Archive for November, 2010

Attempt to walk the entire Conewago Recreation/Lebanon Valley Rail Trail

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

I’m trying to walk the entire length of the Conewago Recreation Trail / Lebanon Valley Rail Trail before the weather gets too bad.

November 28: Attempt to park in South Hills Park and use South Lebanon Trail to get to LVRT thwarted…”Park Closed For Winter”…of course it’s not quite winter yet.  Ended up parking on road off Wilhelm Avenue.  Accessed trail and had to walk almost 1.6 miles to reach mile 12, then returned.  Reached the 8th Street trailhead (no mile 14 marker) and found path continued to 9th Street.  Across 9th Street was just a muddy grass lot.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Distance: 5.1 miles.

(On the way home I noticed several park parking lots along South Lincoln Avenue that were open.)

November 26: Parked at small pulloff area just north of 322 on Rt 117 which was about 0.2 miles south of mile 9.  Alden Place trailhead appears to be a bit of fiction: two paths marked either “private property” or “no trespassing” leading into a subdivision.  Fortunately the Cornwall trailhead on 419, with a big parking lot, is just a mile or so ahead.  Walked to mile 12.  The iron bridge is impressive and almost makes you want to wait there for a train to pass by.  I’m hoping to finish this off Sunday AM, but looking at the map it’s not clear where to park to get back to mile 12.  Distance: 5.96 miles.  (How I walked 0.2 miles to mile 9, then to 12, and back, and only got 5.96 miles isn’t quite clear.  Should have been more like 6.4 miles.)

November 21: Initial plan to park in Mt Gretna and use the Mt Gretna Spur didn’t work: I couldn’t find where it was.  So I stopped at a SGL parking lot just south of town, called up my mile marker 5 waymarker and did a “Go to”.  I found I was just 0.25 miles downtrail, so I started at that point since it would be little duplication.  I was very ambitious today, and walked all the way to mile marker 9, just after passing under Route 322.  Initially, based on what I guess is an older map, I thought I could perhaps finish this with one more walk later this week, but the current map on the LVRT site shows the trail ending at 14.5.  But it appears the next step is fairly easy to predict: the Alden Place trailhead is at about 9.3, so I can easily get back to 9, then continue on toward Cornwall.  Distance: 8.4 miles (a personal distance record!)

Question: there is the foundation of an old building right where the Mt. Gretna Spur connects with the main trail.  I wonder if this is a remant from the railroad days?

November 17: Parked at Colebrook Rd trailhead.  Headed south to mile marker 3 (where I left off on November 12),  turned around and went north to mile marker 5, then back to Colebrook Rd trailhead.  Distance: 3.8 miles.

November 12: Parked at Prospect Road.  Headed south briefly to mile marker 4.5, then  to end of Conewago Recreation Trail at Lancaster/Lebanon border.  Continued to walk north on Lebanon Valley Rail Trail to mile marker 3, then back.  Distance: 6.66 miles.

November 7: Parked at Old Hershey road, headed south a little to mile marker 2.0, then to mile marker 4.5, just south of Prospect Road.  Distance: 5 miles.

October 31: Parked at Route 230 trailhead and walked to mile marker 2.0 (just south of Old Hershey Road) and back.  Distance: 4 miles.