Delaware River Heritage Trail

A little while back, 2008 - 2 years ago, they opened more parkland here in Northeast Philly along the Delaware River north of Rhawn Street.

The first part of this park was created in the 1990s. It served to connect the Pennypack Park Bike Trail out to the river and as a large recreation area. It was mostly acres and acres of playing fields with a path along the river. It was a good place to park your car and unload your bike to for the trail. Unless you were a bike rider or had a softball or soccer game there, you probably never went there. It was nice but there wasn't much real there there.

Two years ago they opened the new part which is to be part of a trail going down the east coast of the USA. So the rail will eventually go up to Trenton and down to Wilmington and onward in both directions.

A year ago, a minor big news item was a couple of bald eagles set up a nest in the new part of the park.

Today after a lunch of Steak and Eggs with Marty and before heading up to my parents house to fix their computer and install their home theater system, I decided it was finally time to check out the new part of the park. And it was en route too.

The new part has been open for about 2 years, but for various lame reasons I didn't make it there until today.

Wow. The new part is amazing. So much untouched land. It's all wetlands and meadows, which makes for a very interesting and pleasant stroll.

It's probably about a mile from my house. I can't believe I hadn't bothered to come here before now.

I only encountered two people there. Both were middle aged. A guy sitting on a bench in a really neat grotto near the river and a middle aged guy on a bike. So there's the tie-in with the theme of this blog. It's something middle aged people like.

Northeast Philly has a reputation as an uncool and lame place to live. This miracle is right here and hardly anybody knows about it.

I won't be there daily, but I'm going to try to pop in whenever I am passing through and have some time to invest there wisely.

As this trail gets longer, Northeast Philly will become a nice place to grow older. I look forward to eventually walking or riding for dozens, maybe hundreds, of miles on it.

Picture 1: Where old path meets new.

Picture 2: The fence that served to end the old trail is now open.

Picture 3: A very pleasant place to sit near the river.

Picture 4: Wetlands view from the pleasant spot of Picture 3.

Picture 5: A big bug on the path. I saw butterflies, birds, but no eagles.

Picture 6: Where the trail now ends (for now). Eventually there will be a bridge that should connect up to the park and hatcheries at Lyndon Ave.

Picture 7: Marker.

Pictures 8, 9 and 10: Turning back now. Meadows. I saw wildflowers and trees and all sorts of native plants.

Picture 11: The fence from the other side, with a view of NJ on the other side.