State and National parks are big and well-publicized. City and County parks often are too. Township parks, on the other hand, often are not. Many township websites offer little information aside from contact for the Board of Supervisors, police, and fire companies. And if they do have a park, sometimes you can’t tell if its just a baseball diamond or a forest.
But sometimes you can find a gem if you don’t mind hunting. The oddly named Woody’s Woods is one such place.
Aside from the website for South Coventry Township and a mention on the website Positively Pottstown!, there’s little on the Internet about the park. Here is South Coventry’s description:
Location: There are two entrances with parking available at each, 3131 Coventryville Road and 1560 Harmonyville Road
Description: Woody’s Woods is over 260 acres of wooded park land located in the northern part of the township. There are trails where visitors can walk, hike or jog. There are steep slopes from the two entrances to reach the loop trails.
Note: The park is closed to the public Monday thru Saturday during the deer archery hunting season. Archery hunters must register at the Township Office to hunt in Woody’s Woods. NO firearms are permitted.
Mapping the location of the park requires you to plug in the trailhead street addresses provided, as Google Maps won’t find the park if you search under its name. It’s located a few minutes from the intersection of PA Routes 100 and 23.
This Sunday I hiked from both trailheads, and I’m glad I did, because the park experience differs at each. I started at Coventryville Road. Steep is a good description, as the “trail” is a paved and gravel road running up the side of the hill. Near the top the road splits. Turning to the right brings you to two cell phone towers, and on seeing them you realize why there’s a road here. Taking the left fork brings you into a clearing, and from there a choice of trails. I hiked a little on both the white blazed and orange blazed trails. The further I walked from the clearing, the less like a road the trail became. Soon enough I was on a rocky, narrow, little used path, grass brushing my legs.
The other trailhead, on Harmonyville Road, likewise is a narrow trail, but there’s no paved road up the hill. The orange blazed trail switchbacks up the slope, past a pair of decaying wooden benches. As the map shows, it eventually reaches the top, but I turned back before then.
I hiked two and a half miles at the two trailheads, and while I found this to be a substantial park, its not a good match for me. Its on a hilltop with no overlooks, no ruins, no rock formations, no structures aside from the cell towers, no streams…. its just a walk in the woods, but on rocks. With other places to visit, that’s not enough for me. It might be for you, however, especially if you are fond of solitude, since I saw no one in the park, nor any car but mine at the trailheads. I’m glad I visited, but I’m not likely to go back.