Quoted message said:I hope the rains have not washed out the Perkiomen Trail. Riding on Rt29 is a bitc....!
The Perkiomen Trail survived the flooding - mostly- The section from Green Lane Park south to the
trailhead at Spring Mountain is fine, well above the flood waters, althought there was some suface
water in a few places, the surface was ridable as of Sunday...
South of Spring Mountain Village, it seems that most people don't know that the trail continues -
when you reach Spring Mountain Village trailhead, you go out to the road and left, over the stone
bridge, and then an immediate right onto a new trail that runs along the base of Spring Mountain,
then UP Spring Mountain to Cedar Road, and then down to Schwenksville/Game Farm Road. So, with that
new section you only have to ride on Route 29 for about .75 miles now, and that is only through
Schwenksville, where nobody uses the sidewalks anyway.
Bad news is that the lowest points of the Spring Mountain to Cedar avenue route has quite a few
small washouts, but only 2 are bad - one is a DEEP & WIDE gully near the stone bridge at the base
of the ski slope, second is a DEEP & narrow gully at the base of the big downhill coming from
Cedar Avenue. There are a few 'dunes' where the water running over the trail has stripped the top
riding surface off and exposed the sub-base and dumped them in a lobed pile, but otherwise, not
bad at all....
To stay off route 29, going north, follow the Perkiomen Trail to the Hollywood Road access, take the
exit onto Perkimen Creek Road, go left to Route 73 which has wide shoulders, then across the Bridge
and right into Schwenksville - and then at the end of Schwenksville, there's an unofficial 'bypass'
where local kids have maintained a well worn path along the Perkiomen RR right of way that runs just
below Route 29- you get to that trail by dodging the trash dumpster at the little pizziera at the
north end of Schwenksville. There's a nasty gully that the local kids have provided a 2 x 6 board to
cross, then the path rises up to road level just before the new Moccia's Train Stop- then it's a
short distance to Spring Mountain Road and then follow that to the Perkiomen Trailhead in Spring
Mountain Village. - Thats a route that trades a few short sharp hills for a medium hard climb up the
flank of Spring Mountain...
Hal