According to the American Hiking Society, hiking is the easiest and least expensive
outdoor recreation activity. Hiking can help you lose weight, improve your physical
well-being, reduce tension and enhance your mental health.
MetroParks offers an array of parks for hiking, but a favorite of many in the area
is Sugarcreek MetroPark. This 600-acre park is located near Bellbrook, 13 miles
southeast of Dayton. This family-friendly nature reserve surrounds a long stretch
of scenic Sugar Creek and offers five miles of easy to moderately difficult walking
and hiking trails along the creek and through wooded hillsides.
Specific trails lead to park features like the Three Sisters (a trio of 550-year-old
giant oak trees), an Osage Orange Tunnel, Sycamore Ridge, a stand of beech woods,
a tall-grass prairie, and beautiful spring wildflowers.
Although one of the enormous old Oak trees died over the last few years, the tree
still stands and has become a place for owls to nest, raccoons to sleep and bugs
to eat. The boardwalk that used to lead to the tree was removed and the area around
it fenced off to protect park goers from branches that might fall.
Last year, a pack of Eagle Scouts helped the park build a new boardwalk to the larger
of the remaining Oaks, so hikers and walkers can still get close to, touch and bond
with something that’s been alive since before Christopher Columbus.
Hikers can also discover the Osage Orange Tunnel where gnarled, arching branches
create a pathway. These trees were originally planted in this row in the late 1800s
to serve as a fence in the days before barbed wire was available. Also known as
hedge apple, it produces a large, round, green fruit that children often describe
as looking like “monkey brains”.
Prairie areas have been planted by MetroParks to support the plants and animals
of prairie habitats. A Paved Prairie Trail provides access to a prairie experience
for users who use wheelchairs or have other mobility impairments. The trail has
also proven popular with families with strollers.
Spring is the perfect time to introduce yourself to the trails of Sugarcreek. With
a wide variety of native wildflowers, the woodland bursts with color.
“It’s incredible when you’re walking along the creek – the colors, the shapes –
they put popular landscaping flowers to shame!” says Joshua York, a Naturalist and
Education coordinator with MetroParks.
The park is also brimming with wildlife. In addition to the habitat created for
prairie animals, the adjacent Spring Lakes Park habitat draw birds such as Barred
Owls and Eastern Screech-Owls, Pileated Woodpeckers and even Black Vulture, Bald
Eagle, and Red-shouldered Hawk.
The park preserves both riparian and upland woodlands in a region of rapid economic
and urban development. It also provides a free and easily accessible outdoor fitness
center for residents who call the area home.
Studies over the last 5 years have shown that suburban development and obesity are,
unfortunately, interlinked. These studies showed that residents of sprawling cities
and counties tended to weigh more, walk less, and have higher blood pressure than
people living in compact communities. Hiking in a park like Sugarcreek is one way
to personally buck this trend in Dayton suburbs.
York encourages folks who are interested in getting healthy to try out the park
instead of your local gym. “Why pay to go to a gym and use electric gadgets when
you can go and exercise for free while rekindling your relationship with nature,”
he says.
The mental health benefits of hiking are just as bountiful as the physical. Exposure
to natural bright light, which you certainly can't get in a gym, increases levels
of serotonin in the brain.
So what’s holding you back? Grab your hiking boots or jogging shoes and pay Sugarcreek
a visit this Spring. Bring the dog and family. They, and your own mind and your
body will be glad you did!
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