| Route: | The "Wal-Mart" Loops | | Mileage: | Summer Route: 6.0 - 6.2
Winter Route: 5.8 | | Hillage: | Rolling Hills, some steep. Elevation change: 222 ft.
Average Grade: 3%. Notable hills:
| College Heights/Overlook Heights Bike Path: | The bike path connecting College Heights and Overlook Heights is a roller-coaster ride for bicyclers. Going downhill from the corner of Mckee and Adams in College Heights, the ravine descends 130 ft in about 0.4 miles. Grade: 6.3%. Going uphill into Overlook Heights, the bike path hill and its continuation onto Curtin St. ascends 115 ft in 3/8-mile. Grade: 5.9%. In places, these hills have grades of over 8%. | | Waddle Rd.: | A 50 ft. climb in a quarter-mile, yielding a 3.4% grade. | | Park Forest Climb: | A climb of 64 ft. in about a quarter-mile on Park Forest Ave. from N. Atherton St. to Park Lane. A 3.7% grade. | | Tudek Park: | The Bike Path spur through Tudek Park is a drop of 170 ft in just under a mile, from the corner of Park Hills Ave. and W. Aaron Dr. to Corl Rd. A 3.4% grade. | | Park St.: | 83 foot rise in half a mile from the Bike Path to N. Atherton St. A 3.1% grade. | | | Description: | Start in front of Rec Hall and run northwest on the walkway that passes the Nittany Lion Inn heading toward Park Avenue. Carefully cross Park Avenue and immediately go left on North Burrowes. Two blocks later, go right on Adams Avenue. Take Adams all the way to McKee St. and take a left. Pass Joe Paterno's house (the last house on the left before Sunset Park) and then head down the bike path that begins at the end of the parking lot for Sunset Park. This bike path connects the neighborhoods of College Heights and Overlook Heights, but crosses a deep ravine (part of "Big Hollow"). After the climb at the far end of the bike path, take a right on Curtin St, which continues the climb even more. At the end of Curtin St., make a left on E. Aaron Dr., then a right on N. Allen St. Make a left at the end of N. Allen St. on Suburban Dr. Almost immediately on the right is a footpath connection to Vairo Blvd. Follow this to Vairo and make a left. Just past the apartment complex on the right, make a right on Waddle Rd. At the top of the hill, go left on Clearview Ave. Near the end of Clearview, it veers to the left. Instead of bearing left, go straight through the cul-de-sac behind the Sheetz convenience store and carefully cross N. Atherton St. Take Park Forest Avenue (immediately across from the cul-de-sac) up the hill to Park Lane and make a left. Take Park Lane to W. Aaron Dr., making a left. About 100 yds later, there is a bus stop shelter on the right. Make a right at the driveway of the apartment complex that is just past this shelter. At the end of the driveway, behind the complex, is the start of the Tudek Park spur of the bike path. Take the macadam bike path down the hill through Tudek Park and continue as it winds through another apartment complex. At the corner of Circleville and Corl Roads, carefully cross Circleville Rd. and make a left on the main bike path. Run on the bike path all the way to Park Ave, taking Park Ave up to N. Atherton St. and Rec Hall. Variation: Tudek Park has a macadam-paved bike path running down the center of the park. It also has a cinder-paved path that skirts the perimeter of the park. Either leg of the perimeter path is just a longer way through Tudek Park. If you make a left on the cinder path at the beginning of the Tudek Park spur (just behind the apartments on W. Aaron Drive), it adds about 0.1 miles to the run. Making a right instead adds about 0.2 miles. Winter Route: In the winter, the bike paths can become snow-clogged, icy, and impassable. The winter route avoids all but a very short "portage" over such treacherous paths. From Adams Ave., take N. Allen St. to its end. At this point, there is a way to wind through the various parking lots, etc., to where N. Allen St. starts up again in Overlook Heights. You actually have to run on the sidewalk on N. Atherton St. for half a block in order to cross the old Big Hollow railroad bed. Continue on N. Allen St. At E. Aaron Dr., continue on N. Allen St. as described above. On the return trip, instead of going through Tudek Park, keep going on W. Aaron Dr. Cross N. Atherton St. and make a right on N. Allen St., returning to Rec Hall the way you came.
| | Remarks: | This route is called the Wal-Mart Loop because it skirts the Wal-Mart plaza on N. Atherton St. Waddle Rd. and Clearview Ave. traverse two sides of the plaza's lot. The Wal-Mart Loop intersects large sections of the Bike Path Loop and the Park Hills Loop. Over two miles of the route is on macadam-paved bike path, and most of the rest is on quiet residential streets. Be careful crossing busy roads such as Park St. near Penn State, N. Atherton St., Vairo Blvd., Waddle Rd., and Circleville Rd.
| | Map: |  | | Profile: |  | Added: 5/01
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Last Updated on Thursday, 07 August 2008 08:12 |
