This Icy World
Taking Advantage of Our Bountiful Parks System During the Winter Months

Have we had enough snow yet? Apparently not, because the fine dust of powdery cold continues to fall, leaving our landscape beautifully cleansed. The outside air has a crystalline glow like drops of ice hanging in the air. After a recent snow, the branches sparkled in the low sunlight above pristine snow-dusted forest floors. There may not be anything on the ground this morning, but we all know that everyday until late April is a possible "snow day."

Winter can be a great time to be outdoors as long as you're bundled up and moving around to heat up the body. Sparrows, wrens, and mourning doves feed on seeds in feeders outside the Cleveland Metroparks Nature Centers, and red-tailed hawks loop the skies above the quiet landscape. It's quieter in winter and somehow more sacrosanct. Squirrels scurry up trees, while mice and shrews stay warm under a blanket of snow. Deer, coyote, and fox hover near, but unseen. In the winter, nature feels like an intimate blanket.

The five-county Greater Cleveland area boasts six metropark systems (Lorain, Medina, Cleveland (Cuyahoga), Summit, Geauga, and Lake) with open hiking trails that are well-packed even when the snow is two feet high. The Cleveland Metroparks plows the all-purpose trails when snowfall is over two inches. From the icy trails near Bridal Veil Falls in Bedford Reservation to snow-covered paths along the Lake Erie Watershed in Huntington Reservation, hiking provides exercise, interest, and your choice of solitude or companionship.

On Martin Luther King Day, I had the pleasure of hiking a 45-degree angle hill from Shady Hollow Pavilion to the sledding hill at Shadow Field in Summit County’s Sand Run Metro Park.

I felt the melancholy nostalgia one gets when returning to a home one had almost forgotten because I spent time in the Merriman Valley at Camp Christopher and Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens as a youth.

On the still, clear day, the sun wafted in and out of low clouds until they broke into blue sky and the sun spilled blue tree shadows across the bright snow. As my footsteps crunched along the paths, I observed the grubby stickiness of snow climbing up the trunks of trees, hawks soaring above the branches, and hollowed logs looking like sleeping bags for moles. I was always aware of nearby Portage Path, the important Indian trail between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers and once-time boundary of the United States.

Skiers and sledders wish for the snow, of course. The 82-miles of bridle trails in the Cleveland Metroparks are “off the beaten” trails perfect for cross country skiing. Cross country skiing is also permitted on hiking trails and all purpose trails that have not been plowed, and also on the fairways of Big Met, Little Met, Shawnee Hills, and Sleepy Hollow golf courses.

Cross country skiing is encouraged in Lorain County Metroparks with the exception of formal garden areas of Schoepfle Gardens, and on the trails of the Medina park system and Geauga County Metroparks. Pine Lodge Ski Center in Lake Metroparks offers six miles of groomed terrain to challenge individual abilities and rents snowshoes and cross-country skis.

Some of the best places to sled in the Cleveland area are in the metro parks. Sledding with night lighting is available on the Sledding Hill off State Road in Hinckley Reservation, the Pawpaw Picnic Area in Mill Stream Run, the Ohio River Farm Picnic Area in North Chagrin, and on the hills of the golf courses. Lorain County Metroparks’ sledding hills are at Mill Hollow in Vermilion and the Equestrian Center in LaGrange.

All the park systems have designated sledding hills, like the one I found, at Sand Run in Summit County.

Chalet Recreation Area in Strongsville at Mill Stream Reservation has twin refrigerated tobogganing ice chutes with or without snow through sometime in March. The indoor facility features two fireplaces, a main gathering room with large-screen television, a loft area with video games, a concession stand, and indoor restrooms. The chutes are so much fun, one forgets it’s cold outside, and this amusement park-like thrill costs $8 for adults and $6 for children under 12.

Fast fun on the downhill ski slopes of Boston Mills Brandywine and Alpine Valley are a Northeast Ohio tradition. Who didn’t learn how to ski in high school? The slopes aren’t just about skiing anymore, which is good for those of us who aren’t any good at it—we can snow board or snow tube down the hills and leave those skis standing up against the wall in the lodge.

Winter can be a time for snuggling up with one book after another beneath a wool throw. The cold can be an excuse to skip the exercise and eat some chocolate, adding onto the holiday pounds until bathing suit seasons. How easy it is to be lulled into apathy, like falling asleep during a boring class. But getting outdoors provides exercise, interest, and your choice of solitude or companionship—why not go for that instead?

From Cool Cleveland contribuor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com
(:divend:)