Go Bear Off Road 5K Run/Walk

The Verelle Peniston PTO is preparing for our second annual Go Bear Off Road 5K Run/Walk on May 18, 2012 at Pershing State Park. Verelle Peniston SSSD is a Missouri State School for the Severely Disabled serving severely disabled children with varying needs and abilities from Chariton, Carroll, Grundy, Linn, and Livingston counties in north Central Missouri. All proceeds from this event go to providing these kids with a universally accessible playground. This scenic, off-road race follows the riparian trails in Pershing State Park. The park is an excellent example of the wetland landscape once common in northern Missouri. A portion of Locust Creek still meanders across the flood plain within the park and keeps alive the rare example of what these lands once held. Its dynamic force still shapes the landscape by forming oxbow lakes, sloughs, shrub swamps, marshes and wet prairie. Along the creek is a large bottom land forest of oak, hickory, cottonwood, sycamore and silver maple, which has been designated a Missouri natural area.