In January, the Cleveland Metroparks launched the sixth installment of its popular 2023 Trail Challenge presented by Cigna, and hikers and outdoors enthusiasts are already out in the parks system exploring the Emerald Necklace.

This year’s challenge involved completing 10 trails in 10 different Metroparks reservations by any legal means—bike, hike, paddle, run, skate, or walk—by Dec. 31 to earn this year’s trail challenge sticker and a prize. Download the route sheet, keep track of your progress, and enjoy all that the Metroparks has to offer!

FreshWater writer Erin O’Brien took the 2022 Trail Challenge last year and chronicled her journey throughout the year.

We thought the warm weather this week, and O’Brien’s colorful recaps of last year might inspire FreshWater readers to get out and accept the challenge themselves this year. Here’s a look at O’Brien’s 2022 stories.

Metroparks Trail Challenge: Discovering the Hidden Valley at the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation

It was 23 degrees at 9:15 a.m. on Friday, March 4 when my esteemed associate Robyn Wyatt and I set out to complete the first of my installments on the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna. At times, the path is worthy of Dorothy and the Scarecrow. We stepped off on one of my favorite paths along the venerable Emerald Necklace: the northern route from the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on East 49th Street to the Harvard Road trailhead, one of several treks challenge participants can select from the 2022 Trail List…. Read more

Metroparks Trail Challenge: A fun, but muddy loop while en route to Deer Lick Cave

It was 34 degrees at 12:35 p.m. on March 8 when my hubby and I ventured out to tackle Deer Lick Loop, my second installment on the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna. The trail list designates this as a 3.5-mile adventure in the Brecksville Reservation and recommends starting from the Deer Lick Cave parking area. We opted instead to set out a scant mile north, from the Brecksville Nature Center…. Read more

Several pedestrian bridges cross West Creek throughout this hike.Metroparks Trail Challenge: Center Park loop and rubies in the sky at the West Creek Reservation

My husband and I pulled into Center Park in Parma at 11:35 a.m. on April 10 to embark on my third installment of the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna. It was 43 degrees.The route out of the ravine to Dentzler Trailhead is steep.We dutifully followed the instructions on the trail list for this 2.7-mile adventure on natural trail in the West Creek Reservation—sort of…. Read more

Metroparks Trail Challenge: exploring the rock ledges—or rock legends—of Hinckley and South Chagrin

For my fourth and fifth installments of the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna, I trekked two trails featuring curious stone carvings that were engraved on nature's majestic walls nearly 100 years apart and have been delighting anyone who's come upon them ever since. I tackled Worden's Trailhead in Hinkley on April 24 with my husband and friends Rex and Carrie Cassidy, and the Henry Church Rock trail in Bentleyville, just outside of Chagrin Falls, with buddy Kim Chapman on May 13…. Read more

Metroparks Trail Challenge: A gritty and majestic walk along the Lakefront Reservation

or my sixth installment of the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna, I enlisted the support of my husband Eric, daughter Jessie, and family friend Kay Babic to log more than four miles on June 19 along one of the area's most beloved greenspaces. We headed to the Lakefront Reservation, specifically Edgewater Beach, loaded up with bonhomie and picnic fare. With temperatures in the low 70s and wall-to-wall sunshine, the weather made for a dazzling backdrop of blue sky and water…. Read more

All purpose trail, Garfield Park Reservation.Metroparks Trail Challenge: Garfield Park Reservation, an urban greenspace with a hidden waterfall

It was just a few minutes shy of 11 a.m. on July 21, a spectacular Northeast Ohio summer day, when my husband and I pulled into Garfield Park Reservation in order to complete my seventh installment of the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna. Fair weather notwithstanding, we planned to do a relatively short walk, just two miles along the Iron Springs Trail and all purpose trail (APT) as designated by the trail list. Why the short hike? With most of our walks clocking in at five miles or more, we deserved a break. We'd be done in a half hour and then we'd belly up to a fitting lunch, maybe a two-fisted BLT and tall glass of iced tea…. Read more

Metroparks Trail Challenge: Kayaking and other water fun on Hinckley Lake

Full disclosure: While I have walked the earth for more than half a century, I had never been in a kayak before this experience. My assigned task to take on the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna, however, challenged this personal shortcoming. After all, the trail list includes no less than three water routes, so I selected the 1.5 mile Hinckley Lake paddling loop and enlisted my husband's aid for the eighth installment of my ongoing Metroparks adventure. August 11 was the day…. Read more

Metroparks Trail Challenge: Menacing trees, meandering trails, a mysterious castle in North Chagrin

On Oct. 8, my dearly beloved and I stepped out for my ninth installment on the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna. It was a positively dazzling fall day. Now then, suppose a person—a person just trying to do her very best—somehow pulled up the 2021 Trail list instead of the 2022 Trail list (which, incidentally, look really similar), and opted for the North Chagrin Reservation challenge route, which includes a 4.2-mile route that “requires you to pay attention to the map and trail junctions….” Read more

How many kids fit on a giant frog? Two!Metroparks Trail Challenge: Ending on a high note at the Rocky River Reservation

For my 10th and final installment of the Metroparks 2022 Trail Challenge Presented by Cigna, my husband and I headed to the Rocky River Reservation to tackle the Fort Hill trail loop and scout around some of the other trails. We got there a little after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10. The place was teeming with kids, both inside and outside of the Nature Center. They were climbing in and out of "HideAway Hollow," a make-believe oak tree. They were skipping along the more than five miles of trails surrounding the center. They were conversing with a model of the giant Dunkleosteus—a ferocious fish that lived in the area 360 million years ago. And they were laughing—boy, were they laughing…. Read more