Alder Trail	1.4 miles		1	Alder Trail travels through the woods and allows access to Alder Pond, where a cattail marsh provides good wildlife habitat. The pond supports spha  ...  MORE
Parcours Trail	1.8 miles		3	For a good workout, try this exercise/hiking trail.
Piney Woods Trail	2.0 miles		2	Although this trail is named for the many pines once planted in the park, they are giving way to a variety of other species through natural success  ...  MORE

Trail Ratings

1=Easy

2=Moderate

3=Strenuous

Goodyear Heights Metro Park opened in 1930 after land was donated by Akron's Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the park district purchased 37 acres from resident Gilbert Waltz. During the Depression, Metro Parks acquired additional acres by paying delinquent taxes on surrounding properties. In the 1950s, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company donated more land. Thousands of pines and tulip trees were planted in the park. During World War II, Victory Gardens were planted along Newton Street on the former Waltz farm. In 1957, the Charles Goodyear Memorial Pavilion was constructed. It served as the park district's headquarters until 1974, when the offices were moved to Sand Run Metro Park. Today, the pines planted in this 410-acre park are slowly giving way to black cherries, oaks and tuliptrees through natural succession. Elsewhere, beech trees, sugar maples, basswoods, pin oaks, red maples and blackgum trees grow. In the north-central section, acidic soils support sassafras and sarsaparilla, species that were once used in beverage making. Along the edge of Alder Pond, a cattail marsh provides good wildlife habitat. The pond supports sphagnum moss and yellow birch trees, muskrats, nesting Canada geese and mallards. Late spring is a great time to view snapping turtles, some up to 20 pounds, basking in the sun. The park's woods are home to owls and other wildlife.

Deer Run Trail

1.8 miles completed today
1.8 miles total
This was the park we visited today.  It only had one trail for us tackle which was a good thing because it was a strenuous 3.  It is a beautiful trail and in the past we have hiked it later in the year when it is full of wildflowers.  This is one of my favorite trails and we saw lots of new things that we would have missed had there been snow cover.
Since the weather has been warm some of the plants are confused and think it's spring.  The first thing I noticed were the multiflora roses that were actually starting to leaf out.  Imagine that happening in February.

Here's a tree that a beaver chewed down and a little way from this were footprints that we think were beaver

We found sycamore seeds

And took some pictures of the Yellow Creek.  There are huge gray clay deposits all along the Yellow Creek though I don't think they are clear in any of the pictures.

We even saw a few wildflowers.  Snowdrops and skunk cabbage.  You can even see the little ball pokey thing in the middle of the skunk cabbage bloom.

All in all an excellent day

O'Neil Woods

Deer Run Trail

1.8 miles

3

The aptly-named Deer Run Trail follows a path worn by white-tailed deer and provides scenic views of the Cuyahoga River Valley.

Trail Ratings

1=Easy

2=Moderate

3=Strenuous

William O'Neil, founder of General Tire and Rubber Company, and his wife Grace donated their 242-acre family farm to Metro Parks in 1972. Their son, M. Gerald O'Neil, served on the Board of Park Commissioners from 1969 to 1978. The O'Neil family had cattle and horses, and their old barn still stands; the structure is an ideal bat "condo." Other winged creatures in O'Neil Woods include eastern bluebirds, which nest in boxes maintained by staff and volunteers throughout the park. Eastern woodcocks, barred owls, pileated woodpeckers, song sparrows, kingfishers and ruffed grouse have been spotted among the park's oak, black willow, eastern cottonwood, sycamore and black walnut trees. Ferns and wildflowers carpet the ground. Yellow Creek, the cleanest tributary to the Cuyahoga River, harbors turtles, frogs and a variety of fish. Biologists believe this creek's fish will eventually re-colonize the polluted river as cleanup efforts continue.

Summit County Mertro Parks

My next plan is to hike all of the trails in the Summit County Metro Parks.  I think I will pick a park, learn about the park and then hike the trails in that park.  My concern is that some of the trails in certain parks will be either too difficult or too long.  If that is the case then I will come back to that park later when I have worked up to be able to walk farther.  From what I have been able to find out it looks like there are about 125 miles of trails within the park system.
     Here is a little background on the metro parks.

Read more about the history of your Metro Parks in "Steps in Time," the 90-year history book published by UA Press. The History of Metro Parks by Cheri Goldner, Librarian Akron-Summit County Public Library In 1917, just one year after Congress created the National Park Service, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation that allowed for the formation of metropolitan park districts. The Akron Metropolitan Park District (now Metro Parks, Serving Summit County) was established December 31, 1921. The early Board of Park Commissioners – which included Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founder Frank A. Seiberling – hired famed landscape architects the Olmsted brothers: John Charles and Frederick Law, Jr. Their father, Frederick Law Olmsted, had designed major parks across the country, including New York’s Central Park and Boston Common. In June of 1925, Seiberling accepted the first gift of land to the park system, a small, triangular plot at the beginning of the Old Portage Trail at the intersection of North Portage Path and Merriman Road. The district aptly named the plot Courtney Park for donor Joseph Courtney of the Courtney Dairy Company. Soon after, during Akron’s Centennial celebration, the spot was marked with a bronze plaque and boulder, which still sits at the intersection. From this modest start, the park district’s holdings grew rapidly throughout the late 1920s and ‘30s, thanks to the efforts of the board and the leadership of the park district’s first director-secretary, Harold S. Wagner. Wagner, a native of Boston who had previously worked with the Olmsted brothers, was appointed to his post in 1926 and remained there until 1958. He had relocated to Akron around 1917 while working for influential American landscape designer Warren H. Manning on Seiberling’s Fairlawn development. (Manning had previously designed Seiberling’s estate, Stan Hywet.) When his work on Fairlawn was complete, Wagner stayed in Akron and took his passion for parks to City Hall, becoming first a consultant to city administrators and later the municipal parks superintendent. Thus, he was a natural choice for the Akron Metropolitan Park District. The stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed were a time of hardship for many Americans, but Wagner, in his first five years at the helm, managed to build the park district to about 1,600 acres. Early holdings included the Furnace Run, Sand Run, Gorge and Goodyear Heights reservations. During the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal proved beneficial to both the residents and the parks of Summit County. Following the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), many residents went to work on public projects, and many of them were in the parks. The influx of labor and resources allowed the Akron Metropolitan Park District to complete a variety of projects including the Octagon Shelter, bathhouse and lake at Virginia Kendall Park; building a bridge at Mingo Camp and extending Sand Run Parkway in Sand Run Reservation; planting more than 350,000 seedlings at Furnace Run’s Everett Nursery; and building a parking area and entrance building at Goodyear Heights Reservation. The district added Firestone Reservation in 1941, thanks to the efforts of board member Henry Metzger, who helped persuade Firestone Tire & Rubber Company to donate land and money for the project. Other additions during this time included the victory gardens at Goodyear Heights and Firestone reservations, both sponsored by the respective rubber companies. One facility that was heavily used during the war years was Virginia Kendall’s Happy Days Camp. Girl Scouts (pictured at right, planting trees at Goodyear Heights Reservation) used the site during the week, and on weekends the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation used it as a day camp for the children of its employees. With the war over in 1945, both the economy and people’s spirits began to rise. The park district passed a levy and set about making improvements and restoring services that had been curtailed during the war. The decade ended with another change for the district, when the board decided to change the designation of its park areas from “reservations” to “metropolitan parks,” or Metro Parks. The 1950s brought new challenges for the Akron Metropolitan Park District. While the district suffered the failure of three levies during this time, the problems extended beyond the financial. The City of Akron’s sewer trunk line through Sand Run Metropolitan Park developed leaks and caused pollution. The construction of the turnpike north of the Brushwood Area of Furnace Run and the relocation of State Route 21 meant the loss of land and led to soil erosion and a buildup of sediment in the lake. In addition, the Tuscarawas Shelter at Firestone Metropolitan Park experienced flooding due to the construction of a new dam on the Tuscarawas River. Some property was acquired during the 1950s, including land at the north end of North Hawkins Avenue and lots adjacent to Goodyear Heights Metropolitan Park. The decade ended with the retirement of Harold S. Wagner as Director-Secretary on April 30, 1958. At that time, the parks comprised 3,760 acres of land and were being used by more than 800,000 people per year, according to an Akron Beacon Journal story from January 10, 1960. Among the many signs of Wagner’s legacy is Furnace Run Metro Park’s H.S. Wagner Daffodil Trail, named for him because he and his wife originally owned the property and planted the first bulbs there in the 1930s. Today, an estimated 40,000 daffodils grow along the 0.6-mile trail. Following Wagner’s retirement in 1958, Forrest B. Coup became director-secretary. Coup had previously worked as a CCC foreman at Virginia Kendall and had served as the park district’s first field maintenance supervisor since 1935. Acquisitions during his tenure included the purchase of the old county hospital property for the development of the Treaty Line Area in Sand Run and land along the Ohio & Erie Canal that was transferred from the State of Ohio; it comprises the current Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park. Coup retired as director-secretary in 1963 and was followed briefly by Dr. Arthur T. Wilcox, who served until 1964. Hampton Hills Metro Park and F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm were added during his time, but perhaps his greatest achievement was the creation of the Fall Hiking Spree, which today is one of the longest-running and most popular events of its kind in the nation. In 1965, the district hired its second long-time director-secretary, John R. Daily, who served until 1995. Under Coup, Wilcox and Daily, the 1960s and ‘70s was a period of much growth and support for the Metro Parks, and during Daily’s 30-year tenure the park system grew to 6,600 acres. That included the additions of Silver Creek, O’Neil Woods, the Bike & Hike Trail, the Kniss Conservation Area, Munroe Falls Metro Park and Cascade Valley. Daily also helped acquire lands in the Cuyahoga Valley in the 1960s that later become part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, saving them from development. Congressman John Seiberling (pictured at right) was instrumental in saving the valley, and he was among the first to ride the Bike & Hike Trail when it opened. Since 1998, Keith D. Shy has served as director-secretary. Additions during his tenure include the Overlook in Cascade Valley, Liberty Park in Twinsburg, Springfield Bog Metro Park in Springfield Township and the Tallmadge Meadows Area in Munroe Falls. In 2007, the Portage Trail Group of the Sierra Club presented him with the John Seiberling Environmental Achievement Award. Today, the park district manages 11,000 acres, including 14 developed parks, six conservation areas and more than 125 miles of trails, with 22.4 miles of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Annual attendance averages 4.5 million visitors.  I gotta remember to go see the daffodils :)

Goldenrod Gall Fly

As we were on a hike yesterday we saw a bunch of galls in a meadow of golden rod. We had no idea what they were but it was hard not to notice them there were so many of them. As we continued on our way we found one on the ground that someone else had broken off. We decided to take this one home and try to learn about galls. Galls are are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites. The gulls we found turned out to be from the goldenrod gall fly. The goldenrod gall fly's entire life revolves around the golden rod plant. These flies don't actually fly well so they in fact spend most of the two weeks of their adult life walking up and down the goldenrod plant looking for a mate.
After mating the female fly lays her egg in the stem of the golden rod plant. The larvae hatches after about 10 days and starts to eat. The saliva from the larvae has a chemical in it which causes the plant to grow abnormally forming a ball shaped "gall" that the larvae will live in.
The larvae will continue to eat from with in it's gall all summer causing it to grow larger. Sometimes as large as a golfball. As summer turns to fall the goldenrod and gall will turn brown and the larvae will dig an escape tunnel that it won't use until spring. The larvae prepares to spend winter in the gall by producing an antifreeze type chemical which will keep it from freezing during winter.
In the spring each larvae will become a pupa and then eventually an adult when it will leave the gall. Adult goldenrod flies do not eat. The galls do not hurt the goldenrod plant.