Summit County Metro Parks

The Summit County Metro Parks is an expansive network of trails and parks designed to meet the needs of all outdoor-lovers throughout the county and beyond. With 15 parks and trails spread throughout Summit county, there's always a place to enjoy nature practically just up the road.

The two major trails, the Bike and Hike and Towpath trails, stretch for 33.5 miles and 70 miles, respectively.

The Bike and HikeTrail, one of the country's first "rails to trails" conversions, enters Summit county from the north and reaches down to Munroe Falls. It continues north into Cuyahoga County, following the original path of the old Akron, Bedford & Cleveland Railroad. The trail offers views of Canada geese, duck species, spring peepers, rock walls and the 75-foot Brandywine Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Ohio.

The Towpath Trail follows the original route of the Ohio & Erie Canal, which allowed boats to travel from Lake Erie (Cleveland) to the Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 70 miles of the 101 total miles between Cleveland and Akron are currently completed. The walking/running/biking/cross country skiing path is next to the river, where mules used to pull the boats through the canal. Along the route, trailgoers encounter canal locks and other informative plaques describing the historical importance of the canal. While on the towpath, one can see herons, cranes, ducks, beavers, butterfiles, wildflowers and dozens of tree varieties.

The following is a descriptive list of parks in the Summit County Metro Parks from north to south, according to information on the parks' Web site:

Liberty Park is a 1,435-acre area located in Twinsburg. The park includes a 100-acre recreation area with play fields and playgrounds, two trails and the Pond Brook Conservation Area. Maple trees were left in the area "because of their sweet sap when many others were cleared away during European settlement," according to the Metro Parks' Web site. Other large trees are present in the park's rock ledges and wetlands in the conservation area, which is home to many rare and endangered species: Indiana bats, marsh wrens, ospreys and bald eagles. The Metro Parks has designated this a low-impact area, which means improvements like trails and mowing are kept to a minumum.

Furnace Run Metro Park, an 890-acre area, is actually an award-winning environmental project that re-created "thousands of feet of habitat for aquatic wildlife and native fish, including a thriving population of rainbow darters, which is a sensitive species," the Web site states. Located near Brushwood Lake in the northwest portion of the county, Furnace Run features the H.S. Wagner Daffodil Trail. The trail is named after the first Metro Parks director, who planted the first bulbs around the trail. In March and April, thousands of daffodil blossoms color the ground with intense shades of yellow.

Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park is located along the towpath trail, at lock 28, the deepest lock (17 feet) of the whole canal. The 73-acre deep park features a somewhat strenuous 1.2-mile Quarry Trail, which will take visitors to the top of the quarry, where the sandstone blocks were cut to use as locks, for a fantastic view. The park also happens to be home to more Buckeye trees than any other in the Metro Parks.

O'Neil Woods Metro Park consists of 242 acres north of Akron that were donated to the Metro Parks by William O'Neil, founder of General Tire and Rubber Company, and his wife Grace. Their barn still stands on the property and serves as a home for bats. This park is a great place to observe nature, as it is home to eastern woodcocks, barred owls, pileated woodpeckers, song sparrows, kingfishers, ruffed grouse, turtles, frogs and a variety of fish.

Hampton Hills Metro Park, north of Akron, was created in two stages: In 1964, when the City of Akron leased 116 acres of woods and ravines to the Metro Parks in exchange for land within Goodyear Heights Metro Park, and three years later, when Rhea H. and E. Reginals Adam donated 162 acres of their adjacent farmland. The park features the glacier-carved Adam Run Valley. Also present is the Top O' the World Area, which allows for views to surrounding pastures and their native species.

Sand Run Metro Park, a 987-acre area, is located just north of Akron and stretches to Fairlawn through one of several hiking trails. This park has Native American historical areas such as Mingo Pavilion and Portage Path. Visitors can drive their cars through the water of a ford crossing on Sand Run Parkway, where Sand Run crosses the street. It is also home to a small wetland that has become an amphibian breeding area. Other species seen in the area include: red, gray, black and fox squirrels; screech, barred and great horned owls; pileated woodpeckers; red-tailed hawks and sharp-shinned hawks.

F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm is a 104-acre "special-use area within Sand Run Metro Park that has been set aside for enjoying and studying nature," the Web site states. Named for Frank A. Seiberling, who owned the property from 1920 to 1948, the area opened in 1966. The Nature Realm includes the visitors center, an underground structure filled with exhibits and displays, a 16-acre arboretum, a rock and herb garden and a display garden.

Cascade Valley Metro Park is a downtown park within the valleys of the Cuyahoga and Little Cuyahoga rivers. The 526-acre park consists of several major areas: the Oxbow and Chuckery areas to the south, the Schumacher Valley Area to the north, and the linear Cascade Locks Area. In the south, the rapids of the Cuyahoga River drown out the city sounds. The Schumacher Valley Area remains one of the "most rugged areas within the city," according to the Metro Parks. The Cascade Locks Area comprises part of the steepest portion of the canal, where 15 locks were placed within one mile. This area includes five of those locks.

Gorge Metro Park, off of Route 8 near Cuyahoga Falls, is where, according to legend, a Pennsylvania girl was kidnapped by Delaware Indians and taken to. Mary Campbell, for whom the cave is named, was the first white child in the Western Reserve area of the frontier. She was released after five years at the end of the French and Indian War. The 1.8-mile Gorge Trail takes visitors to Mary Campbell's Cave, located about a half mile from the parking lot. Running water flows over a shale riverbed at the park, which was formed when glacial debrees block the path of the Cuyahoga River, forcing it to change its course.

Munroe Falls Metro Park, near Munroe Falls, was originally a swimming park owned by John Renner, who charged 10 cents for swimmers to use his fishing lake. The sandy, acidic soil of the 222-acre park allows for growth of plants not found elsewhere in Summit County, like blueberries, shiny club moss, ground pine and Ohio haircap moss. The 2.2-mile Indian Spring Trail loops through two forests, wetlands and a spring.

Goodyear Heights Metro Park, located in Akron near the Goodyear Heights neighborhood, began as a donation from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The park features several hiking trails, a fishing lake, a sledding hill and a playing field, which was the largest mowed playing field in Ohio when it was created in 1957.

Firestone Metro Park, of which 89 acres was donated by Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, currently comprises 255 acres with an expansive wetland. Playing fields and hiking trails are also available at the park, which is south of Akron. The park's meadows and forest shelter foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, muskrats, rabbits, mice, voles and moles, among other species.

Silver Creek Metro Park consists of 624 acres, part of which was formerly a dairy farm, near Norton. Underneath the meadows lies "a maze of tunnels and shafts that were part of a 19th century mining operation," according to the Metro Parks. A bath house and 50-acre lake fed by a spring were added in the 1990s, and visitors can see the water, filled with iron, running through Silver Creek and leaving reddish-brown iron oxide behind. The park offers swimming, hiking and bridle trails, as well as boat rentals.

Detailed information, including hours, location and directions, of all the above parks is available at the Summit County Metro Parks Web site, www.summitmetroparks.org.