Walking with the Walrus

AVA Walking Clubs and Events
| Baltimore, Maryland |

SENECA CREEK STATE PARK MD USA
SAT NOV 7, 1998

by Kevin Shaw

My club, the Seneca Valley Sugarloafers, hosted their annual Moonlight walk on the park roads of Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg/Germantown Maryland on Saturday evening, November 7, 1998. The park is normally closed at dusk, but we get special permission from the park once a year to have the park open for walkers. I helped park cars from 6-7 pm, and then started walking at about 7:15 pm.

We work together with the Park all year long in a nice relationship of mutual help and cooperation; we have a year round event in the park, Club members help out with trail maintenance, and the Club donates funds to help the park financially in building more trails, bridges and other maintenance issues. The paved trail (rating of 1+) on unlit park roads was a bit undulating, though nothing like the more significant hills of the walks I have done the past few weeks.Unfortunately the Park has a rule against pets, so I had to keep my brood home on this evening stroll.

We try to hold this walk at or very close to the full moon in November; we missed the full moon this month by a few days (full moon was November 4) but what I had not counted on was that on each day after the full moon, the moon rises later and later in the evening! So on this evening, even though we had clear skies, the moon did not rise until 8:32 pm, when most walkers were already finished. But most people were armed with flashlights, and actually the starry skies and open nature of the roadways provided enough light to walk safely with enough visibility most of the time.

I walked with fellow club members Ed and Bob; I managed to keep up with them, doing the 10 km trail in just over 2 hours, a lot faster than I have done a walk in quite a while. I find that I have to be pushed by someone to walk this fast; if I walk at my own, comfortable pace by myself I won't walk nearly that quickly. It was great to see lots of walking friends at the start/finish while helping park cars, and even along the trail, where familiar voices were occasionally recognized with a hello out of the dark added an unusual touch to the festivities!

The trail wound through this beautiful state park, past Clopper Lake, and through a picnic area and a boat dock loop in the park. A Winter Lights festival will be commencing in the Park in a few weeks. The structures for the show were already up (they were not lighted however), but with a flashlight glance, we still got somewhat of a sneak preview. The night was cool, but pleasantly so, with no wind. Very nice walking conditions with most of the 190 participants really enjoying the night walk.  Photo from State Park site.

Cider and doughnuts were for sale at the finish, in the nicely decorated Park Visitors Center facility. Thanks to Bill Larson, fellow club member and part-time ranger in the park, for organizing and coordinating everything into a very successful walk. Also many other club members helped out with refreshments, parking, and at the start/finish table; kudos to them also! This annual treat is getting more and more popular each year; I eagerly await another one this time next year. A very enjoyable evening!

Photos by Kevin Shaw

Area and Walking Information

Seneca Valley Sugarloafers
AVA Walking Clubs and Events
About.com Washington DC
About.com Baltimore, MD
US National and State Parks

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Seneca Creek State Park, Gaithersburg, MD Sept. 13
Bolling Air Force Base GLOBAL Walk Sept. 21
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Baltimore Oktoberfest, MD Oct. 11
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Black Hills Regional Park, MD, Nov 22-23, 1997
Hershey Holiday Walkfest, PA, Nov 29, 1997
Alexandria Scottish Walk, VA, Dec. 7, 1997
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