Frozen Paths and Waterfalls

Pennypack Park

1 February 2015

Tom, the leader of the Insane Bike Posse, and I, the leader of the Hill Slugs, were abandoned today. We were the only ones to show up at Pennypack Park. The drive was probably too far for some.  The weather was probably too cold for others. They all missed out and will have to settle for pictures instead.

Part of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system, the Pennypack Park trail follows the Pennypack Creek to the Delaware River. The bike path is paved and plowed, although there were still stretches of shallow, crusty, ice and snow that we rode through.  The wooden bridges were snow-crusted as well. I'm going to have to ask John P if Bridge Zen applies when there are railings.  If it does, I had Bridge Zen up the wazoo today.  

There was only one stretch where we walked.  It was on an incline that had melted and re-frozen.  In my MTB days I might have attempted it; I'm sure I'd have wiped out.  I'm also sure that, if Chris had been with us, he'd have berated us mercilessly and charged on ahead.

We rode the entire length of the trail, from Pine Road to the Delaware River and back, for 20 miles. 

There are three hard rollers in the first few miles; they were enough to warm us up.  The rest of the way was relatively flat. Most of the trail looked like this:

I nicked this picture of me and Grover from Tom.

One of the bridges was sort of blocked; all this meant for us was that we had to put our feet down. This being a Tom and OLPH ride, however, a photograph was necessary.

Since we were stopped anyway, we took out our cameras.

A power line across the creek was festooned with fishing line:

Pennypack Creek:

The last half mile or so of the trail is on a road past a prison (there are two along the route) and a public housing complex, called Riverview, for the disabled, which is behind barbed wire, next to the prison. The windows that face the river face a broad park on the waterline:

Across the Delaware are Riverside and Riverton, NJ.   The Delaware being tidal here, ice floes were moving upstream.

 Looking north:

Looking south:

Where the creek meets the river:

Well-fed stray cats at Riverview:

Back in the woods, the sun was at our backs.

There are many of these stone bridges, where roads cross high above the creek.  Tom was sure there was a waterfall view from under one of them.  We stopped and he walked to the edge of the water, confused.  There was no waterfall.  He wondered if the water was too high.  I wondered if we were at the right bridge.

The waterfall was at the next one.

Icicles hung from the top of the tunnel.  Tom envisioned being impaled and beat a path to the other end.

I stood at the entrance and marveled at a large crack in the cement:

My final photograph was at the bottom of the first of the three rollers between us and the parking lot:

I've now logged more miles on Grover this year than on Miss Piggy and Beaker combined.  Kermit has seen no action at all.  Gonzo, locked into a fluid trainer, has endured more 1- and 1.5-hour sessions this month than I care to admit.  I measure my watts in Spinning class and count the days until there's enough evening light to allow me to take Beaker to work again.

Still, I don't mind the break in routine.  It makes me appreciate good road weather all the more.

Meanwhile, I'm filling my camera with icy scenery.