Hike #631; Brandywine

 Hike #631; Brandywine

6/10/12 Brandywine; Chadds Ford and Brandywine State Park loop with Jillane Becker.

Along the Brandywine Trail

My next hike would be a loop along the Brandywine River once again, and pretty much completion of the Brandywine Trail.

June 9th was Jillane's 25th birthday, and so she had wanted to see Longwood Gardens. I made the reservations and we spent a nice weekend down near the Mason Dixon Line, checking out an incredible "book barn" in West Chester, and enjoying a stroll through Longwood Gardens where there were art light installations by a brit named Bruce Munroe. It was quite cool. Even more awesome were the giant trees all over the property.

For the next day, we took a hike, right from where we stayed at the Brandywine River Hotel, a very nice little place with a fancy European breakfast served and comfortable beds. We luckily got the non profit discount, before which it was still cheaper than most any other area hotels.

The regular group hike for the week I left in the able hands of Matt Davis, Metrotrails Vice President, who hosted a trip in Carbondale PA, which went very well.Our trip was a relaxing walk along the calm waters of the Brandywine, past giant trees and lovely riverscapes.

The trail from Chadds Ford led down Fairville Road, past the beginning of the Mason Dixon Trail. I had done much of the beginning of this to Style's Twin Bridge, but it had gotten dark beyond that point and I couldn't appreciate it fully.We walked as the two trails took us up hill beyond a private gate, then down across the railroad tracks to the flood plain of the Brandywine, along long puncheons. I love this section, with misshapen willow trees and tall grasses. There were just a lot of stinging nettle at this time.The trail took us along the tracks briefly, then to a dead end road where the Mason Dixon Trail turned off. We then followed Brandywine Trail south along an abandoned former road under Styles Twin Bridge, then to the top and across with lovely river views.The next section went through a well posted area where we had to walk beyond a gate and then along a long driveway. There were a lot of people in the river, swimming, tubing, canoe or kayaking. Still, we never saw all that many at once, and had nice quite times along the way despite the beautiful day. Sections of the trail like from this point to Smith's Covered Bridge were very secluded. The trail followed farm lanes, and through fields down to the river. Jillane spotted a chapel on a hillside, where there were bikes parked. We didn't go to check it out yet though.The trail became a dirt road along the river, and then it turned away and the trail became a nice foot path, remaining on the river. We stopped for a very nice swim at the bend, which was great.From there, we continued past many more giant trees to come out at Smith's Bridge, a very nice covered bridge, but only a reproduction of the original which was burned.We took a break near the bridge, then continued along the trail, which led down a set of steps to parallel a mill race for a time. It then came back to a road, then turned off to the right again to enter Brandywine Creek State Park. We heard some kids a bit later refer to this section as Mexican Beach. Indeed, the area was overrun to the point where one could barely walk between them. There was not a bit of English to be heard, and latin families everywhere. We circumvented them as best we could and remained on the trail heading down stream. We heard some white kids further down referring to it as "mexican beach" in plain earshot of many of them. I guess the separation is accepted. We were below the Mason Dixon Line after all.The trail soon turned away from the road, and almost immediately there was no one in sight, save for a few walkers and joggers. The trail followed an old road from here out to Thompsons Bridge I think it was, where it turned and passed beneath the bridge on a new walkway. We then continued along as the trail picked the old road back up once again.The trail on the other side also followed an old roadway. It continued higher above the creek than other trails. We continued south on it, and this section seemed to go rather fast. It eventually became a lesser used path, descended and hit a more used paved path. The trail followed the paved path down hill to a road and turned right to cross at an old mill area. There was a partially purged old dam on the Brandywine up stream from us. On the other side at an intersection was what appeared to be an old spring house. The Brandywine Trail had no blazes at this point, but it crossed the bridge and then turned right into the woods on the other side, on a nice footpath. We followed the edge of the river on a beautiful little trail past ruins through the park.The trail continued to where there was a long deer fence to the left, then turned left past it, and left again following the other side. It then ascended to the open parts of the state park with lovely views. We checked out an interesting old barn that had trees growing out from the inside of it, an old carriage shed with a heart shaped rock in the masonry, and took a break at a picnic table.My foot was hurting bad from having sprained it on Friday, but I was making do. What was worse was that I was getting a bad headache I couldn't explain.A young couple jogged up a big hill and we continued on Brandywine Trail till we lost it. It seemed to go up hill along a huge stone row, and then went to the visitor's center. We climbed the hill to where we could see the visitor's center in the middle of the open fields. We had essentially completed the Brandywine Trail. We then walked down hill through woods of the state park.We followed many trails and eventually made our way out toward Thompsons Bridge once again. We crossed, but then had to backtrack on Brandywine Trail north. I'd thought there'd be a trail on the other side, but there was not. We continued and made our way back to Smiths Bridge. Jillane found some ruins and took a side trip up hill to check them out. There was an old light and a lot of masonry, which included some old plumbing still sticking up.We then continued north past Smith's Bridge once again. There were rude latinos honking at us, and kids screaming out the window at Jillane as they went by. It was nice to get back into the really nice wooded section again. We took another dip in the water where we had done earlier before moving on.This time, we headed up the side trail which led to the chapel. It was very nice, built in the 1990s for a private family. I left hurriedly when I realized there was a trail cam on it. Not that we were doing anything wrong.We continued back along the trail as the sun was going down, heading back on the farm lanes to Styles Twin Bridge. It was a lovely time to be in this area, making our way back to Creek Road. Once there, we opted to take the shorter road and walk Creek Road back. We followed the back roads, then turned lefton Station Road to make our way through Brandywine River Museum Property to Jillane's car to finish out the day.

By this time, my ankle was swollen huge and my head was pounding. We were both hungry, but like we always do, we couldn't decide on where to eat, and by the time we got to the PA Turnpike we hadn't decided and ended up having nothing. We did take a quick side trip into Delaware to buy stuff tax free. I wanted to stay awake, but was passing out. I got myself a couple energy drinks, and had one immediately, as well as an energy bar and fast break bar.

It seemed like such a strange weekend. It was like an island in time. It connected with where I had been, but it seemed like the mood was just out of place with everything else going on in our lives. We were ready to move, had so much going on, but this was just a side thing.The next day, I had a fever of 104.6, and could barely walk. As the day went on I became more and more sick, and by the next day could barely walk. I hadn't slept so much since the fire. I think it was probably stress getting the best of me.

Still, there was a nice relaxing mood set for the weekend, with the theme of big trees and slow moving water. I liked it, and we probably needed it.