Parks and Recreation

April 6, 2017 by Staff Report

GEAUGA PARK DISTRICT

For more information on these programs, contact the park district at 440-286-9516 or visit them online at www.geaugaparkdistrict.org.

Backcountry Hikes

Get some off-trail exercise this season by exploring the parks with a Geauga Park District naturalist.

Springtime Backcountry Hikes are scheduled for The West Woods on April 8, from 2-4:30 p.m.; Sunnybrook Preserve on April 29, from 10 a.m. to noon; GPD’s seldom-visited Welton’s Gorge Preserve on May 21, from 2-5 p.m.; and Observatory Park on May 27, from 1-3 p.m.

Registration is required. Participants must be school-aged and older, capable of hiking several miles over rugged, hilly terrain, and dressed for wet, muddy conditions and weather.

Summer Camp Fun

Entering their fifth year, Geauga Park District’s summer camps are tailored to two specific audiences, youth entering grades 5 through 7 and teens entering grades 8 through 10.

Fun camp activities include exploring, biking, kayaking, fishing and sending rockets and kites high into the sky.

All-week-long camps are offering for the younger audience the weeks of June 12 and 26, July 10, 17 and 31, and Aug. 7, and for the older audience the weeks of June 19 and 24. These five-day experiences cost $150.

For teens less likely to invest a full week, Geauga Park District also offers single-day “X-TREME” adventures the week of July 3 for $30 a day. And new this year, before-care is available at an additional fee for registered the weeks of July 17, 24 and 31.

Geauga Park District’s summer camps are sponsored by the Chip Henry Institute for Outdoor Adventure, established in memory of the late Geauga County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Charles “Chip” Henry, who had a great passion for nature and youth.

Spring At Observatory Park

For casual visitors, Observatory Park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 10610 Clay St. in Montville Township. For those wanting a more guided experience, however, astronomy naturalist Chris Mentrek is eager to show guests around this International Dark Sky Park.

Park buildings are open on select Saturday nights from 7-11 p.m. for night sky viewing with park telescopes and Sundays from 2-3 p.m. for The Sky Tonight Planetarium Show and safe solar viewing. Visit the website for specific dates and times.

Special programs to study the season’s full moons are scheduled for April 11 (The Frog Moon) and May 10 (The Corn-Planting Moon), both 8:30-9:30 p.m.

Hour-long focus programs on Fridays at 7 p.m. will offer glimpses into space math as featured in the Academy Award-nominated motion picture “Hidden Figures” on April 14 and 28; the weird world of lighting on May 12 and 26; and meteorites and how to identify them on June 9 and 23.

Drop in anytime 1-5 p.m. on April 15, to search a plowed-up soybean field for traces of historical artifacts and even meteorites at Artifacts and Meteorite Hunt.

Hikers can explore Observatory Park’s ledges, history and tiny beginnings of the Cuyahoga River and get some off-trail exercise with a Geauga Park District naturalist at the Backcountry Hike on May 27 from 1-3 p.m.

Homeschoolers ages 5 to 7 or 8 to 12 may sign up for the park district’s Weather Wizards program on April 21 from 2-3:30 p.m.

Attend the social Solar Day & Solstice Sunset event on June 21 from 6-9:30 p.m. to cook s’mores in a solar oven, participate in solar-powered toy car races, test light-sensitive beads, view the sun through a special telescope and witness sunset on the longest day of the year.

View the recent hit “Star Trek Beyond” on the big screen at Ohio’s only International Dark Sky Park on June 24. Preshow astronomy activities begin at 8 p.m.; the movie starts at dark. There will be free popcorn, lemonade and night sky viewing. Bring blankets and lawn chairs for the show.