Ride Report Wissahickon Valley in the land of Cheesesteaks.

I spent the last week away from the "West Side" in Philadelphia. I had a couple of week's of heads up time for this trip so I had done a little research and was planning on checking out the Wissahickon Valley as it was supposed to have some cool stuff there.

The trip started with a O-God early watching-the-sunrise commuter flight from Carlsbad to LA It was a cool flight as I spent a good portion of the sub-hour flight picking out places like SCST, Aliso, El Moro, LCWP that I had ridden before 10,000 feet below me in the early morning light. I also started thumbing through the latest issue of Mountain Bike magazine that I had tossed in my laptop bag when it had arrived a few days ago. Low and behold on page 24 there was a short article featuring the Philly's Wissahickon trail system. That settled it, too much of a coincidence for me not ride this trail system.



The guys in Philly already knew I was a MTB addict, so it did not take long during the first day of meeting the team for the topic of mountain biking to come up. Plans were brewed and before long a bike was lined up and someone was going to show me around. My original plan was to chase down a rental bike, but it was super cool for one of the guys to hook me up. Come Wednesday at the end of the workday, we were off for a ride.



Wissahickon Park encompasses about 1,800 acres along the Wissahickon Creek watershed and is fully within the city limits of Philadelphia. It has been part of Philadelphia's larger Fairmount Park system since 1868.

Man the singletrack was really killer. For the most part pretty buff but interspersed with roots and small rocky sections. All around were towering hardwoods that created a wonderful shaded canopy. Being the summertime is was a little warm and included the typical east coast humidity. Most of the trails we were on had gentle slopes that undulated along the fingers and draws leading down to Wissahickon Creek.



There were however some climbs that were quite technical and rocky with some roots thrown it for good measure.. It had rained the night before and I was expecting muck and mire. There was nothing of the sort here. The trail soil had enough moisture to make a nearly perfect balance of speed and traction. I was digging it. We rode less than have of the place I was quite stoked with the greenery and the trails.

One thing is for certain, I had a really cool time checking this place out and I looking forward to the next time I have to go back there for "work".

Here is the full story and well as a few more pictures.

 

I never get tired of your RR Bill Thanks for sharing an east coast trail...