Barren Hill - February 2, 2008

As of February 3, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Steps: 1,122,762
Miles: 478.06
Miles to Georgia: 54.94


The Schuylkill River Bike Path follows the river closely. It is just to the left in this picture in Spring Mill, PA. Barren Hill is straight ahead in the distance and Miquon is just around the bend in the river.

The City of Philadelphia line is about 3 miles from this point. Downtown Philadelphia (near the Art Museum that Rocky stood at) is about 15 miles down the path. On a nice day, it is a very interesting walk from here.


This old stone house was built in 1774. This house was here when Lafayette (why didn't they just call him Joey?) took his forces to Barren Hill.


The house in the previous picture is just off to the left in this picture of the old Pennsylvania Railroad bridge. The steel poles are uprights that used to hold up the electric wires that powered the trains. The railroad is long gone and is now the bike path. You can see a biker in blue near the center of the picture if you look hard. The creek flowing under the bridge is named Lafayette Creek. Barren Hill is in the distance over the rise. There was a railroad stop named Lafayette on the Pennsylvania Railroad right here in the 1890s.


A very short distance away is the Reading Railroad station. The bright yellow ten foot clearance sign marks the road bridge which is next to the bridge over the creek seen in the previous picture.

I usually walk down wind when it is cold. You see the flag blowing and it was chilly on the day I walked. The nice thing about the path is that it runs right next to the working railroad (now SEPTA) and you can park in a station lot (free on weekends), walk for miles downwind, catch a train someplace else and ride it back to your car.


Another nice thing is that on the other side of the tracks is the heated waiting room. No bathrooms here though, and none on the trains either.