Been trying to get around to the many nature centers, parks, arboretums and public gardens in the Philadelphia area, but it's taking forever. That's great news. We have so many to choose from.
This past weekend, before the rains started, we headed for the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, a homey place in upper Roxborough I've always enjoyed for several reasons. It has six miles of trails that are interesting and beautiful and challenging enough. In other words, you don't have to be an accomplished climber to manage them, although one of my knees was definitely talking to me yesterday.
I also like the Schuylkill Center (www.schuylkillcenter.org) for its scale. The building is cozy and comfortable and staffed, as most of these places are, by people utterly devoted to education. We walked in and started chatting with the person behind the desk about various trails and what we'd see.
This was my third trip here in a week - two for a story that will be in the paper on Friday (stay tuned) and one for my own enjoyment. We started out on the Ravine Trail and patched together a hike by heading off on other loops, wound up at the Widener Bird Blind, which was full of birders, and finally back at the main building. In between, we settled into a bench to admire a stand of pine trees, enjoying the thickness of pine needles on the ground, the many pine cones dotting the branches and the intoxicating smell. Nothing quite like the scent of a pine forest.
We also came upon a pond painted with leaves from shore to shore. It was such a sight, we stood there admiring for several minutes before pushing on. We passed a group on a "turkey trot," looking for wild turkeys in the woods. We stepped gingerly, trying without success to avoid crunching leaves, and headed on.
We turned a corner and came upon a stretch of trail completely covered in brilliant yellow maple leaves. It was stunning, and my husband, ever the adventurous photographer, grabbed the digital camera and got down on his knees, then on his stomach and maneuvered around to get a bird's eye view. The result shows that he is quite the artiste.
Around another corner, we found a different color scheme, this one all those earth tones fashion designers and makeup-creators and people who sell paint strive to reproduce. Rich, dark greens and lighter sages and shades like Christmas trees and mint leaves. Then a stretch of red. Browns everywhere, red, yellow.
The sun was starting to fade and we noticed it was silvery-gray, quite a typical November sky and a fitting end to Thanksgiving weekend. Soon enough it'd be back to work and on toward Christmas, but two hours on the trails at this unpretentious nature center is good fortification for work or madness of any sort.
Just remembering the sights of our afternoon, the smell of the pines and the flutter of birds as we approached, is sustaining.
