Enjoy the outdoors with nature programs, games, live music, guided hikes, nature workshops and more at LCRA’s free Earth Day Festival at McKinney Roughs Nature Park on Saturday, April 14.

The seventh annual festival will feature outdoor activities for children and adults, with a focus on responsible use of our natural resources. It will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the 1,100-acre nature park in Bastrop County.

Visitors can enjoy guided hikes through pine forests, wildflowers and small pocket prairies, or take part in nature crafts, touch live native animals and learn about energy, land, and water conservation through hands-on activities and demonstrations. Food and live music also will be available. Guided hikes will take place on the hour and half hour to different areas of the park.

Kids can take part in the Passport to Nature Challenge. After receiving their "passport," they can earn a patch for completing activities throughout the park. The passport will guide them through three zones at the festival - Land Stewardship, Water Stewardship and Alternative Energy.

Adults are welcome to participate in Walk and Talk Nature Workshops. These unique programs will include both indoor instruction and outdoor walks through nature’s classroom with artists, naturalists, native plant experts, reptile experts, authors and photographers. Workshops include: 10:30 a.m. Margie Crisp: Walk and Nature Sketching; 11:30 a.m. Joe Lapp “Spider Joe:” Spider Walk and Talk; 1:30 p.m. Dr. James R. Dixon: Texas Reptiles and Amphibians; and 2:30 p.m. Ginger Webb: Edible and Medical Plant Hike and Talk. For more on these experts, click here.

Visitors may also put their observation skills to the test with the Digital Nature Scavenger Hunt. Participants need to bring their own digital cameras, register their team (or themselves) at the scavenger hunt table at the festival and get their list.

The hunt can be done throughout the day while enjoying the rest of the festival. Pictures will be posted online and prizes will be awarded for creativity and completeness.

McKinney Roughs Nature Park is on State Highway 71 about 13 miles east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and 8.4 miles west of Bastrop on the north side of the highway.

For a complete schedule of events, visit the LCRA Earth Day Festival website at www.lcra.org/earthdayfestival or call (512) 303-5073.