Donna Paola is an expert on Summit Metro Parks. She knows the trails, the landmarks, the flora and the fauna.
After all, the 69-year-old has been participating in the Fall Hiking Spree since she was a Girl Scout in Troop 538 in Firestone Park, and her hiking staff has the colorful metal shields to prove it.
Paola, who now lives in Canton with her husband, David, earned her first shield in the late 1960s, not long after the Fall Hiking Spree was introduced by Summit Metro Parks in 1964. Hiking with her troop instilled a lifelong love of the outdoors.
She missed a few years of the spree while she was busy as a student at Garfield High School and the University of Akron, then as a human resources manager at PPG Industries in Barberton. But when she and David moved to Bath Township several decades ago, they introduced their two children to the Fall Hiking Spree, and she began earning shields again.
On a recent sunny day, Paola sat on the bench her family dedicated in honor of her 60th birthday — near the red barn at O’Neil Woods Metro Park — and reminisced about her forays into nature.
Finding friends in the forest
After Paola retired in 1996, she started a social group for women, which became known as Women’s Exchange. In 2021, the group celebrated its 25th anniversary.
In talking with other members, she learned many of them also enjoyed being outdoors, so she formed a hiking subgroup. They meet in late summer to prepare for the Fall Hiking Spree and to discuss which trails on the spree schedule they’d like to tackle – each with its unique personality, terrain and level of difficulty.
Once the spree launches, the group hikes twice a week to complete their hikes before the cold weather hits. Then they host an event to recognize their accomplishments; this year, they’re having a celebration luncheon.
Paola said the average age of the ladies in the hiking group is about 65 years old, and many members have been with the group for 20 or 25 years.
Her hiking staff — “Don’t call it a stick.” — is covered in the shields awarded to spree participants who hike eight or more trails. Several are made of a silver metal, while the newer ones are brass.
Each is inscribed with the year and a colorful logo, and Paola has covered the blank spaces on her staff with shields she collected after hiking with her family at Acadia National Park and other parks around the country.
What makes the spree special
Paola loves doing the Fall Hiking Spree because autumn is her favorite time of the year.
“I love the smells, the colors, the camaraderie of the group,” she said.
When Summit County leaders donated land in 1921 to create Summit Metro Parks, originally known as the Akron Metropolitan Park District, Paola said, it showed foresight and commitment to the people living in the county and beyond.
“It was altruistic,” she said. “They were thinking of others. True charity is not tax-deductible.”
Lindsay Smith, Summit Metro Parks’ chief of marketing and communications, said the district’s 16 parks get 5 million visits each year. The system is funded by a 2-mil Summit County property tax, which was approved in April 2020 by 73% of voters.
“The Fall Hiking Spree is the longest-running event of its kind in the nation — that we are aware of,” Smith said, adding that other park districts may have similar programs, but “they don’t have nearly the history that this event has.”
Smith said when the spree began, the park system was growing.
“It encouraged people to get out and explore all that the parks system had to offer,” she said. Participation in the Fall Hiking Spree has become an annual tradition for many outdoor enthusiasts.
Today, Summit Metro Parks recognizes those who have participated since the early years of the Fall Hiking Spree and calls them “heritage hikers,” she said. In recognition of their dedication, the district gives them a commemorative medallion and chain.
Want to join the spree? Here’s how
The Fall Hiking Spree began Sept. 1 and runs through Nov. 30, so there’s still time to hit the trails. This year’s theme is “Greener Future.” Hikers can sign up and download a participation form online.
Once they’ve hiked at least eight designated trails, they can turn in the filled-out form at Summit Metro Parks administrative offices (975 Treaty Line Road in Akron), F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm (828 Smith Road in Akron), Liberty Park Nature Center (9999 Liberty Road in Twinsburg) or Summit Lake Nature Center (411 Ira Ave. in Akron).
First-year hikers earn a hiking staff and shield, and returning hikers earn a shield to add to their staff. Spree rewards are free for Summit County residents. Out-of-county residents can participate as well; they just have to pay to receive their hiking rewards ($10 for first-year hikers, $5 for returning hikers).
Paola said Fall Hiking Spree trails are rated easy, moderate or strenuous, and she encourages hikers of all experience levels to join the spree because “there’s something for everybody.”
“It’s a way of divorcing yourself from the digital world,” she said. “And it’s a great family thing to do.”