For those of us who don’t daily spend time in the fields or trekking between the outbuildings around the farm, fall paints a beautiful excuse to get out and appreciate nature’s beauty when the sun warms the afternoons without the intensity of summer’s temperatures. Orange-red,
gold-toned backdrops of foliage filter October’s bright blue with a splendor that warms the soul.
This time of year triggers reminiscences of my special vacations over the years at West Virginia’s Blackwater Falls, Ohio’s Hocking Hills, Mohican, and Salt Fork State Parks where we’ve camped and hiked through fallen leaves. True for many of us, I suppose, the Chief of Ohio’s State Parks, Dan West, comments in this fall’s Ohio State Parks magazine, “When I think back on my favorite childhood memories, it seems that they all revolve around spending time with my friends and family, enjoying life’s simple pleasures in the outdoors … at the local state park.”
It’s ironic, but predictable, that the park closest to my home, the one I could know best, I’ve neglected the most. You know how it goes. What’s in your own back yard gets taken for granted. So, though I rode the bus through parts of Beaver Creek State Park all those years on my way to Beaver Local School, and though I picnic in the heart of the park, at the barn near Gaston’s Mill, every summer with Signal’s Community Club, I have not hiked its trails nor camped there.
Ohio State Parks,* published by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, is a first class, semi-annual magazine filled with beautiful articles for the whole family, great park-related merchandise you can order for the nature enthusiast, and a calendar of seasonal events.
On the slate for October at Beaver Creek Park are two events scheduled for the weekend of October 7 & 8:
Halloween Fall Campout – planned are family programs, guided hikes, games, trick or treat, & a potluck dinner.
Fall Festival – runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. both days at the
pioneer village with crafts and demonstrations (probably food available, too).
Offering hiking and biking trails, camping, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing, and, of course, picnicking, the park recently added a
STAY INFORMED. SIGN UP!
Up-to-date agriculture news in your inbox!
