angelica park volkssport walk

Yesterday was the Angelica Park, Reading volkssport walk. It was cold—mid 30s when I left the house. I should have taken a hat and gloves. I need to adjust for winter weather. It's just so early. (Today I turned on the heat. It's not even Thanksgiving!)

The park is a county park, right next door to Alvernia University. There is a nature center, outdoor classroom, a children's play area that's all about nature, and a boardwalk thru some fragile areas. You can see the football scoreboard from the park.

Registration was inside the nature center. The walk from the lot to the nature center gave me a hint what walking would be like. It was a hill, and the wind blew right thru my sweatshirt and fleece. I was dressed wrong.

I signed in and headed out off on the trail. I was doing an 8K, not an official distance. I cut off the loop on the Susquehanna River Trail. It was one of those infamous volkssport "we need to make the distance" additions. Bullshit.

I went down the trail and looped thru the park, then crossed the bridge on to what I thought was campus. But the trail continued next to the creek and the university. It was there I saw this sign.   I thought what an odd logo for a 5K. So I turned around and went back to look. Purple usually represents Alzheimers.

It's actually for the Berks Trail Program sponsored by Reading Hospital. Much like the Montco one, you find the symbols on each of the trails. Unlike the Montco one the directions tell you exactly which trailhead, and which trail to take. Brilliant idea.  This challenges ends Nov. 30. I signed up mostly to get on the mailing list for next year. But frankly, I think I can get the first level done by the end of the month by parking, walking to the sign and moving on to the next one. Maybe Bonnie will come along and read my GPS. She will not talk in my car. I'm positive it has something to due with the phone being synced. If nothing else, at least I'll know where the trail heads are for next year.

Before the trail ended, we moved to walking in the city of West Reading. It looked middle class. Not quite as sketchy as center city.

One reason I wanted to do the 10 section was because the directions said "rock garden", in quotes. So clearly it wasn't going to be botanical. I had visions of Aerosmith and Jon Bon Jovi on the lawn. Instead there was painted rocks on a wall.  It was cute.

Taking the 5K would have also made me miss this view of the city skyline. In my other picture you can see the Pagoda, if you know what you are looking at. Like Fountain Hill, this grave yard is on a steep hill. The skyline is beyond it.

When we returned to the campus I knew we were almost back. This is Francis Hall, the original building for the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters. In 1958, the institution became a four-year liberal arts school. When we reached the athletic fields we took the path back into the park and returned to the nature center.

I saw this mural on my way out to the highway on Route 10. It's located at a Susquehanna River Trail trailhead. This mural is massive.

Miles/Steps:           6
Weather:                 43 at noon, mostly sunny, wind gusts up to 40MPH 

Wildlife:                  none

Bathrooms:             I-5.0 in the nature center