Sep 9, 2019: 2019 Great Ames Adventure Race

The annual Great Ames Adventure Race occurred on Sunday morning (8th) under a cloudy sky and cool temperatures.  The race consists of three legs: 2.5 mile kayak-canoe event (at the Park), 15 mile biking event (north of Ames, mostly county roads), and a 5K running event (at the Park). (Wolf. Oesterreich, 9/8/19)

July 3, 2018: Summer Recreation!

There are lots of ways to enjoy summer at Ada Hayden Park.  This photo was taken on a sunny afternoon on the north lake looking east. (Kevin Kane, 6/18/18)

Sep 12, 2017: 2017 Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR)

At least 56 teams participated this year in the Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR).  Leg 1 consists of 2.7 mile kayak-canoe race on Ada Hayden Heritage Park's main lakes; Leg 2 is a 15 mile race on Story County roads (starting & finishing at the Park); and Leg 3 is a 5K run along the Park's trails. (Wolf. Oesterreich, 9/10/17)

April 5, 2017: Getting a Jump on Spring

(Paul Domoto, 4/2/17)

Oct 9, 2016: And Toto Too

(Kevin Kane, 10/7/2016)

Sept 13, 2015: 9th annual Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR)

GAAR kayak-canoe leg - rounding the south lake

The 9th annual Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR) happened Sunday morning (9/13).  The race consists of three legs: 2.7 miles around the main lakes at Ada Hayden by kayak or canoe, 15 miles by bike (from the Park to around the Gilbert area and back), and a 5K run along the Park trails.  Last year there were 125 participants.  Based on the number of bikers (70) that passed my corner (volunteered as a corner marshal), I would venture to guess that the total number is less this year. 9/14/15 (Wolf. Oesterreich)

biking leg - along US-69

running leg - coming down the Upland Trail

May 26, 2015: A Walk in the Park

Lots of activity at the park the last couple weeks! 5/23/15 (Kevin Kane)

April 24, 2015: Winding Cinder Path

This winding cinder trail can be found in the northwest hills area of the park. 4/4/15 (Kevin Kane)

Sep 7, 2014: The Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR)

The Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR) occurred this morning (9/7) and consists of three events (kayaking/canoeing [2.7 miles], biking [15 miles], & a 5K run). 9/7/14 (Wolf. Oesterreich)

May 19, 2014: Hayden Park News 12

Playing on the northwest hills.  5/21/14 (Kevin Kane)

May 19, 2014

Dear Friends Of Hayden Park:
The day-time temperatures are warming up, the birds are migrating and it is time to plant more trees. Rick Hall plans to have a tractor and tree planter available on Thursday morning, May 22. The weather forecast includes a 20 percent chance of rain. If the forecast worsens, Rick may move this event to Wednesday morning otherwise it is on. We will be planting another 700 trees next to last year’s plantings which are doing fairly well despite last year’s dry summer and a cold winter. Please come and help as you can. Bring a long a lopper if you have one to cut some Siberian elm saplings. The planting area is located along the upland trail northwest of the shelter and the north lake. 

Dr. Thelma Heidel-Baker, Post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Entomology will be conducting a study on native bee conservation in Iowa prairies. She is interested in providing artificial nests for native bees to enhance conservation of these important pollinators. Native bees are important pollinators that are not well studied here in Iowa. She has designed a simple bee nesting tube and plans to place these in various prairies around Story County. At each prairie I will be setting out 12-16 of these small nesting tubes. These tubes will be set up in the spring (early May) and removed in the fall (October). There will be minimal other contact with these tubes during the season. The results of this study will be used to enhance our knowledge on native bee conservation and help develop conservation tools for the public on pollinators. Ada Hayden Heritage Park will serve as one of her study sites. She wishes to share information on this project with the Friends of Ada Hayden. A large component of this project is public education as well and making people more aware of this less known group of pollinating insects. We will be looking forward to hearing the results of this study next fall. 

Dr. Robert Klaver, Leader of the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at ISU has taken over the Tree Swallow study from David and Carol Vleck who retired and moved to Arizona.

For daily information and photos of the park go to: http://adahaydenpark.blogspot.com/

Erv Klaas 

Sep 8, 2013: The Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR) 2013

The Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR) was held this morning (Sunday) under an overcast sky.  The 2.7 mile canoe/kayak race around the main lakes led off the event.  This was followed by a 15 mile bike race and ended with a 5K running event around the Park. 9/7/13 (Wolf. Oesterreich)

Sep 1, 2013: Runner at Sunset

A runner takes a final lap around the north lake at sunset.  8/31/13 (Kevin Kane)

Aug 17, 2013: Hayden Park News #7

THE GREAT AMES ADVENTURE RACE!

The 7th Annual Great Ames Adventure Race will be held SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8th! This Race is sponsored by Skunk River Paddlers, Central Iowa Biking, and Ames Running Club.
The sponsors are currently in search of prize donors, volunteers, and participants of all kinds! Spread the word - online registration is available at GetMeRegistered.com, and don't forget the Corporate Team and Adult/Youth Tandem Divisions!

The Great Ames Adventure Race (GAAR) is an amateur athletic event designed for all ages and abilities. Challenge yourself, or challenge family, friends, and coworkers in a paddle-bike-run event that keeps bringing people back, year after year. Check us out on FACEBOOK!

Participants compete in solo, tandem or relay divisions on a course that starts and ends at Ada Hayden Heritage Park, 5205 Grand Avenue in North Ames. The race begins with waves of six canoes and kayaks on a 2.7 mile race around the lake. Participants then exit the lake to a transition area where the 15 mile bike race and the 5K run begin.

The bike route is entirely on paved roads west and north of the park. The 5K is on asphalt and cinder trails within the park. Life jackets (PFDs) and bike helmets are required.

June 10, 2013: Sunday 6/23 - Pack the Park

Hey, Central Iowans! Join us at Ada Hayden Park on the afternoon of Sunday, June 23 for peddling, paddling, and perambulating! All proceeds go to benefit the Friends of Ada Hayden Park and our efforts to put interpretive signs along the trails of the park. Lots of fun events for the whole family--please join us! 6/10/13 (Jim Pease)

May 28, 2012: Photo of the Day: The Race

Runner spooks a nearby deer on the southwest upland trail and they are off to the races, 5/5/12 (Kevin Kane)

Mar 25, 2012: Erv's Field Notes #28

Blue-fronted Dancer Male--Hayden Park, Ames, Iowa (Erv Klaas)

Sunday, March 25, 2012. 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Beautiful sunny day. Temp. 76 degrees. Gentle south breeze.

The weather this weekend has been fantastic. On Saturday, the park was visited by hundreds of runners who participated in a benefit "Run for Malawi". You can see photos at Kevin Kane's blogspot: http://adahaydenpark.blogspot.com/2012/03/mar-24-2012-race-day-at-ahhp.html

Saturday was also a "Day of Insects" at Reiman Gardens. Wolf Oesterreich and I presented our five years of data on Dragonflies and Damselflies at AHHP. Our presentation was one of 15 presentations at the fourth annual meeting of this group that attracted more than 100 people. I showed a slide of a damselfly, a Blue-fronted Dancer, that had captured an insect. One of the entomologists identified it as a member of the insect Order Mecoptera, and I was later able to identify it to species as a "hanging fly" on a web site called Bug Guide. This web site was developed by entomologists at Iowa State U. and has become the "go to" site all over the world for users to identify their insects from photos. The hanging fly has very long front legs with a hook at the end which it uses to hang from branches of vegetation. The long legs and distinctive head were clearly visible on my photo.

Wolf reported that he saw the first dragonflies of the season last Wednesday and Thursday, March 21 and 22, at the park. These dragonflies were Common Green Darners and on Thursday he observed them ovipositing (laying eggs). Entomologists believe this species migrates to the Gulf Coast for the winter and darners that appear this early in the spring are probably early migrants from the south rather than emergents from the ponds.

On Sunday afternoon, Janet and I walked up the upland trail to Jensen's Pond. While Janet sat in the swing at Rotary Overlook, I walked around the pond. One of the first birds I saw was an Eastern Phoebe. It caused me to recall that 50 years ago, almost to the day, I began a four-year field study of this species near Lawrence, Kansas that became my doctoral dissertation in Ornithology. The thesis was titled "Breeding Ecology of the Eastern Phoebe and its relationships with the Brown-headed Cowbird." The Eastern Phoebe is a member of the flycatcher family of birds and usually builds its nest made of mud and grasses on buildings are other structures. It likes protection from the elements so its nest is always under an overhanging eave of a building. In eastern Kansas it uses concrete culverts or road bridges as nesting sites. I once found a phoebe nest tucked under a rocky outcrop but natural sites in Kansas were scarce as they are in Iowa. The phoebe is a frequent host of the Brown-headed Cowbird that is an obligate social parasite. The cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of a large variety of species and the host does all of the work of raising the cowbird young. Such behavior has evolved independently several times among avian families, for example, old-world cuckoos.

This morning (Monday), a phoebe appeared suddenly in my back yard, the first time I have seen it in the yard in 37 years. It must be some kind of omen because yesterday, I saw a Brown-headed Cowbird in the yard.

Erv Klaas

Mar 24, 2012: Race Day at AHHP

Runners wind their way around the northeast trail before heading over the bridge (Kevin Kane)

Saturday morning the park was filled with runners as the "March for Malawi" was run around the asphalt figure 8.  It was a beautiful day with a nice turnout of a couple hundred runners.

More race photos here.

Mar 12, 2012: Race Info @ AHHP: March for Malawi

What: 5K Walk/Run

Where: Ada Hayden Heritage Park Ames, IA

When: March 24th, 2012 10:00am Sharp

Cost: $15 before March 17th, $20 after March 17th

Race Day Check In: 8:00am at Ada Hayden Park Shelter (Race Packet and t-shirt can be picked up here)

Route: Figure 8 around Ada Hayden Lake, beginning and ending at the north park shelter.

Note: Prizes will be awarded for top male and top female finishers. Snacks and refreshments will be provided following the race.

Feb 12, 2012: Erv's Field Notes #24

Enjoying the park on Sunday post-fire, 12/2/12 (Kevin Kane)
See more Sunday pics here

Sunday, February 12, 2012, 2 pm. Bright sunshine, Temperature, 27 degrees F., West wind.

When I arrived at the park today, fire trucks from Ames and Gilbert were fighting a grass fire. The fire started next to Grant Road on the west side of the park and quickly spread toward the east, aided by a the westerly wind. It burned a strip across the planted prairie and some of the dry wetland. It made it all the way to the gravel path leading up to the ridge. Fireman had it completely out by about 3 pm. I took a number of photos and sent them to Kevin Kane for posting on his blog. The fire probably did more good than harm.

The area of open water on the south lake was a little larger today and the waterfowl were behaving much like yesterday although they were closer to shore on the south and east side. I noticed some courtship behavior in a few of the Canada Geese. Males swim behind or beside a female with his neck stretched out low over the water. He held his mouth wide open and called repeatedly. Any other goose that came near he would chase away. All the while, the female acted as though he wasn't there.

Courtship behavior will increase as spring approaches. Geese mate for life but many two- and three-year-old geese are looking for mates. About a week ago, I witnessed a fight between two geese that was probably a squabble between two males vying for the same female. The geese were in the water and one had a hold on the other one's neck. Both were flapping their wings and splashing the water vigorously. Prior to the fight, most of the geese in the flock were sleeping quietly on the ice. The noise of the fight caused them all to wake up and begin calling loudly. Watching geese sleep can be quite boring but if you are patient, you might see something interesting.

Erv Klaas