Hike #1607; Upper Wissahickon Watershed

Hike #1607: 5/27/24 Upper Wissahickon Watershed with Professor John DiFiore, Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Weider, Diane Reider, Robin Deitz, Kirk Rohn, Serious Sean Dougherty, Hazel ?, and Everen

This next hike would be a point to point, but nearly a loop, in the upper Wissahickon Creek Watershed of Pennsylvania.

I had already hiked the Wissahickon Creek itself from Upper Gwynedd area down to Manayunk in Philadelphia, and at the time, I felt like I was just done with it.

My views of these watershed series hikes have changed and become much more comprehensive, especially after the series we'd done on the Neshaminy Creek.

The Wissahickon has likely even more trail spurs than anything on the Neshaminy, and in more developed areas. This makes for a very interesting experience and opens so many more hiking opportunities.

We had recently closed off most of the Neshaminy series, completed the Rt 202 Parkway Trail, and then started hitting some of the stuff in the Wissahickon Watershed this past Spring.

After doing some reading into it, I found that there were more public properties further up along the Wissahickon than where the Green Ribbon Trail starts. 

The Wissahickon Green Ribbon is a major trail that follows close to the creek from Parkside Place Park in North Wales all the way down to the Forbidden Drive of the Wissahickon Gorge in Philadelphia. 

There is more than a 25 mile almost unbroken stretch of trail between these points, and it's absolutely stunning.

I loved it when I did it, but to just go and do the whole thing again in a day isn't as exciting as exploring the entire watershed as a whole, and to continue adding more things I didn't know into the mix.

I spent far more time planning out this hike than I normally would on a day hike, but I think it really paid off with a good and interesting route.

At first, I devised a loop that I thought would be good, but it would come to nearly twenty miles the way I planned it. To keep it more enjoyable, I needed to scale it back and make it an ALMOST loop.

I made the meeting point the Aldi supermarket on Bethlehem Pike, in North Wales PA. This would be right across the pike from where we had emerged and walked through on the last hike in this area.

From there, we'd shuttle with as few cars as possible northwest to Montgomeryville, where we'd park out behind the Montgomery Mall.

I really want to do a hike where we pass through this mall, but the problem is there was already too much going on for this hike, and I'd rather do the mall hiking in the Winter time.

We had one newcomer sign up. I guess that was Hazel because she's the only name on the meeting I didn't find there. 

She only came out for one hike, and although she liked a lot of it, by the end of it, she didn't seem so sure about what had happened!

When I arrived at the parking area, the new girl was leaving because she didn't see anyone in the group. That was kind of odd to me, because I thought it was obvious.

She didn't want to be the only woman in the group, and was a little skittish about us, but warmed up pretty soon after started moving.

We parked at the very north end of the Montgomery Mall in a square parking lot section just off of North Wales Road.

I should have parked a little further north at the Lowes Home Improvement Center, because supposedly the Wissahickon begins beneath that, and is then just a piped thing through or under the development to the southwest of there.

Either way, we got pretty close to the very start of it. We walked from the lot through a line of trees, through more parking lots, and along North Wales Road heading east a bit.

After a very short distance, we crossed the road, and then continued north through retail parking lots parallel with the Bethlehem Pike/Bus Rt 202.

I think we paused when we reached the intersection with Vilsmaier Road, because there was a Dunkin Donuts just up from there, and there would be no place to stop for food or restrooms or anything for a while from this point.

Once we were all set, we headed out Vilsmaier a short distance to the west, and then made a left turn onto Morningside Drive, through a suburban but lightly trafficked little development.

I started relaxing once we got to this point. It usually takes me a bit of time to get into that mode for the day, but once we're out and committed to the hike, I immediately begin feeling better.

After a bit, we turned left on Sunset Drive for a short distance, and then left again on South Drive, a dead end cul de sac.

At the very end of this street, there was a routed wooden sign reading "natural area". This was the beginning of Knapp Park, the first park we would pass through, and the uppermost park of the Wissahickon Creek.

The trail was rather obscure across the edge of someone's yard at the end of the cul de sac, but then became a sort of wide utility easement as it entered some rather large woods for the area.

We could see the occasional house in the distance through the trees, but this park was pretty secluded overall. There was no one else walking there, and the main trail through the middle of it seemed to have manholes and such, and probably other buried utilities through the middle.

Going through this park was a bit of a gamble. I didn't know what to expect, or if we'd be able to make our way out of it between homes and such, bu so far it was going pretty well.

After entering the woods, I let Ev out of the stroller to walk on his own for as long as he wanted, and he seemed to be enjoying it. There was quite a lot of mud along the way, but that only makes him more interested in it.

As we continued, there was some sort of abandoned looking building off to the right from the trail. I approached a bit closer, and thought maybe it was a sort of sewer ejector building.

The structure looked like older stone like maybe it was some sort of old farm out building, but I'm still not sure if there is any real significance to it.

We continued along the path to the southwest, and neared Knapp Road. I figured since it's Knapp Park, it should come out to this road, but wasn't sure. There was a road access to the left before this to Winter Drive, and I was hoping not to have to leave the greenway there.

The clearing widened, and fortunately it took us out to Knapp Drive with no problems.

We crossed and turned right on Knapp Road, and then came to our first actual view of the Wissahickon. 

The tiny stream flowed beneath the road, with a rocky bottom. On the other side, we turned left and began following Valleybrook Drive for a bit, near Knapp Elementary School.

In a very short distance, there was a trail and footbridge to the left, over the Wissahickon and into Wissahickon Park.

We crossed the bridge, and a paved trail continued on the other side directly out to Norway Drive. We cut to the right a bit, across grass to remain in the park land as much as possible, and then began following Norway Drive to the west for a bit.

Where we came out to the road, there was some work being done, and a large excavator, which Ev was enamored with of course.

After a short distance walking Norway Drive, another trail broke off to the right, out closer to the creek, in Hidden Valley Park.

This trail weaved around and crossed over a little tributary, near a good viewing area of the main creek. We continued on this trail, which led us out to the corner of East Main Street and Lakeview Drive.

The Wissahickon made its way into some private land ahead, so we had to turn left just briefly, and then right across onto Ivy Lane. We followed it to a fork, and turned to the right to remain on Ivy.

We passed through a residential area, and after passing the intersection with Elbow Lane, we turned hard to the right onto the grass of Rexdale Park, and followed the right side of the mowing away from the roads.

There was a little playground almost right away where we stopped and let Ev play for a bit, while I looked over the maps of where we were going. This time, the maps would be more important than usual to try to remember every twist and turn I had planned.

When we got moving, we followed the edge of the Wissahickon, and then headed out behind people's houses. Soon, there was a meadow with a somewhat mowed path along the right side of it.

We continued to follow this pathway until we reached Hancock Road.

Across the street from this was Hancock Street Eric. From here, it was hard to say if we would be able to get through. No maps seemed to show a trail going through, but it looked like there should be something, so I decided we would take the gamble and attempt it.

Worst case scenario, we'd have to come back, so we headed into these woods.

There was at first a very clear and obvious trail. Along this route, we came upon a stone work structure with a pipe. This was some sort of conduit through which a utility was carried under the creek. It was clearly pretty old, and quite cool looking.

The upper level of the structure was made of concrete, but the lower level was made of stone.

The trail continued very clear up to this point, and there were really nice views of the stream. However, at this point it became a narrower footpath.

We were able to follow this foot path for a time pretty easily, but it kept getting narrower. At one point, it came out right next to the creek, and the route was no longer obvious. It was just a collection of deer trails going a few different ways.

I spotted something on the opposite side of the creek, and so we all carefully crossed and continued through the flood plain on the other side.

There were trees down and such, but there was somewhat of a worn deer path. This brought us out to Willow Street Park at the south end of a nearby development. A power line crossed over the creek and the development in this area as well.

In order to get through from here, we either had to cross the creek, and then head east to Beaver Street where there is a crossing of the railroad at North Wales Station, or we could go west and cross over the commuter tracks on Church Road at Pennbrook Station.

The final option would be to dash across the double tracks and end up somewhere, but that wasn't looking too good. These trains move fast, and I could not risk anything happening to Ev.

I selected the north and west route heading up to Pennbrook. If we went the other direction, it would put us out of the way a bit, and I had a plan for stopping for lunch at a brewery.

We headed out Willow Street, and turned immediately left on Clay Avenue. We then turned left on Pennbrook Ave to a sharp curve to the right, where the road changed to Cherry Street.

This would have been quicker to come out to than going to Willow, but I didn't know there was a way through when I planned it.

We continued north on Cherry Street, and tried our best to remain in the shade on whatever side offered the most of it. We continued on this north all the way to Church Street.

We turned left, and soon crossed the double tracks of the SEPTA line to Lansdale, built here as the North Pennsylvania Railroad in 1855. The Pennbrook Station was on the north side of the road.

The line was leased to the Philadelphia and Reading in 1879.

This railroad traveled north from Philadelphia all the way to Bethlehem Pa. The original plan was to extend it all the way to Waverly New York, like so many other railroads that had grand plans that never quite materialized.

Passenger service continued to Bethlehem until 1981 when it was scaled back. The rails remained in place after that for many years, but removal began around 2011 when construction began on Saucon Rail Trail at the north end. Today, it is trail from Quakertown to Bethlehem. 

Talks of reactivating passenger service to Quakertown have persisted over the years, but never got farther than discussion. 

A recent government study recommended reactivation of the entire branch to Bethlehem. The right of way was double tracked all the way through, so there is room for rail with trail, although complicated. 

Events such as Musikfest, Celtic Classic, and year round concerts and casino suggest such a reactivation could be beneficial to the area, but the way the trail is configured will make it more difficult.

For the time being, passenger services available to Lansdale and to Doylestown via the branch, but no further. It's one of those northern connections that is truly unbelievable that they ever let go.

After we crossed the tracks, there was a sort of awning on the entrance to the Pennbrook Station townhouses, which looked as though it was meant to emulate a rail station awning.

The development has rail related names such as Station Circle, Horseshoe Curve Drive, and Reading Circle. We followed Pennbrook Parkway to Station Square Blvd, and continued through the development to the west. 

We crossed this development and came out to Wissahickon Avenue, where we cut across the grass and turned to the left.

We continued south, partially through the parking lot and grass along a building along the left side of the road. Some of the grass there was wet and mucky, but we got through.

After the building, we soon crossed over the Wissahickon Creek yet again. 

Just a little ways further to the south, we came to Dickerson Road.

My plan here was to try to go to the McAllister Brewing Company nearby for our lunch stop.

This was an oddball place, and it looked like it might not actually be where Google maps was showing it. It wouldn't be the first time Google Maps was wrong on something like this, or maybe the place would have a brewing site, and off site sales and tap room area. I didn't know.

I decided to check it out for myself. I pushed Ev in the stroller down Dickerson Road, which used to cross over the former Reading Railroad ahead at grade, but is now cut off at either side.

We turned left around the outside of the building, and at the time there were no signs pointing in the direction of the brewery.

We went around the building, and there it was. Along the tracks, with a nice outdoor seating area, and a really nice bar inside. It was cooler in there, and so much of the group enjoyed sitting in there and chatting for a bit. It was definitely a good stop.

Serious Sean met up with us somewhere around this place and sat with us for a while, then joined us for the remainder of the hike.

There was a chocolate stout the place sold, which was a little below my normal ABV level that I prefer, but it was the only thing on the menu that really appealed to me. They'll have something stronger in the fall I think the bartender said.

Once we had all had a good break (I forget what I got to eat, but I think we mostly all got something), we continued on the way we came in, back out along Dickerson Road to Wissahickon Ave.

We continued straight across on Dickerson for just a bit, and then reached the entrance to Dodsworth Run Preserve, a small pocket park on the south side of the Wissahickon.

The very pleasant trail headed out into the property and basically stayed somewhat parallel with the road for just a bit. 

After a while being out close to the wood line, there was a lovely side trail on a boardwalk, and so I took it and ended up back along Dickerson. I backtracked, got back on the same trail around the outside of the park, and then came out to Dickerson once again.

The trail merged into a sidewalk that remained farther from the road just for the duration of the park land. We turned right to follow the trail just a little bit, then left across Dickerson Road.

On the other side, we went into the lawn of the building for Keystone Analytical. We continued along the right side of the building, and then dipped down into a ditch and back up into the parking lot for a Merck building. 

We continued through this lot and hit a pedestrian walkway with a bridge over a small tributary. This might have been Dodsworth Run.

The foot bridge took us over to a much larger Merck property, but the entire thing looked to be vacant.

We went straight toward the buildings, and then to the left along a sidewalk, and quickly right to pass through a sort of courtyard area at the facility.

We came out to a larger courtyard area where we had to turn to the left. We followed the sidewalks of this, then turned to the south through the parking lots and then through grass to a line of trees to the south. We cut through these to the parking area for a dentist's office.

The building to the right at the office looked rather new, but the one to the left looked quite old.

Most records show this was built in 1929, but that can't always be trusted. The historic 1877 J D Scott Atlas of Montgomery County shows the site as the home of F Beaver, adjacent to Constantine brick yard. 

We came out to Sumneytown Pike, turned to the right just briefly, then crossed to reach a trail into Parkside Place Park. There are several trails through this park I had never done before, all of them pretty easy. I had only been here before to do the start of the Wissahickon Green Ribbon Trail years ago.

The trails meander all through the property, so this time I decided I would try to hit as many of them as I could that I had not seen the previous time.

We passed a small pavilion and some tennis courts, then turned left into some somewhat deeper woods.

The paved path took us into the woods for a bit, and there were some nice little landscaping spots with pea gravel, flat rock walkways, benches, and something that sort of looked like balloons.

In the middle of these sort of displays was a bit of white granite type of stone with some markings

This was part of the 1874 Stony Creek Railroad bridge over nearby Sumneytown Pike, which was widened in 2010. I'm assuming this was the one to the west of us on the former Reading line.

We continued through woods from here, and turned to the right across another wide open area. The Nor-Gwyn Pool was just to the north of us. 

We continued on to the northern terminus of the Wissahickon Green Ribbon Trail here, and began following it into the woods. 

This was kind of a moment, because I knew I'd be planning a ton of hikes on this over the next couple of years (yes, YEARS, there are tons of trails along this).

The trail was at first paved, and turned ninety degrees to the right. It made its way to a power line clearing, and then turned left as a mowed path heading west.

It was really hot and in direct sun, and even for the short distance it was a bit rough. It was a huge relief when the trail suddenly turned to the left into the adjacent woods.

The trail was a little more rough than what we had just been on, but just as I'd hoped, still pretty easy to get the stroller through. Ev stayed in it through this stretch, and I pushed him across little footbridges over small springs, as we remained close to the creek.

None of the creek at first looked tempting to jump in, but it was getting more pleasant looking as we continued. We were very close to homes to our left, but the feeling of seclusion was much stronger than it had been the past couple of hours.

Gwynedd Tunnel postcard

A side path broke off to the left to another road access, and we came to a point where the trail crossed the stream on concrete footings placed in the stream.

I'd been on these at many different places, but this trail crosses several spots like this, which just adds to the character.

The first crossing was a bit narrow, and I needed to get a hand carrying the end of the stroller to get across it. It got easy again on the other side, as well as unshaded for just a bit.

We got back into some woods, and eventually came out to Truck Route 202. The trail crossed this pretty directly, and remained easy walking into the woods on the other side. It looked like a spot where there used to be parking had been closed off.

We continued along for a bit more, still on rather easy terrain, and then came to another crossing of the creek, which again used the same kinds of concrete blocks placed in the creek. This one was at a bit of a turn in the creek, where it got very shallow with gentle approaches. I didn't need help with that one; I could just push the stroller through.

We continued on the path on the other side, and the creek was already much more pleasant than it had been just a short bit ago.

I knew we wouldn't be right on the creek for all that much longer, and I really wanted to cool off. I took the first good opportunity to go down to the creek and lay in it when it looked good enough.

No one went with me. Brittany looked at it, but opted not to jump in the way I did.

We continued on the route from here a bit longer, and then came to a power line clearing. The Green Ribbon Trail turned hard right at this clearing, but my plan was to cover more stuff I'd never done before, by turning left on a mowed trail into the Gwynedd Preserve.

The 279 acre preserve owned by the non profit Natural Lands, which has been active in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey since the early 1950s.

The former farmlands are beautiful meadows and new growth forest in this oasis of green in the middle of suburbia.

There are more trails through this place than I could ever get to in one hike. There may be as many as nine miles of trails in just this one preserve.

My plan was to get a good look at the place and cover a lot of ground, and then connect to other trails just a little further to the north from here. 

The first part of the hike was pretty much just trying to piece together the Wissahickon connections. From here on was a route that took some real planning and creativity, and I was very happy with what I'd come up with.

We continued on the path that followed the power line for as long as it officially went on, and then turned right from it into the woods to the east. The wooded section was really easy and pleasant as well.

We came to an intersection of trails in the middle of the young woods, and turned to the left there, to follow the extreme perimeter of the preserve for this bit.

The trail meandered through woods, then came back into more open meadows again. The trail system used to continue to the north a bit more, but some of them are now closed, so we had to continue straight, near an old farm pond on the right. I could see where the trail is closed but still mowed to the left.

We continued on a bit and the trail turned to the right, south again, and then led to another intersection of paths. There was one giant tree in this otherwise open area, so we took a break in its shade while I looked over the maps to be sure not to make a mistake.

We took the trail heading to the southeast, which heads out toward Swedesford Road. It was quite pleasant, and there is a trail that continues directly across the street into deeper woods. We could spend a couple of hours just on that, because it's so expansive. I considered doing that as part of this one, but we just wouldn't have the time for it all.

We turned to the left, on a somewhat mowed path, still in the preserve, parallel with Swedesford Road to the north. This was part of the trail system loop that was closed off at the other side.

As we continued, and reached near to the northern boundary of this preserve, the trail closed sign where it had previously gone was visible to our left. We turned to the right to gently descend around a tree and out to Swedesford Road to continue north on it.

Directly across the street from where we came out was a beautiful historic farmhouse in Upper Gwynedd Township, shown as one of the properties of Jacob B Rhoads (or Rhodes) on the 1877 J D Scott Atlas of Montgomery County. It was originally part of the "Tunnel Farm", so named for the nearby Gwynedd Tunnel on the Reading Railroad that was daylighted in 1930.

We continued on the road for just a bit, and then crossed the bridge over the former Bethlehem Branch of the Reading again. I suppose the point where the road crosses might be the original sight of the long gone Gwynedd Tunnel. 

I had never heard of this tunnel before, but I assumed immediately that there had been a daylighted tunnel on the line in the area. The cut was quite impressive to look at even from above.

While we were on the bridge, we looked to the south and could see the light of a train approaching. We decided to wait and watch it go beneath, which Ev of course loved as well.

Once we were across the rail bridge, we immediately turned to the right on Schoolhouse Road. It was only a very short distance on this before the next trail cut into the woods on the left.

This was the beginning of the Penn Oak Trail system we'd be following for a bit. From where we turned off of the Green Ribbon, I could do an almost entirely different variation of the same hike, all through the same preserves, and only touch slightly on what we'd done before. It is amazing.

The trail took us north, and then there were two choices I was unaware of. A trail continued straight, but the route I had chosen went to the right. We turned here, and made our way between homes east to Penn Oak Road. We turned left on the road briefly, and then right onto a paved trail, down and up into pleasant woods, and then past an enormous old Northern Red Oak, which I assume might be the illustrious "Penn Oak".

We came to a T intersection of trails, and turned to the right, then continued to the north behind homes. At a left bend, one trail continued back out to Penn Oak Road, but we chose to go right, to continue to the north. 

I wasn't sure how we would get out. I looked to the right, and I wanted to come out behind the William Penn Inn, and I figured ther emight be some sort of connection from the trail to behind it, but there wasn't. At that point, the trail was going west, but I didn't want to go that way too far.

Just to the south, I had noticed a mowed route to the right, but I wasn't sure if it would go through. I could see on the Google Aerials that there was a cemetery down there, so I figured we'd backtrack a bit and try to descend and head into the cemetery.

The route was mowed well, and then there was a sort of informal path system as we reached the end of the cemetery. There were private back yards and we could see where people would normally access these lands, but there was no formal connection up. It was a little rough, and I had to lift the stroller over I think, but we got up into the corner of the cemetery to continue on.

The cemetery was associated with the Church of the Messiah, at Gwynedd Corners, built in 1871. The congregation was founded in the 1860s by summer crowds that worshipped in private homes and schools until they outgrew those spaces.

It was a handsome, large church building with a giant oblong steeple. It was really quite modern looking for its age.

We exited the church property and turned to the left onto Dekalb Pike, Rt 202. This was a bit of a narrow road, but we didn't have to go on it for too far. We were soon in the parking lot for the William Penn Inn heading to the intersection with Sumneytown Pike.

The William Penn Inn at Gwynedd Corners was established by David Acuff, who secured the license to operate an inn and tavern on the site in 1827. He named it the William Penn Hotel to pay homage to the historic figurehead they used to visit the area's local Friends Meeting House.

The site served as a major Stagecoach stop on the turnpikes before the arrival of the railroads.

Modifications and additions to the property were made starting in 1900, possibly the beginning of its upscale dining reputation.

Today it remains one of the oldest continuously operated country inns in America.

The Gwynedd Friends Meeting House is directly across the Sumneytown Pike, but we didn't go to it this time. We crossed and headed to the right on Sumneytown Pike, and I guess the houses on the left side of the road were associated with a community called the Foulkeways at Gwynedd. I think this is some sort of retirement community.

We cut between some buildings, and onto a parking lot in the middle of this campus. There was a large area of buildings just to the northeast of us, with walkways all around it, and in one case through them. We took that route, and went under the awnings and even through one building heading to the north. No one stopped us to ask what we were doing, and I didn't see anything saying we couldn't be there at this point.

We soon reached something called Perimeter Road, and there was a paved walkway along it. We turned right to follow this, and then an unpaved, pleasant foot path went into a swath of woods immediately parallel with the road. This was a really nice spot as we continued to the east.

When the trail came back out to the Perimeter Road, we crossed directly, where more little trails, within sight of the road, made their way through. I think the main one we got on was called the Maris Trail.

A connecting trail shown on Google Maps as Parsons Lane Trail connected us through a swath of trees and along lower areas of lawn to come out at a little lollipop loop road at the end of Parsons Lane to the northeast.

From here, we followed Parsons Lane a short distance to the east, to Evans Road.

Close to across from this intersection, there was a somewhat grown in trail heading into the swath of woods across. I didn't want to take any chances on that. The route I planned took us right on Evans Road just a short distance, and then left into fields on the east side, part of the Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School.

We skirted ball fields on the north side, heading east, and Sean tried to go through the woods on these trails. The one of them took him right out along the end of the field we were walking through.

We had to go south slightly along these fields, and down a connecting path onto a closed off old paved road, which we took north through the campus. 

The route took us across a lovely old stone arch bridge over a tributary of the Trewellyn Creek. It then led uphill to the intersection with Assumption Drive in the Gwynedd Mercy University campus, founded in 1948 by the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Merion as Junior Catholic college for women.

Men were first admitted in 1973, and the campus has grown extensively on former Gwynedd Valley farmlands. 

We turned to the right, then left through a garden area, then right again between buildings to go around basketball courts and reach University Drive. We descended on a sidewalk to a lower parking area, and a grassy path led through the woods downhill to the North Trewellyn Trail.

The Trewellyn Creek is a tributary to the Wissahickon which has a lot of trails all along it as well, and mostly we'd be following this for the remainder of our trip.

We headed north, and the Middle Trewellyn Trail turned right, and leads into another whole system of stuff. There's just so much to keep track of here. 

We crossed a trail that crosses between developments to both the east and west of the main trail, which at this point was an improved surface, but it had started off as an unpaved dirt thing.

There were multiple ways we could take, but I chose to stick with the central one, which went north to reach Sloan Way, and turned right across Trewellyn Creek. The group missed the turn at first, but then I called them back and we headed into the woods on an easy to miss connection right on the other side. It took us behind houses, and then out to Darden Drive just south of Welch Road, across from the strip mall area where we had met in the morning.

We completed the hike, and I had quite enjoyed it. It was hot, and I think everyone was ready to be done, but it opened my eyes to even more trails all through the area.

The new girl said something to the effect of "I have to take a few days to process all of this". So far, she hasn't returned for another hike, and hopefully we didn't turn her off to it that badly, because she seemed really into it earlier. 

I can do another entire hike that would be just the Trewellyn System I think, and have it be over fifteen miles. It's kind of driving me crazy!