Lloyd A. Stage Nature Center

I’ve only done the walking trails, because this is the perfect place to take a stroll after a Sunday afternoon meal at any of the area restaurants. Relaxing, peaceful, and lots of deer every time. Grab your camera and your walking shoes and be on your way.

This is almost certainly one of the best nature walks in the area.
Some of the reviews mentioned yoga and rated the nature center itself, but the best thing to do in a heavily forested area with a trail is take a walk.
However, if you have kids there are activities for them and they are always in need of volunteers to help clear the trails.
The trails are really well-​kept and there are a variety of animals: white-​tailed deer, snapping turtles, box turtles, skunks, foxes, garter snakes (I’ve never seen a massausaga here, which is another plus for the trail) and it’s a great place to bird watch (lots of woodpeckers, owls, and hawks).
I try to walk here a few times each week, and aside from some noisiness on the weekend and the occasional teenager emerging from the forest reeking of a plant that I don’t believe grows here, it’s usually pretty quiet and calm. If you live in the area, you should visit!

Great winter hike! So many deer we lost count. The nature center seemed great and the staff was extremely friendly. My family and I will definitely be back and will also look into signing our son up for their spring/​summer programs

The nature center itself has seen its better days but the trails are a nice escape from the bustling city life. You will find plenty of deer in the park all year long.

My mom took me here just to go on a walk a couple months ago, and it was lovely. They have two or three trails through the woods, and while we were walking, we saw a family of deer. The big daddy deer, the mom and the baby, who had the little white fluff of a tail and the white spots — just like Bambi. We also heard and saw quite a few birds. I think if you hike all the trails, it’s about two miles, but we just hiked one, so we only went about a mile (which is good for kids or older people). There is even this little observatory deck that you can walk up to and look over the whole park.
They’ve got some cool, real-​looking rock formations in the front that kids love to play on. And when I went there for yoga this past Sunday, there were a bunch of kids playing in this faux mastodon dig site — it seemed pretty darn cool for the under-​12 set. I also noticed that there is a neat, lodge-​esque reading room, and adirondack chairs in the back to sit and read, or just chill.
About the yoga. My mom signed up for it, but wanted to go to an art lecture this Sunday instead, so she asked the instructor if I could take her place. Most of the people were my parents’ age, but that wasn’t a problem. I just wish it had been a little warmer, because my mom said during the summer the class was held outside and it made for a very serene and relaxing practice. Sort of a communing-​with-​nature-​type thing. The instructor was a little too new age-​y for me, asking us to send out our gratitude to the others in the room, and stuff like that. But I’m really skeptical about all that stuff, so to be honest, it was actually pretty minimal, which is simply more new age crunch than I prefer. The yoga itself was a little pieced together. I tend to prefer sun salutations and flowing sets of movements, while this was more one thing at a time. Everyone in the class seemed to enjoy it, however, and made me feel like a part of the group.
And actually, we did get to go outside for about 20 minutes of meditation after the yoga practice, and even though the instructor didn’t say much as far as guiding our meditation, except for a short introduction, it was very calming. In fact, maybe it’s because she didn’t say much that I enjoyed it so much. I just didn’t think I could stay still and silent for that long, without a few reminders to picture a flame or imagine our worries flowing out with each exhale. I did, though, and it felt great to be out in the sun and the elements, meditating. It was exactly what I needed — I’ve been a little jumpy lately. But no more.