THE PARKS...
Andorra Natural Area/Fairmount Park
Phone - (215) 685-9285
Website - http://www.fairmountpark.org/WissahickonEC.asp
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Philadelphia; at the boundary of the city with Montgomery County on Northwestern Avenue between Ridge Avenue and Germantown Avenue (Route 422).
The Park
America’s first public park began with 5 acres in 1812. Today, Fairmount Park is the largest contiguous landscaped municipal park in the world with nearly 9,000 acres. It is the bucolic home to an estimated 2,500,000 trees.The Andorra Natural Area evolved from a 19th century private nursery into the East coast’s largest after World War II. Ownership of the property dates to 1840 when Richard Wistar named it “Andorra” from a Moorish word meaning “hills covered with trees.”
The Walks
The main trail at Andorra is a 20-station Nature Hike. There are also a dozen other named trails that branch off this loop. The Forbidden Drive begins its 7-mile journey along the Wissahickon Creek to the Schuylkill River here. So named when it was closed to automobiles in the 1920s, your outing on the Forbidden Drive can be shortened by several bridges across the Wissahickon. A natural dirt trail rolls along the opposite bank to create hiking loops. The best canine hiking comes on these dirt trails when you leave the paved Forbidden Drive and climb out of the gorge. These narrow ribbons of dirt crossing the hillsides are a dog’s delight time and again.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt and macadam
Workout For Your Dog - Yes, on the slopes of the gorge
Swimming - The Wissahickon is deep enough for great dog swims
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
In 1855, a hotel entrepreneur built a new inn on Rex Avenue. To draw attention to his hostelry he constructed an Indian from old barn boards and propped it up on top of a rock overlooking the Gorge. In 1902, when the Indian Rock Hotel was long gone but with the silhouette still there, artist Massey Rhind was commissioned to make a representation of a “Delaware Indian, looking west to where his people have gone.” The kneeling warrior has gazed up the Wissahickon Gorge ever since. A switchback trail leads to the Indian Statue where you can get close enough to pat his knee.
Anson B. Nixon Park
Phone - (610) 388-1303
Website - http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/cwp/view.asp?A=1550&Q=616010
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Kennett Square, Chester County; from Route 1, exit onto State Street and make a right at the bottom of Miller’s Hill (the first one heading into town) onto N. Walnut Street. Make a left into the park at the fork 1/4 mile ahead. You can also access the park by taking Route 82 South from Route 1 and make your first left onto Leslie Road, past the Saint Patrick Cemetery. A small parking lot is by the ballfield at the end of the lane.
The Park
The land here, featuring a 22-foot drop in the East Branch of the Red Clay Creek, was bought in 1795 by William Chambers to build a mill. He was looking to clean wool. Chambers named his property and fine mansion “Bloom-field,” in honor of Brigadier General Bloomfield who drilled 3000 troops on his brother’s adjoining property in preparation for the War of 1812. The first organized school in the borough was conducted in a grove of trees here in 1830, a quarter-century before Kennett Square was incorporated. The property remained in the Chambers family for more than a century. The mansion burned and the 82-acre park was established in 1982.
The Walks
The park is essentially carved into three main segments, each featuring a walking loop. The Beechwood Trail in the Beech Woods slips between rare umbrella magnolias and tupelos dressed in gnarly trunks deformed from a bacterial infection. Also here is the signature Kennett Beech which stood when William Penn came from England to claim his land grant more than 300 years ago. The Otherplace Trail, named for the home of Cyrus Chambers, penetrates the Pine Woods on the eastern side of the park. Informal spur trails also run through Nixon Park.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Sandy dirt roads and gravelly paths
Workout For Your Dog - Easy going on dips and rolls
Swimming - The Red Clay Creek is not deep enough for anything beyond splashing; ponds are set below the level of the trails, providing tricky access
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
A small remnant of the forests that blanketed southeastern Pennsylvania at the time of 17th century European settlement remain in the park. It retains the species diversity of the original woodland, with a mix of native trees rarely found in this area. The area’s biodiversity is described on interpretive signs along the trails.
Darlington Trail
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Lima, Delaware County; a small parking lot for the Darlington Trail is located on Darlington Road, 1/2 mile from Route 1. The parking lot is marked by a trailhead sign.
The Park
The Darlington Trail was developed by Middletown Township, preserving space near the former Darlington Family Dairy Farm.
The Walks
Half of the yellow-blazed Darlington Trail hugs the heavily wooded Chester Creek valley and the other half traverses the meadows and fields of the former farmstead. The entire loop is approximately 2 ｾ miles long. The Cornucopia Trail, a shorter path blazed in orange, connects with the Darlington Trail and circumnavigates a residential area. The Darlington Trail also connects with the Rocky Run Trail, a scenic linear walk in open woodlands along the Chester Creek. The trails, for the most part, are wide and easy to negotiate. To do the entire loop will require several steep climbs away from Chester Creek. You can also treat the trail as an out-and-back linear hike along the creekbed that creates an easy walk.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Paw-friendly dirt with some rocky stretches
Workout For Your Dog - Away from the creek you are never moving on level ground
Swimming - At a 270-degree turn in the Chester Creek behind the parking lot, the banks are sandy, giving your dog the opportunity for a rare Delaware County beach experience; Rocky Run, which joins the Chester Creek on the trail is more for splashing
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
In July 1920, Babe Ruth took his big four-door touring sedan on a Yankee roadtrip from Philadelphia to Washington. It was a jolly trip on the way back for Ruth, his wife and three teammates, including stops for bootleg liquor. Singing and driving much too fast past midnight, Ruth failed to negotiate a turn on Route 1 near here and flipped his car. No one was hurt and all walked to a nearby farmhouse to spend the night. Ruth returned the next day with a mechanic to look at the tangled wreckage in the daylight. When he saw it, he said simply, “Sell it.” The entourage made their way to Philadelphia, greeted by newspaper headlines screaming, “Ruth Reported Killed
In Car Crash.”
Evansburg State Park
Phone - (610) 409-1150
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/Parks/evansburg.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Collegeville, Montgomery County; from Route 29, pick up Germantown Pike across the Perkiomen Bridge. Make a left on Skippack Creek Road; continue straight onto May Hill Road into the Main Park Area.
The Park
This land was part of William Penn’s American Province purchased from the Lenni Lenape Nation in 1684. The area developed rapidly; by 1714 settlers were sending goods to Philadelphia via the Skippack (from the Lenape word for “wetland”) Pike. The agrarian ways of the Mennonites in the Skippack Valley began to evaporate in the years following World War II and plans began for setting aside the land that became Evansburg State Park. The park officially opened for public use on June 28, 1974.
The Walks
Although Evansburg comprises more than 3,000 acres, most of the property is set aside for hunting and trapping. There are 6 miles of hiking trails, primarily on the Skippack Creek Loop Trail which is essentially two linear trails on either side of the Skippack Creek. This is mostly easy walking with some moderate ups and downs, although the trail on the far side of the Skippack Creek can rise some 100 feet above the water. On the Main Park Area side the trail is wider and flatter, the far side is woodsier and more scenic. Another 15 miles of walking is available on equestrian trails.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt and mud where the horses roam
Workout For Your Dog - Moderate hill-climbing
Swimming - The Skippack Creek is seldom deep enough for sustained dog-paddling and there are no ponds in the park
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
Germantown Pike was the first road to be started in Montgomery County, dating to 1687 when funds were allocated for a “cart road” from Philadelphia to the Plymouth Meeting settlement. Later extended to present-day Collegeville, an eight arch stone bridge was built to span Skippack Creek in 1792. An equestrian trail crosses the bridge, which is the oldest bridge in continuous, heavy use in America.
French Creek State Park
Phone - (610) 582-9680
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/frenchcreek.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Elverson, Chester County; north on Route 23; take Route 345 North to the south entrance of the park. From the Pennsylvania Turnpike the park is 7 miles northeast of the Morgantown Interchange (Exit 22).
The Park
A wilderness fort once stood on the small stream flowing through these woods that was garrisoned by the French during the French and Indian War and thus “French Creek.” The hillsides here were dotted with charcoal hearths throughout the 1800s, fueling the nascent American iron industry. The furnace was stoked for the last time in 1883. French Creek State Park was originally developed by the federal government during the Depression as a National Park Service Demonstration Area. The Civilian Conservation Corps built dams, roads and other recreational trappings. In 1946, the area was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Walks
Approximately 40 miles of trails visit every corner of French Creek’s 7,339 acres. There are nine featured hikes of between one and four hours’ duration. The marquee walk is the Boone Trail, a six-mile loop connecting all the major attractions of the park. The Mill Creek Trail is a back-country hike that visits Millers Point, a pile of large boulders where you and your dog dog can easily scramble to the top. All the walks are heavily forested with hardwoods - keep an eye out for the ruins of the area’s charcoal-burning past. Repeatedly timbered, there is little understory and the trails are almost universally wide and easy to walk. The park is hilly with the steepest – and rockiest - slopes blanketing the eastern section of French Creek.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt trails, rocky on the slopes
Workout For Your Dog - Plenty of hills here
Swimming - Easy access to two lakes, the 21- acre cold water Scotts Run Lake and 63-acre Hopewell Lake
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
Appended to French Creek State Park - and open to canine hiking – is Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, one of the finest examples still remaining of a rural early American iron plantation. Ironmaster Mark Bird built the original blst furnace is 1771 and supplied cannon and ammunition to the Revolutionary Army during the struggle for independence. The buildings on the historic site include a blast furnace and the ironmaster’s mansion.
Green Lane Park
Phone - (215) 234-8684
Website - http://www.montcopa.org/parks/green%20lane.htm
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Green Lane, Montgomery County; off Route 29. There are several approaches to the trails. For the Orange Trail, make a left on Snyder Road, drive through the recreation area to the parking lot on Deep Creek Road. For the Blue Trail, make a left on Park Road and a right on Hill Road to the trailhead on the left. The Red Trail is just off Route 29 on Knight Road.
The Park
Public recreation here dates to 1939 with the founding of Upper Perkiomen Valley Park. Upon its wedding to Green Lane Reservoir Park, the largest single open space purchase-easement in Montgomery County history, Green Lane Park, was created. The focal point of the 3100-acre park is the Green Lane Reservoir, home to more than a dozen species of freshwater fish.
The Walks
Four of the five trails here are open to dogs (four-legged friends are not welcome on the Hemlock Point Trail). The Red Trail, designed as an equestrian trail but not chewed up like so many other such surfaces, winds through open fields and stands of trees for 10 miles, although the entire length can be aborted in several places. The premier trail at Green Lane Park is the heavily wooded Blue Trail on the western edge of the reservoir where you pick your way across steep ravines and narrow ridges for 6 miles. Watch for passages over loose rocks. The full loop can be cut off at the Turn Around but you’ll miss the extravagant rock carvings of falling water at work. At the Hill Road Office, and overlapping the Blue Trail, is the Whitetail Trail, a self-guided nature walk. There are hilly climbs throughout Green Lane Park; the gentlest terrain is found on the Red Trail.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt trails predominantly
Workout For Your Dog - You can find some easy going but be prepared for long, hilly routes
Swimming - There is excellent access to the reservoir from the Blue Trail; less so on the Red Trail
Restrictions On Dogs - No dogs on the Hemlock Point Trail
Something Extra
On the Red Trail, there is an unexpected walk into a young stand of cedar growing on red dirt and the feeling of Utah desert instantly washes over you.
Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
Phone - (215) 365-3118
Website - http://www.fws.gov/northeast/heinz/
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Philadelphia; from I-95 North take Exit 10, Route 291 (Philadelphia International Airport). At the first light make a left onto Bartram Avenue. At the third light make a left onto 84th Street. At the second light make a left onto Lindbergh Boulevard. Make a right into the refuge just past the stop sign. The parking area in Delaware County is on Route 420; take Exit 9B off I-95 for Route 420 North. The parking area is right there.
The Park
There are more than 500 National Wildlife Refuges in the United States and only Philadelphia and San Francisco offer an urban environmental study. When the Swedes settled here in 1634, Tinicum Marsh measured over 5,700 acres. Three hundred years later the tidal marsh had been reduced to only 200 acres. The routing of I-95 in 1969 threatened to finish off the marsh but, in ironic fact, saved it. Congress authorized the purchase of 1,200 acres in 1972, establishing the Tinicum National Environmental Center and enabling the highway to roar through the area.
The Walks
You can cover about ten miles of trails here in two major loops. The more attractive of the two is around the Impoundment Marsh near the Visitor Contact Station. If you have a patient dog you can pause at the Observation Platform or one of the Observation Blinds and try to identify one of the 288 species of birds seen in the refuge. The western loop, that begins in Delaware County, leads onto a dike in the middle of the marsh and along the Darby Creek. The trail on the dike is narrow to the point of being overgrown during the spring and summer.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt roads and paths
Workout For Your Dog - Easy going all the way around
Swimming - The Darby Creek is accessible but the fish pulled from these waters are contaminated so you may want to limit water time here
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
There aren’t many other places where you can walk along with the dog and scan the skies alternately for a Northern Goshawk and a McDonnell-Douglas or a Buff Breasted Sandpiper and a Boeing.
Hibernia County Park
Phone - (610) 383-3812
Website - http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/cwp/view.asp?A=1550&Q=616010
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Wagontown, Chester County; from Route 30, take Route 82 North two miles to Cedar Knoll Road, turn left and travel miles to the main entrance.
The Park
Property deeds in this area date to October 1, 1765. In the 1790s, Samuel Downing built the first iron forge at Hibernia, along the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek. Downing lost his forge in a sheriff’s sale in 1808 and the property then passed rapidly through many owners until Charles Brooke pur-chased the enterprise in 1821. He expanded its holdings to 1,710 acres and by the Civil War, the Hibernia Iron Works was churning pig iron into bar iron from two forges, two heating furnaces and a rolling mill. The forge went silent in the 1870s. In 1894, Colonel Franklin Swayne, a successful Philadelphia real estate lawyer, purchased the property and transformed Hibernia (the Roman name for Ireland) into a gentleman’s country estate. In 1963 the old ironmaster’s mansion and nearly 900 acres of surrounding grounds passed to Chester County for renovation as a park.
The Walks
Hibernia features 5 main trails, all wooded and none longer than 1.5 miles. Only the Cedar Hollow Trail loops so you will need to combine park roads and unmarked paths to avoid retracing steps in your walking day. A dirt trail along the Brandywine is one of the longest waterside walks in Chester County. Most of the walking is easy; there are slight hills down to the Brandywine Creek and the Rim Trail across the water requires a good climb to reach the ridge.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt and crushed stone
Workout For Your Dog - Gentle slopes across the property
Swimming - Dogs can enjoy a dip in the Brandywine Creek, a fishing pond or in Chambers Lake, where there is limited access to a 90-acre water reservoir created in 1994 with the damming of Birch Run
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
A long-time admirer of the English manor tradition, Colonel Swayne made 29 trips to the British countryside to collect ideas for his home. On one such trip he purchased the massive lion heads which adorn the pillar gate posts. It was the colonel who is thought to have covered the stone exterior of the mansion with its distinctive coppery peach stucco.
Lorimer Nature Preserve
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Paoli, Chester County; themain entrance is on North Valley Road, north of Swedesford Road. Turn right into the small parking lot up the hill from the bridge across Valley Creek.
The Park
The nature preserve, managed by the Open Land Conservancy, is named for George Horimer Lorimer, longtime editor of the Saturday Evening Post. Lorimer, a resident of Wyncote, was a passionate conservationist during his lifetime.
The Walks
The Lorimer Preserve is an ideal spot for a walk of less than an hour. The short, interconnecting maze of trails offer a pleasing mix of open fields and woods. The walking is easy throughout with many flat streches, especially in the fields. There is no map or trail markings but you should not need to call out the St. Bernards to help you back to the car.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: The paths are almost all paw-pleasing grass
Workout For Your Dog - Two terrace-like park sections connected by short downhills
Swimming - Two ponds are on the property; the woods pond is always filled and ready for your water-loving dog but the field pond, the larger of the two, is subject to the vagaries of drought
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
The best stick-fetching pond in greater Philadelphia. Tucked into a hollow in the woods, the pond is scarcely 25 yards across at any point. Your dog can swim across the pond to retrieve a stick and meet you on the other side as you circle the water on land.
McKaig Nature Education Center
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Upper Merion, Montgomery County; bounded roughly by King of Prussia Road, Brower Road and Croton Road. Parking is available on Brower Road (one or two cars on the roadside) and at the Roberts School on Croton Road. From Route 202, take Warner Road south to the end. Make a left on Croton Road and the school is on the right.
The Park
The Upper Merion Park and Historic Foundation was created in 1964 to preserve the area’s rapidly diminishing open space. Small accruals of land gifts began accumulating and today the McKaig Nature Education Center pushes back the encroaching development with 89 wooded acres.
The Walks
A jewel among the region’s small parks, McKaig features three wide and well-maintained trails that range in walking time from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. The Cadet Trail is a linear exploration running up the spine of the property. Two loop trails branch off the Cadet: the Nancy Long Trail and the short, but steep Laurel Trail. The loops are hillier than the Cadet Trail but the trails work around the hillside rather than straight up the slopes on these sporty walks.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Paw-friendly dirt
Workout For Your Dog - Yes, out of the stream valley
Swimming - The Crow Creek is a tumbling, pleasing little brook but seldom deep enough for anything beyond doggie splashing
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
This is one of the best places to walk for arboreal education. Many of the trees along the Nancy Long Trail are marked for identification, including a rare American Chestnut. The greatest tree in the Colonial forest, the American Chestnut was struck down by a pandemic chestnut blight in the 1930s. Full-grown specimens of the tree have become nearly extinct, although some hardy shoots have survived. But as they mature, they too will fall victim to the fatal blight, as will this sapling.
Neshaminy State Park
Phone - (215) 639-4538
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/Parks/neshaminy.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Bensalem, Bucks County; from the Route 132 (Street Road) Exit off I-95, go east to State Road and turn left. The park is at the intersection of Dunks Ferry Road, less than one mile away.
The Park
Neshaminy State Park takes its name from the confluence of Neshaminy Creek with the Delaware River. Although the water flows another 116 miles to the Atlantic Ocean, the river is still affected by the tides here. Indian tribes congregated here to build fishing weirs, small fences in the water that fish swim over at high tide and become trapped at low tide. Dunken Williams operated a ferry crossing of the Delaware River at this point in 1679 and Dunks Ferry Road on the eastern boundary of the park has been used for more than 300 years. The land was deeded to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1956.
The Walks
Neshaminy State Park is the best park in the area to experience the Delaware River. There are four miles of formal hiking trails on the 330-acre property shaped like a fingernail poking into the river. The River View Trail traces the shoreline providing access to the tidal marsh and river and affording riveting views of the ship traffic in the Delaware and the Philadelphia skyline. The River Trail Inner Loopexplores the interior of the park. The River Walk is a shaded dirt trail; the inner loop is more open and follows a gravel road. There is an ample grass shoulder that that will save paws. Also available is the Logan Walk, a paved, tree-lined path that was the original drive to the former Robert Logan Home, whose Sarobia estate was the foundation for the park.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Mostly soft natural trails
Workout For Your Dog - Not much elevation change here
Swimming - There is some of the best canine swimming in the area at a quarter-mile of open access to the Delaware River
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
In the northeast area of the park, along the Neshaminy Creek, are several acres of sand dunes that would not be out of place at the Atlantic seashore. This giant sandbox for your dog is at the end of the Logan Walk. Nearby is the Pine Plantation where wide, grassy swaths of trails wind among tall, fragrant pines.
Nottingham County Park
Phone - (610) 932-9195
Website - http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/cwp/view.asp?a=1550&q=616472&ccparksNav=|34716|
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Nottingham, Chester County; take Route 1 South and exit on Route 272, crossing back over the highway to the entrance of Herr’s Snack Foods on the right. Make a right when you can turn left to the Herr’s Factory and another right (Park Road) to the parking lot on the left.
The Park
Although this area had already been settled for nearly two centuries, it was not until 1828 that serpentinite was dicovered in what is now Nottingham Park. By 1880 the Wood Mine dug to extract the mineral was 800 feet deep and the largest in the world. Chrome, asbestos and quartz were also mined here. The oldest of Chester County’s parks, Nottingham was dedicated in 1963.
The Walks
There are 8 trails in Nottingham Park, which can all be covered in a day’s hiking. Most of the trails criss-cross and do not loop, often just running out at the boundaries of the 600-acre park. Look for the “Mystery Hole,” an abandoned mine now filled with water. The trails switch from wide fire roads to narrow footpaths through the rolling hills across the park. These hills can be formidable at times.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt and stone – the serpentine can be tough on the paw
Workout For Your Dog - Some good climbs in store
Swimming - McPherson Lake and Little Pond are openfield swimming holes for a doggie dip
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
Nottingham Park is home to the Serpentine Barrens, a seven-mile ridge of igneous rock that is one of only three such serpentine formations in North America. The early settlers called the area of scrub pine and oak “barrens” because its low nutrient-level was unfriendly to cultivation. The distinctive green serpentine rock was a popularbuilding stone and can be seen in many of Chester County’s historic structures, including several at West Chester University. An interpretive nature trail describes the fast-draining Serpentine Barrens and visits abandoned quarries.
Ralph Stover State Park/Tohickon Valley Park
Phone - (610) 982-5560
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/ralphstover.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Point Pleasant, Bucks County; on State Park Road and Stump Road. Tohickon Valley Park is two miles down Cafferty Road off Route 32.
The Park
Ralph Stover State Park takes its name from the operator of a waterpowered grain mill on the Tohickon Valley Creek in the late 1700s. Traces of the historic mill can still be seen above the dam. The Stover descendents donated the property to Pennsylvania in 1931 and recreational facilities in the 45-acre park were constructed during the 1930s by the Works Project Administration The High Rocks area was donated by Bucks County author James Michener.
The Walks
The Red Dot Trail sweeps in a wide arc for 5.5 miles connecting the two parks. Upon reaching the top of the High Rocks it is easy to feel like you have been parachuted into the heart of the Applachian mountains. Two hundred feet below you stretches a hillside tapestry of trees collared by a horsehoe turn in the Tohickon Creek. There is no similar view in the Delaware Valley. The trail itself rolls up and down across several ravine-slashing creeks. The dirt path is wide and easy on the paws, save for a steady diet of hopping on and across exposed tree roots. Three short walking trails course through Ralph Stover State Park and additional trails are maintained in Tohickon Valley Park across the creek for extended canine hiking.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural surface
Workout For Your Dog - The 200-foot elevation drop is handled gradually for the most part
Swimming - The fast-flowing waters of the Tohickon can be treacherous when the water is high
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
The chance to watch experienced rock climbers tackling the 200-foot sheer rock face of the Tohickon Palisades. Climbers have identified more than three dozen routes up the slate-like rock.
Ridley Creek State Park
Phone - (215) 234-8684
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/ridleycreek.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Media, Delaware County; on Route 3, 2.5 miles west of Newtown Square. The park may also be entered from Gradyville Road - east from Route 352 or west from Route 252.
The Park
Settlement in this area dates back to the 1600s when villages grew around the mills sprinkled along the creeks and streams. Much of the park’s 2,606 acres were consolidated in the Jefford family – their Hunting Hill mansion, built in 1914 around a 1789 stone farmhouse, now serves as the park office. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the property in the 1960s - including 35 historic residences - and the park was dedicated in 1972.
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The Walks
Ridley Creek features 12 miles of hiking on four main trails. The White Trail visits most of the areas of the park and the others intersect this lengthy loop at many points. A 5-mile multi-use loop is shared with bicyclists and joggers. Also, an unmarked trailhead just east of Ridley Creek on Gradyville Road offers one of the longest creekside walks in Delaware County. In addition, a 4.7-mile equestrian trail makes two large loops in the isolated western section of the park. These heavily wooded trails are narrow in many places and you and the dog will be prime targets for hitchhiking ticks. Most of the trails wind through rolling woodland and meadows. You’ll be moving up and down often but only an occasional hardy climb is necessary.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt trails and macadam
Workout For Your Dog - Moderate hill climbing on these trails
Swimming - Ridley Creek, while extremely scenic, is a relatively minor feature of hiking at Ridley Creek State Park; it is deep enough for swimming when the trail touches upon it.
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
A handful of historic 18th century structures stand intact within park boundaries and are leased as highly coveted private residences. A group of these stone buildings include a miller’s house, office and library, and several small millworkers’ houses that have been designated as the “Ridley Creek Historic District” on the National Register of Historic Places.
Schuylkill Canal Park
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Mont Clare, Montgomery County; on Route 29 across the Schuylkill River from Phoenixville. Crossing the river on Bridge Street, make a left at the end of the bridge onto the entrance road for the upstream parking area. To reach the downstream parking lot, make the right at the light onto Port Providence Road and follow it through town and past the Container Corporation of America to the lot on the right.
The Park
Pennsylvania’s first canal system was cobbled together in 1815 using 120 locks to stretch 108 miles from the coal fields of Schuylkill County to Philadelphia. Railroads began chewing away at canal business in the 1860s and the last coal barges floated down the Schuylkill River in the 1920s. Today, the only sections of the canal in existence are at Manayunk and Lock 60, built by area name donor Thomas Oakes, at the Schuylkill Canal Park. In 1985 the Schuylkill Canal Association formed to keep the canal flowing and maintain the lock and towpath. In 1988, the area was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Walks
You can either enjoy the flattest walk in Montgomery County here or the steepest. The peaceful canal towpath covers 2 1/2 miles from the Lock House, built in 1836, to the eastern end of Port Providence. Across the canal are houses and town buildings looking much as they did throughout the canal era. Upstream from Lock 60 are the Ravine Trail, with three ascents to the 100-foot high rock bluffs overlooking the Schuylkill River, and the Valley View Trail, which deadends – for dog-walking - at the Upper Schuylkill Valley Park. No dogs are allowed in that park. There is also an 8-station self-guided nature walk from the Lock House to Route 29.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Soft dirt and rock-strewn dirt
Workout For Your Dog - Almost all flat save for the climbs to the bluffs
Swimming - Fantastic swimming for your dog in the Schuylkill River or in the canal
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
After years of fundraising and handiwork volunteers have rebuilt Lock 60 and it is now in operating condition. You can see it work during Canal Days in June.
State Game Lands 43
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Saint Peters, Chester County; on Saint Peters Road, off Route 23 (Ridge Road). It is behind the buildings on the left, at the northern edge of town. In Pine Swamp there is a small, unmarked parking lot on Harmonyville Road, east of Route 345 (Pine Swamp Road).
The Park
Three segments of these public lands, totalling 2,150 acres, lie in northwest Chester County. The most accessible - and scenic - of the three is at Saint Peters. Once known as the Falls of French Creek and a famous local tourist destination, Saint Peters was named for the town church when the post office moved away.
The Walks
The Horse-Shoe Trail cuts through the Saint Peters and Pine Swamp Tracts. The Saint Peters walk is heavily wooded; the Pine Swamp walk leads through a scruffy meadow on old access roads through light woods at the edge of fields. There are many other short interconnecting trails at Saint Peters, crossing over small streams and meandering down an abandoned rail line.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural surface trails with some very rocky stretches
Workout For Your Dog - You’ll find some hills at Saint Peters to set your dog to panting
Swimming - French Creek rushes downhill through the property, pooling into an ideal swimming pond just south of the parking lot; elsewhere you'll find other tempting pools and north of the falls, under the railroad trestle, fine flat water
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
Forty million years ago an igneous explosion occurred underground here and cooled very quickly leaving behind a particularly fine granite rock. Tourists and students of geology alike made the pilgrimmage to the Falls of French Creek to study the rock formations. Granite quarries mined the rock and granite from Saint Peters once received an award at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as “a fine-grained polished cube, a good building and ornamental stone.” The quarries closed in the 1960s and many pits can still be seen. Today the giant boulders in French Creek are ideal for your dog to scramble on - or just lie in the sun.
Tamamend Community Park
Phone - None
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Southampton, Bucks County; the entrance is on Second Street Pike (Route 232) between Bristol Road and Street Road (Route 132).
The Park
In an elaborate treaty ceremony in his Philadelphia house in 1683, William Penn purchased all the land between Pennypack and Neshaminy Creeks. In turning over the lands, Chief Tamanend, a Lenape Sachem, declared the treaty of friendship would endure “as long as the grass is green and the rivers flow.” Scarcely a half century later Penn’s descendents had broken the treaty and driven the Lenape nation from Pennsylvania. This land was farmed for more than two centuries until the 1940s when William Long established Southampton Nurseries. In addition to the commercial stock, Long introduced exotic species of trees and shrubs as well. In 1975 Upper Southampton Township and the Centennial School District jointly purchased the 109-acre Tamanend Park for nearly one million dollars.
The Walks
For a small township park wedged between a rail line and a busy roadway, Tamanend sports a surprising variety of canine hikes. The Red Arrowhead Trail skirts the perimeter of the property for 2.3 miles and the Blue Arrowhead and Yellow Arrowhead trails are interior loops of about one mile in length. Two short, special trails are the stars at Tamanend, however. The History Trail interprets the heritage of the property and structures remaining from by-gone days. Highlights include the William Penn Treaty Elm, a fifth generation offspring of the great elm tree under which Penn negotiated with the Lenni Lenape, and a Sequoia Giganteum, a species of mountain redwood originally found only in China and California. The Glenn Sokol Trail is a quiet nature trail created in honor of a local naturalist.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Wide dirt paths
Workout For Your Dog - Easy canine hiking
Swimming - Some dog paddling to be had in small Klinger Pond
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
The Glade is a special garden designed to spotlight a thick-trunked European Beech Tree, the Cedars of Lebanon and a giant Red Oak with thick, twisting wisteria vines climbing all the way to the crown. Set apart in the grass are Sweetbay Magnolia trees and two ancient Southern Magnolia trees.
Taylor Arboretum
Phone - (610) 876-2649
Website - None
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Chester, Delaware County; from I-95 take Exit 6 and follow Route 320 North. Just past 22nd Street, make a left on Chestnut Parkway and continue to the Arboretum entrance, making a left on Ridley Drive.
The Park
The ownership of this property dates to William Penn who sold a thousand-acre land grant to John Sharpless in 1682. Sharpless descendents operated grist and cotton mills here for nearly two centuries. Taylor Memorial Arboretum was established in 1931 by a Chester lawyer, Joshua C. Taylor, in the memory of his wife, Anne Rulon Gray.
The Walks
The many trails through these 30 acres along Ridley Creek are short, interconnecting segments about evenly divided between woods and meadow. There are many highlights here, including plant-covered rock outcroppings, a bald cypress pond, and a groundwater spring. There is some slope on the property down to the floodplain of the Ridley Creek but the walking is easy. The trail surfaces are soft dirt and grass and pine straw.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Soft dirt and grass
Workout For Your Dog - Gentle slopes across the property
Swimming - The water behind the Sharpless Dam in the West Woods is excellent for canine swimming; in the East Woods the Ridley Creek offers a small stone beach and fast-flowing shallows for a doggie whirlpool
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
The Taylor Memorial Arboretum provides a 12-Tree Self-Guided Tour. The collection is especially strong in Far Eastern specimens and spotlights three Pennsylvania State Champion trees: the Needle Juniper, the Lacebark Elm and the Giant Dogwood. Also on the tour is a Dawn Redwood, an ancient tree known only through fossils until 1941 when a botany student tracked down living specimens in rural China. Some of the first seed to come to America resulted in this tree.
Tyler State Park
Phone - (717) 840-7740
Website - http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateParks/parks/tyler.aspx
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Newtown, Bucks County; from Exit 27 follow Route 332 east to the park entrance at the intersection of Swamp Road and the four-lane bypass. From Exit 28 take Route 1 North to I-95 North to Exit 30 for Newtown-Yardley and follow the bypass west.
The Park
The rolling lands along the Neshaminy Creek here have supported a vibrant farming community for over 300 years. Some of the stone dwellings peppered around the property date to the early 1700s. Funding from Pennsylvania conservation programs resulted in the opening of Tyler State Park in 1974. Today, more than 400 of the park’s 1,711 acres are still under cultivation.
The Walks
Neshaminy Creek bisects Tyler State Park into two distinctly different halves. The eastern side is distinguished by a tightly bunched network of gravel hiking paths connecting the popular recreational areas located in this section of the park. The trails are shady and hilly. Across the creek, the trails stretch out for longer walks. There are more than ten miles of paved multi-purpose bicycle trails and almost as many miles of dirt-and-grass bridle paths. The trail system, one of the most elaborate in greater Philadelphia, can be customized into an endless array of short or long hikes. The terrain remains hilly, especially on the steep, self-guiding nature trail that loops its way around Parker Run as it feeds into Neshaminy Creek.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural and asphalt surfaces
Workout For Your Dog - Yes, plenty of trail time and hearty hills
Swimming - The Neshaminy Creek is an excellent venue for canine aquatics with many access points from the trail above the dam
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
In the farthest northern section of Tyler State Park is the longest covered bridge in Bucks County. The 117-year old Schofield Ford Covered Bridge burned in 1991 but after five years of fundraising the 166-foot, two-span crossing was entirely rebuilt by volunteers on its original stone abutments using authentic period materials and methods.
Valley Forge National Historic Park
Phone - (610) 783-1000
Website - http://www.nps.gov/vafo/
Admission Fee - None
Directions - Valley Forge, Chester County; the main park entrance
The Park
The most famous name in the American Revolution comes to us from a small iron forge built along Valley Creek in the 1740s. No battles were fought here, but during the winter of 1777-78, when Valley Forge grew to be the third largest city in America, hundreds of soldiers died from sickness and disease. America’s attention was redirected to long-forgotten Valley Forge during a Centennial in 1878. Preservation efforts began with Wash-ington’s Headquarters and evolved into the National Park.
The Walks
These are some of the most historic dog walks in America and some of the most beautiful in greater Philadelphia - panoramic vistas from rolling hills, long waterside hikes and climbs up wooded mountainsides. There are four marked trails, plus miles of unmarked hikes. The paved Multi-Use Trail loops the Colonial defensive lines and Grand Parade Ground and visits George Washington’s headquarters. Sweeping field scenes are found all along the trail’s six-mile length. The Valley Creek Trail is a flat, linear 1.2 mile walk along Valley Creek, past the Upper Forge site. Near the Valley Creek is the eastern terminus of the 133-mile Horse-Shoe Trail and demands a steep and strenuous climb up Mount Misery, the natural southern defender of Washington’s encampment. Across the Schuylkill River is the 3-mile linear Schuylkill River Trail connecting the Pawling’s Parking Area and the Betzwood Picnic Area. The flat dirt trail hugs the river the entire way. Nearby Walnut Hill provides miles more of unmarked hiking with your dog.
Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt and macadam
Workout For Your Dog - Yes, long hikes and Mount Misery
Swimming - Valley Creek is a delightful watering hole and the Schuylkill River is easily accessed for hard-core swimming canines
Restrictions On Dogs - None
Something Extra
The Multi-Use Trail rolls past reconstructed huts and parade grounds that transport you back to the Revolution. The National MemorialArch, a massive stone tribute dedicated in 1917, stands out along the route. The inscription reads: “Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery. Washington at Valley Forge, February 16, 1778.”