Take A Hike

How is it that it took me 15+ years living in Philadelphia to discover the magnificent Wissahickon Valley Park?

After rain threatened to kill the weekend, Sunday emerged as a gorgeous day. With that, the boys & I set out to do something active & ventured out for a family hike.

We’ve talked about doing this for years so we plugged ‘Wissahickon Valley Park’ into the GPS & off we went.  Oh yeah & we all had cool new footwear to test drive!

The picturesque ride alone was worth the trip. A mere 25 minutes of winding up Kelly Drive & zigzagging through Chestnut Hill, we were transported to what felt like an entirely different world.

The Wissahickon Valley is 57 miles of lush trails & an 1,800-acre gorge with crossing forests & meadows that plunge down to sun-dappled waters of the Wissahickon Creek.

 

 

We found ourselves following one of the many trails that took us up & along the creek.

 

 

The leaves were starting to turn fifty gorgeous shades of Fall…

and the acorns fell from up above escorting us as we trekked along.

 

Without a set plan, we hiked passing ambitious bikers, friendly hikers, & their four-legged friends. That is until we reached what seemed like a good turning point.  The owner of these guys…

advised us to take a left & visit one of the park’s historical sites the Indian or, to be politically correct, Native American…

The statue pays tribute to the Leni Lenape tribe of Native Americans.

How he got there no one knows but we can only guess that in 1902, it was by horse & sweat.

We enjoyed a quick snack while admiring the views that surrounded us. All while feeling both, accomplished (for finally tackling the trail) & stupid (for how long it took us to do so).

We then made our way down…man why is hiking down so much harder than up?…& came to the Forbidden Drive, a two-century old road with runners, bikers & equestrians. The Drive has been banned to automobiles since 1922 hence, the name.

The low-lying gravel road that follows the creek was way less challenging than the lush trails above & lead us to the historic Valley Green Inn. The Inn is the last remaining example of the many roadhouses & taverns that once flourished here.
I wish that we hadn’t eaten & I wish that we had looked more presentable. We were however sweaty & covered in mud & so we moseyed on by.

 

All in all we covered about 2 miles on foot & got to the car just as the rain came down. Most importantly, we got home just in time to cook up a Rosh Hashanah feast.
It tasted well deserved!

Here’s the 411 if you decide to tackle the trail.

Come Prepared
Eat: Pack a picnic or, use the historic Valley Green Inn as your final destination for a more glamorous lunch.  In operation since 1852, it’s Philadelphia’s best kept secret for brunch, lunch, dinner & special events.  The snack bar next door is a more casual stop for refreshments for you & your four-legged friends.

You’ll need permits if you want to use the upper trails for off-road biking or horseback riding, available through the Fairmount Park Commission.

Need more? The Friends of the Wissahickon have a great FAQ section on their website, with info regarding picnics, permits, trails, & pretty much everything else you’ll need to know before visiting.

History Buff?
At one time, more than 25 mills drew power from the creek, making the Wissahickon the first industrial area of North America.

The Wissahickon Gorge belongs to the Piedmont Province of Pennsylvania, a strip of sloping land rising from the Atlantic coastal plain on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains. The creek drops more than 100 feet in altitude as it passes through the gorge, before it finally merges with the Schuylkill River.

The Fairmount Park Commission acquired the 1,800 acres of the Wissahickon Valley in 1868 in order to preserve the purity of the City’s water supply.  Mills & taverns were demolished, & in 1920, the wide road paralleling the creek, Forbidden Drive, was closed to vehicles.

The trails provide myriad routes to explore the valley & lead to nearly two dozen historical, geological or anthropological sites scattered from the Schuylkill to the northern end of the valley.

I’m still in disbelief that this natural gem is within Philadelphia city limits & part of the Fairmount Park system that’s right outside my door.

I hope that this inspires you to get out there & take a hike!

Alya