South Jersey Parks

I have had a long relationship with South Jersey’s parks. My black dog would follow me forever in the Canon Park, or Hoff’s Park, where crowds of us kids would gather (and when they didn’t I wouldn’t mind being alone) and the frisbees would fly. In the winter, there were sleds sliding and wood burning, in the summer, shade and fields. I memorized the entire Sermon on the Mount behind the tennis courts before my first submarine patrol in 1982. In preparation for Christian service in Costa Rica in 1988, I made sure that all my memorized books were firm in long sessions at the same benches where Mr. Hoff himself used to set up shop. In 2004 I would listen tapes of the Dari language strolling my white dog through those same Heights parks.

Since I ran ridiculously long workouts in High School, all the parks in Camden County would gang up and join themselves together. If you start out at the Cannon Park it will quickly take you to Kings Highway. Cross that, and you go around the back of Audubon Lake. Duck through the woods and past Audubon Shopping center. A field beckons from behind and you’ll soon find yourself cutting through Oaklyn’s Little League park. If you zig and zag from there, there is a park around a lake that will take you from Haddon Twp. into Collingswood. Cut past the near side of Collingswood High until Knight’s Park appears. Take a right under the Speed Line and soon the Cooper River Park draws you in. Go to the border of Camden, then around the far side, and when you get back to Cuthbert Road, cross to the near side and keep going towards Haddonfield. The park will turn into woods – don’t worry – the high and low trails end up at the same place. Get back on the road and stay on it because it still follows next to the same river bringing you to Grove Street. The park reappears on the far side of the river, which now looks more like a brook. There are jogging trails that all take you back to King’s Highway. From there, you have to make it back to Haddon Heights using the roads.

Constructing this course was the major accomplishment of my High School years – far surpassing in impressiveness both my grade point average and my placement at the State Championships (I over trained for the short distances and was not national class except in 26 mile marathons). The loop is 17 miles long, includes parts of what were (in the 1970’s) the cross country courses of nine different high schools. It can be altered to wiggle in many ways and to pass by the houses of some of my main athletic competitors in the 70’s (that’s right Lane and Rodilloso, I know where you used to live).

What a joy it was in summer of 2008 to see how much Hamroz fell in love with those same parks. She was raised in the Central Asian steppes and had never seen so many trees standing so tall. In the early morning, I would run my 17 ½ mile course (a new house, built in the 80’s, now blocks one trail). Afterwards, our favorite way to spend time was to pick up some coffee (my high school friends will notice that my drink of choice has changed) and head to the parks to sit. There, the kids would gather, and the frisbees would fly. But even if they didn’t, we wouldn’t mind being alone.