My Place is off of the bike path at Oakledge Park, in Burlington, VT. There are two ways to get to my spot. I will be describing how I get to my spot from where I live, on Trinity campus. The “main” way to get to my spot is going down Colchester Avenue, until you reach South Prospect Street. You then take a left onto South Prospect Street (past the Waterman Building) and then take a right onto College Street, and continue all the way down to the Waterfront. You then take the bike path from the Echo Center, heading left, until you reach Oakledge Park. Once you reach Oakledge Park, you continue down the bike path as if you were headed towards the more “rocky” beach. There is an offshoot trail along the bike path, which leads you to my place. On this offshoot trail, there are decrepit, shallow, concrete stairs that lead you up to a lookout, which is my place. The pathway is narrow and somewhat gravel covered. The other way to reach my place, what I like to call the “back” way, starts with taking East Avenue from Trinity Campus, and then taking Spear Street to Athletic campus. Next, you take the South Burlington Recreation Path until it ends, which puts you near the O’Dell Apartment complexes. From there, you take Farrell Street, which turns into Home Avenue, which then turns into Austin Drive. You follow this road(s) until you reach the outer limits of Oakledge Park, where you take the bike path. You then pass the rockier of beaches (you are now headed to my spot coming from the other side of the park as the first set of directions), and eventually, you end up at the same offshoot trail that leads you to my place.
I chose this place because Oakledge is one of my favorite parks in Burlington to explore and visit regularly. My roommate and I went on a bike ride a couple of weeks ago and stumbled upon this place. It was a beautiful spot to view the lake, and obviously frequented by people (due to the American Flag hanging from one of the trees) but still tucked away from the rest of the park.
The general elevation of my place is 200ft according to my phone’s barometer. You have a beautiful view of the lake from it as well. The most prominent plant species that I noticed were Red Oak and Eastern White Pine. Sumac was also very prevalent, as were Cedar and Hemlock. I also saw a Boxelder, some Sugar Maples, and ferns. There was a lot of very small oak saplings. My place is situated on a rock ledge. While I was up there, a woodpecker was aggressively pecking at an oak tree in front of me, which was neat to watch.
Hoag, Franni. (Oakledge Park Spot) 2016 JPG File
Hoag, Franni. (Oakledge Park Spot) 2016 JPG File
Hoag, Franni. (Oakledge Park Spot) 2016 JPG File