Swim Pony’s TrailOff App at Bartram’s Garden

June 22, 2022

Immerse yourself in a new narrative along the Bartram’s Mile Trail with a guided story walk through the Garden using the new TrailOff app by SwimPony!

TrailOff is a new, cutting-edge app featuring 10 original audio dramas, totally free-to-download, that unfold on  Circuit Trails across the Philadelphia region. This audio storytelling app puts YOU in the center of the drama! Get out onto a trail and let a 360° world swirl around you. Literally step into the shoes of characters as they run from monsters, uncover clues to mysteries or adventure into unknown secrets from the past in stories synced to you in real-time!

Created by Swim Pony and the PA Environmental Council (PEC), this FREE project aims to diversify the stories we imagine when we think about nature. TrailOff uses your phone’s technology to transport you into an augmented reality world that syncs to your movements as you walk a trail. Each story is uniquely crafted for its site, written by incredible local authors who will explore the way you think about
taking a walk outside. This is NOT your grandma’s nature trail!

This structured 1-mile walk will follow the new Afrofuturist audio drama Chronicles Of Asylum by Philadelphia author and artist Li Sumpter of MythMediaStudios, available for free download through TrailOff:

Set in future Philadelphia circa 2045 on the eve of a major cosmic event, Chronicles of Asylum follows savvy young journalist Liliquoi Brown as she investigates an otherworldly urban myth in hopes of finding two missing visitors to a refugee camp on the Schuylkill River. Exploring survival and sacrifice, home and exile, humanity’s fate and hope for the future, Chronicles follows the path of this unexpected trailblazer.

The story walk will take approximately one hour but can accommodate participants moving at a slower pace.

How To Use

To use TrailOff download the app to your phone, explore the 10 stories, and pick a trail you want to try. In the app, you can download a story and get directions to the trail by car or public transport. Once you arrive hit “Begin” and start walking! During your story, follow the path and directions from the app. If you accidentally stray from the path, a sound will let you know you’ve gone off route. The story will follow YOUR pace, so take as long as you like to explore. If you need to leave, you can always return and pick up where you left off.

After finishing a trail, you’ll even get some bonus features to keep you busy on the walk back!

TrailOff Guided AfroFuturist Story Walk at Bartram’s Garden

You can try a guided TrailOff Walk at Bartram’s Garden during our first Family Outdoor Movie Night of the summer on Friday, June 24, 6-7 pm. This structured 1-mile walk will follow the new Afrofuturist audio drama Chronicles Of Asylum by Philadelphia author and artist Li Sumpter of MythMediaStudios, available for free download now.

   Set in future Philadelphia circa 2045 on the eve of a major cosmic event, Chronicles of 

                                                    Asylum follows savvy young journalist Liliquoi Brown as she investigates an otherworldly

urban myth in hopes of finding two missing visitors to a refugee camp on the Schuylkill River.

Exploring survival and sacrifice, home and exile, humanity’s fate and hope for the future,

                                                    Chronicles follows the path of this unexpected trailblazer.

 

The story walk will take approximately one hour but can accommodate participants moving at a slower pace, and will finish with a Q&A with the author. Register for this event here.

 

To learn more about TrailOff, visit its website.

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