If your New Year's resolution was to get in shape, there's still time.
For 2012, Schuylkill on the Move, a project of Schuylkill County's VISION, scheduled 15 hikes and Diakon Community Services for Seniors scheduled 15. Three are left.
"Our late fall hikes focus on both historical features and the natural beauty of Schuylkill County," said Patrick M. "Porcupine Pat" McKinney, environmental education coordinator for the Schuylkill Conservation District, Pottsville. "The many hikes held this year have been very popular with hikers as young as four and as seasoned as 84 participating."
The remaining 2012 walks start this weekend, with the first from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, the Hamburg Reservoir to Pinnacle Hike.
Schuylkill on the Move encourages people to take positive steps toward good health and is an advocate for more walkable communities. The conservation district partners with Schuylkill on the Move as it promotes connections with the environment.
The release said that the Pinnacle is said to be the best vista on the entire Appalachian Trail.
Rated "difficult," the 8.5-mile walk will be led by state park naturalist Robin Tracey and meets at the Hamburg Reservoir parking lot.
Participants are asked to pack a lunch and bring drinks and snacks.
The next walk will be held from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at Mahanoy Plane.
It will meet at the Frackville Public Library for a walk to the plane ruins and then down the steep ruins to a tunnel.
This hike is rated "challenging" and will be 3 miles.
The last hike will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and will visit Fort Dietrich Snyder and the Appalachian Trail.
This easy 3-mile hike will meet on Route 183 on top of Blue Mountain and will be a short hike to a monument for the fort location.
Hikers will also see a natural spring along an abandoned farm pond and will then continue to hike the Appalachian Trail.
"This is the beauty of these walks, in that not only are participants becoming more aware and appreciative of the outstanding scenery of our county, but also its significance in the history of Pennsylvania and the United States," McKinney said.
For more information contact "Porcupine Pat" of the Schuylkill Conservation District at 570-622-4124 ext. 113 or porcupinepat@yahoo.com.