Canton Park District (CPD) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year! Canton Park District includes over 1400 acres of open space and includes Wallace Park, Big Creek Park, Lakeland Park, and other smaller parks. Visitors to these parks can enjoy baseball, softball, frisbee golf, the water park, dog parks, hiking/biking trails, tennis, pickleball, and many other activities including flight lessons at the airport. Throughout 2023 we will be celebrating the centennial anniversary with many activities, including a series of geocaches. We invite you to visit our park system and enjoy all that it offers.
To celebrate the centennial and CPD's entry into geocaching, each cache contains a code. The first cache in the series contains logbooks that can be used to enter the codes inside the cache. The first 25 geocachers to find and record the codes of at least 10 caches can turn the logbook in at the Gary Baker Rec Center, located inside Big Creek Park, during normal business hours and have the option to purchase a souvenir coin for $5.
This cache is located in Lakeland Park and is placed with permission of the park district. Lakeland Park has a 4.5 mile hiking/biking trail, several viewing stations, a bird viewing blind with electronic bird calls, paddleboats, fishing, boating, and scuba diving. There is also a playground dedicated to NASA astronaut Steve Nagel who was the 100th astronaut in space and was a Canton resident who learned to fly planes at the nearby Ingersoll airport by flying over Lakeland.
Parking is available in a lot across the street from the main entrance to Lakeland. A trailhead is also located within that lot. Parking is also available in several locations within the park. Lakeland is not accessible at night and gates close approximately one hour after sunset. This cache contains a first-to-find coin and some swag. Watch for muggles!