Walk for the Wissahickon - 11 mile hike

Brian & I spent a good part of Sunday on a hiking adventure to "preserve open space". The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association sponsored a hike along the Green Ribbon trail which runs along the Wissahickon Creek. You could take a 21, 7, 11 or 4 mile hike along the trail. The hikes were stuck together and were led by a guide who worked for WVWA and they provided water and snacks. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend a gorgeous fall day, although neither of us is dying to do it again.

We opted for the 11 mile hike. The guide was a guy who kept a nice pace -- we never felt trapped or like snails and since they made clear in the registration packet that kids under a certain age, dogs and strollers were not welcome at this event things went great. They had weeded out the snails ahead of time so we were left with a good crowd of speedy hikers.

The trail was mostly flat with the typical eastern PA rocks. You had to keep your eyes on the trail to keep from tripping. There were seven creek crossings but they were simple since they had laid planks and ladders across the creek so you didn't need to get wet. We're at the end of a particularly dry summer though so this could be more interesting/challenging if the water level was higher.

We only stopped a couple of times for street crossings and bathroom breaks and the WVWA folks provided a steady stream of water, granny smith apples (my fave!), bananas and an excellent assortment of candy. At the 7 mile mark we stopped for about a half hour for lunch and most of the group hopped on a bus back to the start of the hike. About a dozen of us pressed on to the 11 mile bus back point.

I think the only problem with this hike was that it was all business. Because we were all herded together there really wasn't any chance to just meander along and take in the pretty creek views or look for wildlife. It was a nice day, and being with the other folks wasn't bad, but I think we would have had more fun alone and maybe more fun later in the season when the leaves had turned color.

We spent the afternoon watching the Eagles awesome comeback on Tivo [We were clued in by the happy shouts pouring out of our neighbors house that the 2nd half was worth watching] and playing with our new espresso machine. We got the machine on Saturday with some gift certificates we've had since the wedding but haven't managed to spend yet. So far the machine is fabulous and we're both sad we waited this long to buy the gadget!

5 days until Utah!