Perfect October Sunday Urban Hike

View southeast along Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward Philadelphia's city hall

We've visited most of our typical natural area haunts pretty frequently lately, so I wasn't particularly motivated to go to one of our "usual" places last Sunday to enjoy a perfect October weekend.  Plus, Kali awoke really late, so it was getting a bit too late to drive further afield.  Instead, I suggested to Kali that we drive toward downtown Philadelphia, park about two miles from the center, walk into town to peruse a Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen's show, and then walk back to the car.  We completed a four-mile circuit hike, got to enjoy the energy of the city, and spent a perfect autumn day outdoors.  

Kali at the craft show at Rittenhouse Square

After enjoying the craft show, we decided to walk back to the car along the Schuylkill River, which forms the western boundary of central Philadelphia (the Delaware River, of which the Schuylkill is a tributary, forms the central city's eastern boundary).  The city is gradually developing a new riverfront park called Schuylkill Banks; it has become immensely popular with Center City's burgeoning residential community.

Fitler Square Dog Park at Schuylkill Banks

The Cira Center on the west side of the Schuylkill River is the city's newest (and most unusual) skyscraper

Schuylkill Banks park; the Philadelphia Museum of Art is in the left background

The huge (and hugely popular) new skatepark near the Art Museum

October Sunset and Little Bluestem

A walk at dusk in my natural area produced some interesting sunset images. I especially liked the texture of the clouds.

Just a few minutes more and a few hundred feet further along the trail produced this image. Between the colors and the shapes of the clouds, they're almost menacing.

Also along the trail I came across a stand of native little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium). Though the stems have a bluish-gray tinge during the growing season (hence the name), in the fall and winter they turn a glorious russet color that's particularly impressive when the grass grows in broad swaths.

We're in for more wet weather this weekend--especially tonight into Saturday night. Yuck--another potentially beautiful autumn weekend ruined by rain. It'll probably knock the leaves off the trees just as the colors are reaching their peak.