Convergence of Schuylkill River and Tulpehocken Creek, Reading, Pa.
Delaware Watershed Tour, 2017 6th stop
visited July, 2017
You know, when you go hunting around the Delaware watershed, you’re always likely to find something you never knew before.
I was trying to see (and take photos of) where the Tulpehocken Creek flowed into the Schuylkill River. You’ll remember that we visited Blue Marsh Lake, created by a dam on the Tulpehocken, so I was interested in seeing how the reservoir becomes the creek again, emptying into the Schuylkill River.
But I never did see that exact place because it’s pretty overgrown. You can see on whichever map service you use that the banks of both rivers are green in the spot, and densely green they certainly are when you try and get through them!!
There’s a path not far from the water’s edge, but the discovery was two other paths that certainly bear further investigation.
The first is just up from the point where the two rivers meet: the Union Canal Trail, which runs 6.3 miles along the Tulpehocken Creek connecting Reading and Blue Marsh Lake. Where we just were!
Then after this “no name” path that we were on rounded the corner where the two rivers meet, there’s the Schuylkill River Trail. In fact the “no name” trail is part of a collection of trails that together make up the Schuylkill River Trail, which runs from Schuylkill Haven 98.5 miles to Philadelphia. Some are pre-existing trails, some pieces mean a walk along a paved road.
Much as I described the waterways in the watershed as being like the veins and arteries in our body, there’s an amazing network of organizations that support initiatives like these trails. I thought I’d find out about some of them and list their websites so you can investigate further.
Some of these are hot links in the story but I’ve added the full link here since sometimes those hotlinks don’t make it through!
www.schuylkillrivertrail.org
A website for more information on the trail that is managed by The Schuylkill River Heritage Area. Its website is www.schuylkillriver.org (This is the organization that runs the Schuylkill River Sojourn — paddling the 112 miles of the Schuylkill every year in early summer.)
And you’ve got to have a look at The Circuit Trails — www.circuittrails.org
It maps and celebrates hundreds of miles of multi-use trails in the Greater Philadelphia area. Its “Find-a-Trail” map rivals the subway maps of New York City or London!
And for more information on the Union Canal Trail,
https://www.traillink.com/trail/union-canal-trail/
It’s managed by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national organization dedicated to making unused rails into trails.
www.railstotrails.org
