How to walk Wawa Preserve, the old Wawa Dairy cow pasture

Everybody in Delco has a Wawa opinion, usually about the Gobbler or which one has the worst parking lot. Fewer people know you can go for a walk on the land where the whole thing started. Wawa Preserve sits just off Baltimore Pike in Middletown, and for most of the last century it was pasture for Wawa Dairy cows. Now it's 75 free acres of meadow and creek woods, and early November is a really good time to see it.

This is the guide I wish I'd had the first time I pulled into the little gravel lot on Valley Road. It covers the parking, the trail, and why a convenience store chain is named after a goose.

Getting there and parking

Wawa Preserve is cared for by Natural Lands, the conservation nonprofit, and run in partnership with Middletown Township. It's free every day from dawn to dusk. The trail map lists the address as 127 Valley Road, Media.

The lot is gravel and holds about 12 cars. Natural Lands says it's 2/10 of a mile northwest of Route 1 (Baltimore Pike) on Valley Road, so if you hit the Pike you went too far. There are no marked accessible parking spots, and there are no restrooms or water fountains anywhere on the preserve. Go before you go.

On a nice weekend morning that lot fills fast, so I aim for early or late afternoon. With sunset before 5 now that the clocks fell back, late afternoon means getting out of the car by 3:30.

Which way to walk

The main trail at Wawa Preserve is the Rocky Run Trail. Natural Lands' trail map shows 1.2 miles of it on the preserve and rates it moderate. It follows Rocky Run Creek through the woods and opens up into sunny meadows. The trails are unpaved, a mix of grassy meadow paths and dirt woodland paths with some rocks and roots, and the grade goes from flat to rolling.

If you want something easy, cross Valley Road from the lot. Natural Lands says the trails to the east of the parking area are mostly grassy and flat, and that section is an out-and-back. It's the one I'd pick for little kids or a slow walk with a grandparent. There are benches along the Red and Yellow Trails, though Natural Lands warns there's a good distance between them.

If you want a longer day, Wawa Preserve doesn't stop at its own boundary. The map shows the trails connecting into Middletown Township open space and Delaware County open space on either side, and it marks a connecting route to Tyler Arboretum, 1.3 miles away. If you read the Tyler field guide in Issue 1, yes, you can walk from one to the other. I'd still check the AllTrails page Natural Lands links to before committing, because the connecting trails aren't Natural Lands' to maintain.

What you'll see in November

Natural Lands lists two things you shouldn't miss at Wawa Preserve: the creekside walk along Rocky Run and the fall color. Both are at their best right now. The woods along Rocky Run are dense, and the meadows are full of milkweed, goldenrod and little bluestem, a native grass that turns a coppery red in fall. Bring your phone for the meadow light in the late afternoon. You'll want it.

You might see bridges and boardwalks along the way, and there's at least one creek crossing on the map with no bridge, so waterproof shoes are smart after a rainy week.

The rules (short version)

Dogs are welcome but have to be leashed the whole time, and Natural Lands says it means it. No exceptions, and violators may be asked to leave. Stay on the marked trails, which protects the plants and cuts down your tick risk. Take your trash out with you, even apple cores.

No mountain bikes and no motorized vehicles, though motorized wheelchairs and other mobility devices are welcome for visitors with disabilities. Picnics, alcohol and drones aren't allowed, and neither are professional photo shoots. Visitors can't hunt or trap there either.

Why it's called Wawa

Here's the part that gets people. Natural Lands says that in 1890 George Wood set up a 1,000-acre farm on the land that's now Wawa Preserve, and that its grazing was ideal for his herd of Guernsey cows. From there, fresh raw milk went out to homes across the Philadelphia region, and that's how Wawa Dairy got going. Wawa's own company history tells it a little differently. It says Wood bought a house near a train station named Wawa in 1892 and started the dairy in 1902. The dates don't line up perfectly between the two, so I'm giving you both.

Where they agree is the goose. Wawa's history says a big mill pond on Chester Creek below the station was a favorite spot for Canada geese, and the area took its name from a Native American word meaning "wild goose." Natural Lands adds a wrinkle. It says "wawa" is an Ojibwe word, and that a European settler who lived nearby gave the name to the area, not the Native people who lived here. Either way, that's why there's a goose on every Wawa cup.

The dairy grew into something bigger. Wawa's history says Grahame Wood, George's grandson, saw home milk delivery fading in the 1960s, and the first Wawa Food Market opened on April 16, 1964, in Folsom. That's Delco too, about 15 minutes down the road.

The land came back around to the public in 1973. Natural Lands says George Wood's youngest daughter gave part of the family's "Home Farm" to the organization that year, and that gift became Wawa Preserve. So the meadow you're walking through went from cow pasture to protected land while the Wawa name went everywhere else.

Before you go

• Free, dawn to dusk, every day.
• Gravel lot for about 12 cars on Valley Road, 2/10 of a mile northwest of Baltimore Pike. The map's address is 127 Valley Road, Media.
• No restrooms, no water. Bring both from home.
• Leash your dog, stay on trails, carry out your trash.
• Rocky Run Trail is 1.2 miles on the preserve and moderate. The flat, grassy out-and-back is across Valley Road from the lot.
• Waterproof shoes help. The map shows a creek crossing with no bridge.

The short version

Wawa Preserve is 75 free acres of meadow and creek woods off Valley Road in Middletown, on land that fed Wawa Dairy's cows. Park in the small gravel lot, take the Rocky Run Trail along the creek, and come for the November color. Then go get a coffee at an actual Wawa, because you've earned it.