| Route: | The "Wal-Mart" Loops | ||||||||||
| Mileage: | Summer Route: 6.0 - 6.2
Winter Route: 5.8 |
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| Hillage: | Rolling Hills, some steep.
Elevation change: 222 ft.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Profile: |  |