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At the north end of the trail, parking can be found in Angelica Creek Park on Route 10 (Morgantown Road) and Saint Bernardine Street in Reading. At the south end of the trail, you can park at the KenGrill Recreation Center (730 High Boulevard, Kenhorst).
Its been 5 years since we last did this trail and not much has changed. Starting at the Brentwood parking lot the trail descends on a paved surface that has many stones, up to 2" to 3" in size, from a road running parallel to the trail, making the decent less fun and more stressful. The trail turns right at the bottom of the hill and becomes a wide path covered with fine stone. It doesn't last long and soon the trail surface is a mix of mid size stone and gravel. The trail improves for a short time near the education building but not for long. There are several intersections that are not marked as which way to turn and the trail, while paved, is in need of repair. After crossing a road and climbing a short but quite steep hill the trail resembles more a mountain bike trail, little more than a dirt single track. After a short (a block or 2) on road the trail again is more like a mountain bike trail. Just before it reached the end there was a 12 inch rock in the middle of a narrow section of trail. The only reason for giving the 2 star rating is the pleasant scenery along most of the trail.
We started at the Brentwood parking area and rode to the Angelica pool and back. The stone and gravel sections of the trail are smoother than many of the paved sections. The tiny trail markers made it challenging to follow the trail at times.
Part of the Reading metropolitan area's extensive trail system, the Angelica Creek Trail branches off the Thun Trail just southeast of the Brentwood Trailhead, passes under railroad trestles across the Schuylkill, then meanders southwest past Alvernia University and through suburbs before ending at the KenGrill Recreation Center. For most of its length, the trail parallels the creek for which it is named, and much of the environment is wooded. The section in Angelica Park, where a former lake that drained after a dam once located near Route 10 (which the trail passes under) was breeched in a flood has since reverted to wetlands, is particularly impressive. One big difference between this trail and the Wyomissing Creek Trail, which branches from the Thun Trail further northwest, is paved with asphalt and level for most its length, is that the Angelica Creek Trail's surface alternates between dirt, gravel and/or coarse stone on several sections, asphalt in Angelica Park and sidewalk-like concrete on a couple of steep slopes. The gravel/stone sections can get muddy after rainy weather and the asphalt portion is degrading and, like the Neversink Connector Trail, is in bad need of repairs. Due to these conditions, along with the aforementioned slopes, the Angelica Creek Trail is poorly suited for cycling or parents pushing baby strollers, but is fine for hikers, joggers and other foot traffic. Hopefully, the surface will be improved in the near future and the trail will eventually be extended further southwest toward Governor Mifflin Intermediate and Cumru Middle schools, Shillington Memorial Park and/or the Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center.
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