Trek Ten Trails III Kicks Off November 14

The Friends of the Parks Foundation will launch the third year of its award-winning Trek Ten Trails program on Saturday, November 14th from 9AM till Noon in conjunction with the Grand Opening of Mackay Gardens and Lakeside Preserve at 900 Mackay Boulevard, Lake Alfred. The Trek Ten Trails hike will be led by City Commissioner Nancy Daley beginning at 9AM.  Visitors can enjoy seeing the historic mansion, grounds and exhibits plus free coffee and donuts.  A playground and picnic shelters are also available. 

DIRECTIONS:  From the intersection of US92 and US17 go north to Lake Alfred and turn right on Mackay Blvd. Follow this road to the second set of black gates on the right – turn right, parking is inside gates on the right.

This year there are a total of 20 trails from which to choose.  All trails include approved geocaches that can be located with or without a GPS unit!   Five new properties have been added and additional or new caches have been placed on some of the original trails. Three Bok Bonus Treks are available this year; entrance fees to Bok Tower Gardens are waived for those participants who present their game card at the gate showing 4 validated treks. 

Trek Ten Trails is a web-based program.  Instructions for all hikes are posted on the Friends of the Parks website and available for downloading at www.friendsoftheparks.net .  New game cards, which participants stamp and return to be entered into the year end prize drawings, are available at libraries, Polk Outpost 27, the Lake Wales Depot Museum and at the ten hosted hike events listed below.  Validated game cards must be received by mid October 2010 (date TBA) to be eligible for prize drawings and a certificate of completion. 

• Oct. 31, 2009 – Circle B-Bar Reserve
• Nov. 14, 2009 – Mackay Gardens & Lakeside Preserve
• Dec. 12, 2009 – Colt Creek State Park
• Jan. 9, 2010 – Lake Kissimmee State Park
• Jan. 30, 2010 – Peace River Hammock
• Feb. 13, 2010 – Tiger Creek Preserve
• Mar. 13, 2010 – Lake Wales Ridge State Forest
• Apr. 10, 2010 – Lakeland Highlands Scrub Preserve
• Sep. 18, 2010 – Van Fleet State Trail
• Oct. 2, 2010 – Mosaic Peace River Park

 For more information contact Marian Ryan 863-293-6961, marianryan@gmail.com  or Glenda Mink 863-534-4340, glendamink@polk-county.net