Archive for November, 2009

Nov 15: Lititz/Warwick Trailway and Newport Square Public Trail

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Parking at the Warwick Township building on Clay Rd just off 772.  (Also right there is a township park which appears to have considerable walking paths as well.)  Trailway starts across the street.  Small maps are placed throughout and give statistics: from Clay Road to Oak Street is .67 miles.  I had never heard of the Newport Square Public Trail, even though it is longer than the trailway!  It measures .83 miles.

Walked from Clay Rd. to Oak St, then up Newport Square Trail to Newport Rd. and back, then back to Clay Rd.  which interestingly enough adds up to exactly 3 miles.  (Where does Lancaster on the Move! get 2.2 miles one way?)  Not a bad walk…most of it is away from traffic and there are even some historic places to see on the Trailway.  Much of Newport Trail is along a riparian zone.

The Newport Square Trail also has access points to the walking paths in the developed areas, and another that appears to lead to athletic fields for a school.

Nov 8: Ephrata Linear Park and Brickyard Trail

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Parking at Pointview and Sycamore in Ephrata.  Extends beyond Fulton St; now goes to Main St. in town.  Distance is a little over a mile (1.06, or was it 1.08).  There is the short Brickyard Trail, about 1/3-mile long.  Got a bit hilly so I didn’t go the entire way, but map shows it coming out in a neighborhood.  Pedometer goofed off and only read about 400 steps.  Time for a GPS.

Interesting little walk.  Looking at the map I wondered how they could squeeze this in there, but they did.

Nov 1: Visit to “Charles Greenway”

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Noted in the newspaper last week that the first section of the “Northwest River Trail”, named the Charles Greenway, was opened to the public.  This section runs from the park off Vinegar Ferry Rd in East Donegal to Decatur Rd. in Marietta.

Parked by the lot at the pavillion and wondered where the path was…the driveway is a one-way loop and the path is near the entrance; there is a stone parking lot that could hold a half-dozen or so vehicles.  There are no markings, so other than having people come the other way, I was never really sure if I was on the path.  Path is between the railroad track and river, so most of the time the water is nearby.  Some sort of motor or exhaust noise is audible, plus I could have swore I smelled freshly cut wood in the same area as the noise.  There are a number of factories along 441, so that’s possible!  Eventually I did come to a big blue “Charles Greenway” sign, and then a yelllow gate.  It seems that this was the end, because I didn’t see any place else to go.  There is a road that goes under the railroad (I presume this is Decatur Rd) which was flooded; I saw a couple with two dogs go north and then back south, so I presume there is some way to get to the other side of the railroad tracks.

Not a bad walk…it will be nice to see other sections open in the future.  Pedometer read 4695.  (Newspaper says park to Decatur is 2.3 miles, and I take about 1200 steps in a mile.  This did not include the distance from the trail beginning to the parking lot.)