Wright Brothers Memorial Trip

Trip Theme -  Local History

Trip Overview/Things to do

This trip is an exciting and challenging one filled with a lot of local history, sights, and things to do. We rated the trip as a 3/4 in terms of overall difficulty, mostly due to steep inclines and the total distance of the ride.

There are lots of things to do and many options along this trip. We chose to ride to the scenic Huffman MetroPark for a nice picnic. Some of the kids rode on to MoMBA, the MetroParks Mountain Biking Area, where you can do some off-road biking. There are some great courses to ride on there, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart! One tip: If you go to MoMBA, be sure to call ahead and make sure they're open on the day you plan to be there.

The mountain-biking crew after a few scrapes/bruises. Remember: ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!

From there, we backtracked and went to the Wright Brothers Memorial, which overlooks Huffman prairie, which (according to the National Park Service), is where the Wright Brothers "learned to control and maneuver their powered machine and taught themselves to fly during 1904 and 1905." After this we visited the museum and were very happy to be able to sit and watch (in the air-conditioned theater) the movie "On Great White Wings," narrated by fellow Daytonian Martin Sheen. If you're interested in going to visit, check to see when the museum is open and when the movie is playing before you go at the Wright Brothers National Memorial website.

2013 STEMmersion class in front of the Wright Brothers Memorial overlooking Huffman Prairie

Directions

Leaving DRSS, we took the Ironhorse Trail(9) to Creekside Trail (2), then in Eastwood Park picked up Mad River Trail (8) and went East to Huffman Metro Park. After lunch/mountain biking, we backtracked to Wright Brothers Memorial. This was a 25-mile ride from school to the Memorial and back. Click here for the Google Maps directions.

Our trip route from Google Maps - click here for these directions

Most Memorable Experience

One of the most memorable things from the trip was the group of students who thought they would attempt to "live off the land" for their lunch and consumed what appeared to be a tasty root. Turns out they ate hemlock, a poisonous plant in the carrot family! Another safety tip: always have the number for poison control handy!

Sources Cited

National Park Service. Dayton Aviation Heritage: Visit the sites. Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/facilitysites.htm