Donna Paola is an expert on Summit Metro Parks. She knows the trails, the landmarks, the flora and the fauna.
After all, the 69-year-old has been participating in the Fall Hiking Spree since she was a Girl Scout in Troop 538 in Firestone Park, and her hiking staff has the colorful metal shields to prove it.
Paola, who now lives in Canton with her husband, David, earned her first shield in the late 1960s, not long after the Fall Hiking Spree was introduced by Summit Metro Parks in 1964. Hiking with her troop instilled a lifelong love of the outdoors…