I'm dropping somebody off at the Philadelphia airport next Tuesday morning. I will be on the turnpike between Harrisburg and Philadelphia and am looking for suggestions for trails to run for 2-3 hours.
What say ye wise ones?
French Creek is fairly convenient to the turnpike, though it's not Philadelphia. You can easily get 2-3 hours there... more if you like. I'd recommend to take route 422 on your return from the airport to get there more directly. Then you can pick up the turnpike at Morgantown to head home after your run.
Valley Forge is easy to get there as well. Most people run the paved loop there but there are additional trails in the park itself, and the horseshoe trail starts there (or ends there depending on your perspective).
Philadelphia itself has Wisahicken Park and Forbidden Drive but that's not very convenient for your route to/from the airport, unless you come back on the SureKill Expressway.
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I would also say Valley Forge, since you will be driving right past it basically. More importantly the Mt Misery and Mt Joy sections of the park. That popular loop is 4 miles and it's fun. Here is my strava of that But you can venture off that loop and run the Chapel Trail along the river. That trail can be picked up just east of Washington's Headquarters and also links up with the main paved bike path loop as well to so you can get some easy miles in and kill some time see my strava here
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Agree with both of the above. If you want more trails and a short diversion off of Turnpike, then French Creek SP. If you want to be right off the Turnpike and don't mind short sections of pavement, Valley Forge NP (Mt Misery is a nice trail as Keystone said). Maybe George will chime in, I think he runs here a lot.
If you end up downtown off the Schuylkill, then Fairmount Park has a nice loop and you can add or cut it short by taking different bridges across the river.
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Yes, all of the above. I will just say that unless you do an out n back on the HST at Valley Forge you are going to have to run multiple loops to get 2-3 hours. Maybe just two loops. But as the others said, there are trails but also a paved path around the park so you kind of have to connect them to do loops. If you only want remote single track, then VF is not what you want. But it's still very cool.
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I ran Mt Joy today. Completing the Mt Joy - Mt Misery loop can be a little tricky since the covered bridge is out. You need to follow the drive up past the library, then follow a trail which takes you over a footbridge back to the Knox Farm parking lot. If you want a few less hills, you can bypass Mt Misery and take the Valley Creek Trail. Also I found the signage and trail can be a little hard to follow at times on Mt Misery.
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Thanks XT and everyone else!
I think I'll give French creek a shot. Any parking area and specific trail suggestions?
Thanks XT and everyone else! I think I'll give French creek a shot. Any parking area and specific trail suggestions?
Hey Muppy... there is link to the park/trail map in AT's sticky "where we run" thread.
There are many places to park, plus some "backdoor" ones. I'd recommend Scott's Run Lake Parking lot, or Shed Road. These are the easiest and most convenient to trails.
Scott's run, the horseshoe trail and Lenape trail intersect there. You can head east or west, or do both and get plenty of miles. You can hook to the orange six penny trail (one of my favorites) and or blue boone trail. Plenty of choices.
Shed road parking lot is adjacent to the Mill Creek trail. This lot is right at the junction of PA345 and Shed Road. Just above the east entrance to the park. You can get 8-10 miles there on some challenging terrain, combining Mill Creek Trail, Buzzard's loop, Raccoon and Lenape trails. It's the most remote part of the park.
Print out and take a copy of the map if you've never been there. The trails are well marked, color codes blazes, easy to follow, but the map might help you at intersections. The horseshoe trail (yellow) leaves the park about 2 miles north/northeast of Scott's run.. it heads west then loops back and exits south of the park but that is probably 6 miles or more.
Thank you XT, great advice!