Merry Lea Environmental Center offers Southern Ohio Wildflower Pilgrimage in April; Register by March 20

GOSHEN, Ind. – Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College invites nature fans to join their staff for a trip on the Southern Ohio Wildflower Pilgrimage, April 20-23. Participants will spend two-and-a-half days hiking the foothills of Appalachia with experienced naturalists and botanists at the height of wildflower season.

Highlands Nature Sanctuary of Bainbridge, Ohio, is the primary sponsor of the Southern Ohio Wildflower Pilgrimage. The event offers two full-day hikes on Friday and Saturday and a half-day hike on Sunday morning. Travelers choose from 12 botanical hotspots and a variety of levels of difficulty.

Some hikers might opt to stroll through Etawah Woods, where columbine, trillium, wood anemone, geranium, goldenseal and celandine wood poppies are set against imposing rock walls and the shadows of giant hemlock trees. Others might choose a more rigorous scramble up to Buzzard’s Roost, 600 feet above nearby Paint Creek and perhaps the most spectacular vista in the state. Others may encounter bluebells, shooting stars, a pyramid of trilliums cascading down a hillside or rarer finds such as sullivantia and the polypody fern. Evening presentations feature photo highlights of the region, rare plants, orchids and a cave tour by candlelight.

Those joining Merry Lea will travel by van and stay in rooms reserved at Beechcliff, a restored turn-of-the-century hunting lodge in a wooded setting at Highlands Nature Sanctuary. Decor includes hardwood floors, antique handmade furniture and quilts. The bedrooms encircle a common gathering room with fireplace.

Costs for the pilgrimage are $335 per person, assuming double occupancy. Single occupancy is available for an additional $90. All meals are included in the package except those eaten while on the road. Columbus chef Del Sroufe will cater meals at the pilgrimage. Vegetarian options are available at every meal.

The deadline for registration is March 20. For more information on the trip, or to register, call (260) 799-5869 or e-mail jenniferhs@goshen.edu. For complete details on the pilgrimage, visit www.highlandssanctuary.org.

Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center is an 1,150-acre nature center located in central Noble County and owned and operated by Goshen College. This natural sanctuary for northern Indiana’s plants and animals, provides environmental education for people of all ages and a setting to recreate opportunities that benefit the human body and spirit without exploiting the land. Merry Lea was created with the assistance of the Nature Conservancy and the generosity of Lee A. and Mary Jane Rieth. For more information, go to www.goshen.edu/merrylea.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.