Hike #737; Philadelphia Fairmount Park Loop

Hike #737; Philadelphia Fairmount Park Loop

11/10/13 Philly Fairmount Park Loop with Jillane Becker, Jason Kumpas, Amanda Murphy, Lyz Hagenbuch, Ric Giantisco, Brandan Jermyn, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Jason Itell, Megan Reid, Cory Salveson,  Ed DiSalvo, Dan Yu, Marina Font, Sean ?, Kathy Kindness Ruppel, Terry Erbacher-Duff, Eric Pace, Daniel Stone, Stephen Argentina, Betty ?, Colin Webb, John Bradford Ladutko, Carol and Rob Creamer, Wilma M, ?, Lisa A, Rachel O, ?, Michele Valerio, Anne ?, ?, Robin ?, Gary ?, Ela ?, Steve ?

The group near Falls Bridge on the Schuykill

We have done quite a lot of hikes in Philadelphia over the years. We've hit popular points, bridges, obscure spots, the entire Wissahickon Green Ribbon, but we still haven't done nearly as much of Philly as we have of places like NY City. The two cities are so different, and they're both walkable in so many ways.

Perhaps the biggest difference between NY and Philly is that Philly is home to the largest city park in the world: Fairmount Park. This system contains contiguous tracts of land and countless trails that far outnumber the ones in NYC, and ranger from paved and well known to rustic foot paths that one could spend a life time exploring and never hit them all.

Living in the northwest side of NJ, it's just not feasible for me to be heading down to Philly to do scouting trips. I could easily put something together and make assumptions that somewhere there will be a trail that connects pieces of public land, but it wouldn't be the smoothest operation. The area hikes in the past have always come back to my friends who live locally to scout and plan out a route that fits into our mission to connect every hike. Jason Itell had taken the lead in the past, and did an excellent job finding interesting routes to connect places together that we'd previously done. Now, it was time for Jason Kumpas and Amanda Murphy to step and and take the lead in that capacity.

Being so close to their homes, they were able to head out and explore paths and ruins around their area, and then string together a hike that was nothing short of outstanding, and connected several places we'd done on hikes in the past with all new places we'll certainly want to visit again.

Our meeting point that Jason set up for us was on Chamounix Drive, near the Chamounix Mansion, one of many old mansions located within Fairmount Park, and now home to a youth hostel. We only posted this hike through Metrotrails, no other groups, but we still had a large group show up. It was a good thing I didn't double post anywhere because we had so many.

As we walked, I did the best I could to watch where we were and where we were going. They did such an amazing job stringing things together. By the time we arrived, half of the group had already parked at Chamounix Mansion and ran out of parking. We had to use supplemental parking on Chamounix Drive. Once we had the entire group together, we got everyone in a circle as usual. I said a few words and then left it up to Jason to talk about what he'd come up with for a bit.

I left the lot last, and followed everyone onto Greenland Drive briefly. We headed right back up to Chamounix and then cut to the right into the edge of a ball field to the right. There are paths all over this place, and plenty of open fields and such that look similar. Jason found his way in the front, along the right side of the field, then into the woods on a path at the end. We immediately began to weave all over the place through these woods, and must have crossed Greenland Drive again a little further on. I think we passed beneath it through a long culvert. The trails weaved around some more and I think we went close to a recycling center, as well as somewhat near to PA Turnpike Rt 76.

The trails were beautiful, but they were unblazed and not all well groomed. There were foot bridges and such in place over tributaries, and giant trees all over the place which Jillane and I love. I couldn't quite get my bearings though. We would make a corner, and the trail would take a very roundabout route where those behind me could be seen only a few feet away, and they could cut the corner. This is because the area is predominantly used by mountain bikers. There were also rights of way of old trolley lines, one of which we were on briefly. There was a good abutment in place, but no sign of any bridge.

We continued through nice woods for quite some time. Even though this stretch was little more than a half mile long, we weaved around so much that it made it seem like a significantly larger piece. I'm sure we probably got a couple of miles out of that at least.

We soon emerged below the Belmont Plateau. This nice little hill with only a few trees on it Jason explained is very busy in the Summer time, with people grilling all over the place. We headed to the top of this hill, which offered us some lovely views of the Philly skyline. We headed south from here, and Jason took us past the long gardens that lead out to the Hortuculture Center. We also checked out a sundial in the gardens. We continued south from here to pass by the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden Center. Jason told us that the building was given to the city, after being built elsewhere, and moved. It's built in 16th Century Japanese style, and has all sorts of interesting trees and such surrounding it.

From here, we continued south and east a bit to the Memorial Hall, which was built in 1876 as the Expo Center during the World's Fair that year. It now serves as the "Please Touch Me" museum, which of course spurred everyone to take silly pictures. We took a break on the steps of the center because there were portajohns everywhere, and everyone could take a break. Someone has handing out free samples of coconut water, so a lot of people in the group ran and got some from them. I tried two different varieties but decided that they both sucked and gave them away.

When we got moving, we continued to the Smith Memorial Arch over the Avenue of the Republic. They call it an arch, but there really is no arch over the road. There are two arches, one on each side of the road over the walkways. It serves as a Civil War memorial.

From here, we continued down Sweetbriar Drive past the Sweetbriar Mansion. I was having trouble figuring out where we were, but Jason knew. The mansion was actually a rather small house, like most of the Fairmount Park mansions are. The park is full of old stately homes, which date back to 17 and 1800s, each one with some non profit organization or something housed in it. It was really neat to see all of these places still standing.

We headed down a grassy hill near the mansion and reached Lansdowne Drive went under an on ramp, railroad tracks, and then another road, and then turned left to cross Schuykill Expressway and reach Martin Luthor King Jr Drive and the paved trail along the Schuykill River.

I'd done this section before in 2008, but it was getting dark by the time we reached this section. It was nice to get to do it again. We turned right and followed the Schuykill downstream. The route of this paved path followed closely to the highway, but was also very close to the river so it made it well worth it for the views. We soon passed under the multiple stone arches of the former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge, still active.

The trail continued along the river and soon passed the fish ladder at the Fairmount Dam, with views across of the boat house row on the other side. I read later that the fish ladder was built at the site of one of the former locks from the Schuykill Navigation Canal. The views from this site across of the dam and the art museum were outstanding.

We continued on the pathway which soon crossed over the Schuykill on a bridge, then continued on to where, on the left after crossing the road we reached the Philadelphia Museum of Art where the signiture steps in the front were seen in the Rocky movies. Of course, we had to run up them. We did that, then visited the Rocky statue from the movie, which is just beyond the steps, no longer at the top, then ran back up again. From the top, we continued around the museum to the right, and stopped at an awesome pavilion overlooking the Schuykill, Fairmount Dam, and the Boat  House Row up stream.

After the break, we descended a bit, with bridges and pavilions in view that date back to before the 1870s, at which point all of the cliff top paths were completed. We crossed Schuykill River Trail then descended via spiral stairs to the Esplanade, a nice walkway toward the waterworks directly along the Schuykill. We made our way back up again, then continued on the Schuykill River Trail north to Lloyd Hall, the visitor center area. We had a break here and got some snacks. I think I got a  hot dog as I recall. We waited around here for a little bit for Dan Stone. He was running behind and wanted to meet up.

He arrived soon and parked up the street a little bit. We walked up Sedgeley Road, where he parked, and then cut off to the left by way of some steps to make our way over the open grassy areas of Lemon Hill. We continued back toward the cliff edge and visited yet another pavilion, and passed the historic Lemon Hill Mansion. There are so many of these remaining it really blew my mind.

Soon, we entered a natural surface foot path along a stone wall that made it's way into some woods, then along grassy areas and back to woods again. It was amazing to see that this great little path informally hugged the side of a wall with more views of the Schuykill up stream. We continued on this and eventually descended back down to Kelly Drive across from the Schuykill River Trail, near the steps that go up to the Girard Avenue Bridge. We continued just beneath the bridge, then turned right into the Glendinning Rock Garden area, near to the tunnel carrying Kelly Drive beneath a rock outcrop.

This area was particularly beautiful. I didn't expect it to be much more than just another open grassy area with a couple of ponds and an old cobblestone street, but this one was different. This area was kept up very well, but soon we headed into the woods to the left, and were climbing stone stairs through a stone passage. This was awesome.

The steps continued up hill, and then different trails broke off different ways. We turned right, following the top of the hill for a bit, with vine covered stone work from who knows what that used to exist here. The area opened up and it was soon an obvious haven for mountain bikers, with jumps and such all over. Jason led us onto an obscure stairway that went down hill, weaving by a spring. Another lovely pond was at the bottom. We crossed the lawn of the rock garden, and then got on an old brick street as it headed into the trees to the northeast.

We passed beneath Rt 13 and emerged at an open area with a giant stone culvert beneath the railroad tracks. There was no formal connection to the next path we wanted to get to, so we had to walk the tracks for a short bit west until we got under the former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, the same ones that go over the stone bridge we'd passed beneath earlier. Eric didn't want to walk the tracks, but we talked him into it, and of course it was fine. Soon, there was a path going into the woods on the right, which we had to duck to get into, but it led to a much more open path that was closely parallel with the tracks, but on the slope.

The trail turned up hill and then skirted the edge of the field to "The Cliffs" or the "Cliff House", the ruins of one of the forty some mansions owned and maintained by the Fairmount Park Commission. Built in 1753, the house is where Sarah Franklin Bache, daughter of Benjamin Franklin, made clothing and bandages for the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Maintaining so many buildings is difficult and costly, especially given their age. The house was vacant for many years, and was subject to vandalism. Finally, in 1986 arsonists burned down the wooden framework and roof of the beautiful building. Charred wood can still be seen within the ruins. We of course had to go in and check it out. It was amazing to see this area compared to the other Fairmount Park mansions. With the open field, now full of hip high grasses, one could easily picture it as an open mowed green with planted trees and picnic benches like the other mansions.

We went into the basement by way of steps from the main section of the building, which was full of stuff from homeless people squatting in there. We could see the stone framework from the inside of the shell. The outside was badly covered in graffiti, and the mortar between the stones was deteriorating. It won't be long before much of the remains of this structure will be gone if not stabilized. It would be wonderful if someone could reinforce the frame and build back within it, but that's unlikely, and unfortunate.

We continued from here into some woods, where many trails criss crossed. We went by some dumpsters with chairs around, and we passed some people who wondered what was going on. It's always nice to say "Metrotrails" when people ask what group we are. We have our own group now, not some other big name, and we can be what we want. I would love it if more people would step forward and do their own things with Metrotrails and take ownership of it. I had the initial idea of course, but it's not intended to be limited to that.

We continued through the Sedgeley Woods, as it was called, and eventually emerged in an interesting community garden with a frisbee golf course around it. One woman used one of the frisbee golf things as a planter in the middle of the garden, which was interesting.

We reached Reservoir Drive and turned left, passing the Smith Memorial House, a more modern looking structure with columns in front. The building serves as a playhouse, and opened in 1899, despite it's newer look. We continued on Reservoir Drive, which I think is the route of Boxer's Trail. The Boxer's Trail is also actually an historic trail, a 3.8 mile route historically used as a training route for jogging boxers during their training.

The trail was a nice, natural surface trail again along the hillside above the Schuykill. It passed by the Mt Pleasant Mansion, and passed a few ruins before coming out to Reservoir Drive yet again. It followed the road and passed the Laurel Hill Mansion, then turned away from the official trail route to some sort of old brick restroom building or something.

The corridor between this building had some murals on it, one of which had two nude women sharing an intimate moment. It seemed obvious to portray a couple of lesbians, but in an art style that looked reminiscent to something biblical. Stephen looked at it and immediately tried to dismiss it, saying "No!! They're just hugging...naked...".

From here, we walked along Ridge Avenue, and passed the birthplace of the commercial digital computer. Beyond that, we reached the Laurel Hill Cemetery on the left side of the road. We took a break here, and a lot of us walked in to explore it. There was a really good map at the entrance.

Among the famous graves were passed were announcer Harry Kalas, who's grave stone had a microphone on top, and some baseball stadium chairs in front. I continued on and visited the grave of General Mead.

We continued out of the cemetery after making use of their restrooms, then continued down the street into East Falls. We then turned on Schuykill River Trail for a short time to reach the Falls Bridge, a beautiful truss bridge over the Schuykill completed in 1895.

After taking our group photo, we crossed the bridge. On the other side, we continued up hill under the PA Turnpike, and Ric and I ran up the slope to the underside of the east side of the bridge, then skated back down. John Bradford also joined, and I'm not sure who else. When Ric and I came down, I had to catch John Bradford, who came barreling into me at the bottom!

We soon turned left onto Falls Road, then cut into the woods off of it through toward Chamounix Mansion again. The route took us under a really cool old stone arch, and then up hill to the mansion road. When we got there, Jillane and I stopped to pet three adorable cats. One was somewhat scared, but the others like the attention. The path took us along the road, past a horse stable, and back to the parking lot.

It was nearly five years since Jillane and I first met, and so rather than go out to dinner, we went to a few places where we'd spent some time on that trip. We visited the west Laurel Hill Cemetery, as well as the Cynwid Rail Trail, which at the time of our visit was not yet a trail at all. A lot had changed since that time; the cemetery was closing while we sat at a bench, and a caretaker kindly asked us to move on.

Although so much had changed, and it was kind of sad that the trail wasn't this rustic little known route that we had followed previously, it was preserved for everyone. It's only through change that we grow, and the path was still lovely, and in a mature way I'm glad for what it is now. It would be selfish to wish for it to remain what we wanted. The point is that it's still there and we can enjoy it and remember what it was, as well as where we are now.

Even if I never visit this place again, I know that I can, and that's consolation enough for me. And so ended another lovely day in Philadelphia, which now seemed so much more tangible to me thanks to the efforts of Jason and Amanda. Every week is like a gift to me, of experience and more land that I can appreciate for what it is as well as what it was.