St Peters Village - My Two Day Adventure - Part 1

Date of Hike: September 22, 2014

Total Distance: 4.93 miles

Avg speed: 1.55MPH

Avg moving speed: 1.84MPH

Moving Time: 2:40:33

Total Time: 3:10:43

Conditions: Sunny, 70 degrees

Difficulty: Moderate

A few weeks ago, I had a week off from work and decided to take what was supposed to be a three day adventure but unfortunately, I had to cut it short by a day. More on why in part two of this adventure. With having the week off, I decided to get out and go camping at French Creek State Park for a few days. On my way to French Creek State Park, I finally stopped at St. Peters Village to explore some of the trails surrounding the area. I've spoken about St. Peters Village a number of times throughout my blog and finally made it there (again). I've been there a number of times throughout the years and it's one of my favorite places to go when I need a "refresh" since there are plenty of places to hide. What I had never done there before however, was to explore the trails that are scattered throughout the area.

Approximate address:
3100 St Peters Rd
Elverson, PA 19520
GPS: 40.181211, -75.730608

As usual, the street address isn't exact. If you're approaching from the south, you'll see the parking lot to your left before getting to 3100. There's no official trail map for St. Peters Village but if you are looking for one that will show you a lot of the trails, click here. How well they're maintained, that remains to be seen. This isn't a state park so don't expect to find many trails being easy to traverse with the exception of one. The Horse-Shoe Trail cuts through this land.

There's a small bridge that crosses over French Creek and once you cross over, there are trails in just about every direction. To get started, I headed north alongside the creek opposite the parking lot. There's another small creek (Mine Run) running east to west that you'll have to cross over to continue heading north.

Looking upstream on Mine Run

Looking upstream at French Creek

A short distance upstream, you'll see this old railroad bridge. On the opposite side, you'll run into private property which used to be the workman's houses for those who worked in the now abandoned mines that are in proximity to this bridge (link to this reference is below).

View from the bridge looking downstream

View looking upstream

I never explored it but on the opposite side of the railroad bridge, there's a trail that leads somewhere. I don't think it goes very far giving St. Peters Road is pretty close to this section of the creek.

Once I was done at the bridge, I doubled back towards Mine Run. There's a trail running parallel to Mine Run leading to the railroad bridge that you can follow but it's not as scenic.

How this tree is still standing is beyond me!

The Trees are Listening

This is why I made my way back to Mine Run. As you can see, there are rocks everywhere and it's a bit of a challenge to walk through them but the photo opportunities are readily available. This is just the beginning folks, and this is why I love this place so much. These rocks stretch for quite a distance along this tributary.

Once I was done alongside Mine Run, or more accurately, the rocks had pretty much come to an end, I headed in a northwesterly direction on some of the trails leading away from the creek to locate my next objective.

As I was walking the trails, I ran into this. I have no idea what it is or was at one time but there was no entrance and it was maybe 10' x 10' at the most. Perhaps this could have been a landmark of sorts at one time.

Shortly after hiking past the stone landmark, I reached my next objective. Years ago, I went camping with some friends at Warwick Woods Campground. We had hiked from the campground to this small quarry and hung out for a bit. Since then, I never returned until this hike. Partly because I didn't know exactly where it was, and partly because whenever I go to St. Peters, I usually stay alongside the creeks. For this hike, this quarry was part of my agenda. This time, I only stopped for a few moments to take some pictures but being here brought back fond memories of sharing some good times with friends.

Out of curiosity, I went looking in my old photo albums and found that I had last been at this quarry on May 27, 1995...19 years ago! My age is showing! 

As I stood alongside the quarry, I noticed small fish that would come up from the deep water, lightly touch the surface, then head back down into the deep water again. Looking at the pictures, the water looks to be stagnant but there were signs of life. My guess is that there may not be enough oxygen in the water to completely sustain life so the fish need to surface once in a while to get some.

I circled around to the top end of the quarry and shot off a few pictures. As usual, I didn't get too close to the edge, heights and I still don't get along well!

Once I was done at the quarry, I headed south back towards the main trail I had veered away from to get to the quarry and was on my way to the next objective. Some of these trails are a bit overgrown and aren't maintained so if you hike them, it might be best to keep the long pants on.

As I was returning to the main trail, I ran into the remains of this bridge. My guess is that this bridge was once in service to bring supplies in and out from the small quarry I had just been to. This area was popular for both quarries and mining from the mid 1800's to the 1970's.

I thought this tree was interesting with the giant knot in it. The lines at the forefront are spider webs which there were plenty to walk through during this adventure.

By now, I had crossed over the main trail and was heading south to my next objective. Most of the trails in this area were in pretty good shape. There weren't many difficulties with navigating other than making sure not to get turned around which I'm usually good for at least once per hike!

I headed south until I reached my next objective, another quarry, much larger than the one I had been to earlier and by far, much more beautiful. I'm not always keen on the man made attractions but this one was worth it.

I'm also not sure if I was supposed to be in this area. I didn't see any "no trespassing" signs but I did note on the trail leading up to it that there had been a sign posted on a tree but it had been shredded into about 100 pieces and was scattered on the ground. Regardless, if you end up here or at the quarry I was previously at, please be safe. There's no one around to rescue you should you fall in and/or get injured.

There were several piles of these cut rocks all over the place

It's hard to tell from this picture but if you look between the red colored trees on the opposite side of the quarry, there's a dirt road leading right up to the water. Perhaps the next time I head out there, I'll circle the entire quarry to see what I can find. There's a dirt road that runs all the way around it.

Not sure what kind of tree this is but the leaves are huge!

Once I was done at the quarry, I headed east back towards St. Peters Village and French Creek. In this area, there are quite a few switchbacks that weren't picked up by my GPS. The trail winds through the woods on the top of the hill that's in the area, then finally makes its way northeast to the creek and towards my next objective. I saved the best for last!

It's hard to tell but this is a hole in the ground and one of several that I saw while returning towards French Creek. Giving there are quarries and mines in the area, my guess is that these might have been holes that were blasted at one time to see what was underneath.

Yellow trail markers...if you're familiar with one of my previous trips to French Creek State Park, these yellow markers represent the Horse-Shoe Trail which cuts through St. Peters on it's way to Stony Mountain in Dauphin County, PA where it meets the Appalachian Trail.

Somewhere in here, I did end up missing a turn but by the time I had realized it, I didn't bother to turn back. I wanted to head south again to explore another section of the trails but instead, stayed on the eastern track and back towards the creek.

I'm now approaching the creek and my second to last objective of the day.

Here's a sneak peek of what I was heading towards!

Here it is folks, and it's safe to say that these pictures don't do this place much justice, the rocks are much larger in person. I hiked downstream to the lowest point where the rocks basically come to an end, then made my way back upstream. This place is also known as the Falls at French Creek. Within a 1/2 mile stretch, the elevation of the creek drops approximately 150 feet from it's beginning (where I started my hike) to a little further downstream from where the below picture was taken. 

I found it ironic to see this spray painted on one of the rocks. "We look at things we don't want to see" and it's appropriate for the situation at hand. As you can see from my pictures, there's graffiti EVERYWHERE on these rocks. When I saw this, I couldn't help but to get angered that people would destroy such a beautiful natural treasure by spray painting just about any rock they could. It absolutely disgusts me when I see this and I hope whoever has done this was caught.

What was supposed to be me showing my readers a beautiful place, was turned into a garbage dump of rocks that have been defaced by ignorance. It won't stop me from returning but to say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I've been to St. Peters probably more than a 100 times since a friend of mine introduced it to me more than 20 years ago. There's always been graffiti, but it's never been as bad as it is now. I guess the only good part about this is that over time, the rocks will still be there but Mother Nature will eventually take its course and cause the paint to fade.

Thankfully, not all of the rocks have been defaced. As you work your way upstream, you're closer to the public eye so there's less graffiti on these rocks.

The deck in the background is The Inn at St. Peters Village which is a bed and breakfast, restaurant/bar and banquet hall, and also provides a nice overlook of the creek.

The water was a bit low but this spot is a popular swimming hole during the summer

Once I was done walking along the rocks, I took a short stroll through town. During this time of year, it's slow since the tourist season is pretty much wrapped up and a lot of the stores are closed (most are closed during the week anyway and I was here on a Monday). During the busy season, there are some pretty neat shops and and old school arcade you can check out (and the Inn I mentioned earlier which is open year-round). The arcade has some very old pinball machines in there among some other games, and of course, there's ice cream!

Last but not least, I circled around to have a look at this quarry. Today, there's a road and a parking lot running right alongside it. Years ago, there were trails and a dirt road you had to sneak up to in order to get to it. As you can see, it's been fenced off due to people who like jumping off the cliffs into the water. Right in front of me, there's about a 30 foot drop to the water and across the quarry to the right, you'll see another fence blocking off a taller cliff people also used to jump off.  Only once did I see someone jump off the taller end and when he surfaced, the t-shirt he was wearing no longer resembled a t-shirt. It had been torn pretty badly from the impact of hitting the water.

The reason it's fenced off? I already mentioned some of it but there's also the case of the number injuries and a few deaths occurring at the quarry from people who have jumped off the cliffs. There's still equipment under the water that was abandoned once the quarry was closed. I don't know if this could have been a cause for injuries or deaths but it's enough to keep me from jumping, not to mention my dislike for heights.

While there haven't been a lot of deaths or injuries, it was obviously enough that a tall fence was put in place to keep people out. In September 2013, a teenager apparently fell into the quarry and broke his arm, and in June of this year, a 39 year old man suffered a spinal injury after jumping into the water which I'm guessing is the reason the fence was installed. I was at St. Peters this past May and at the time, the fence wasn't there. Will it succeed in keeping people out? I doubt it.

The last known death at the quarry was in 1992. A young man (if you'd even call him that at the time, he was only 20) by the name of Christopher Gallagher jumped into the quarry and never resurfaced. His friends had to call for rescue but by that time, it was shamefully too late. Somewhere in my large collection of photos and about 8 months after it happened, I took a picture of a plaque dedicated to him that was mounted to one of the rocks close to the cliff he had jumped off.

I found the picture but it's not scanned to a digital file. Here's what the plaque says:

In memory of Christopher R. Gallagher, beloved son

brother and friend. Affectionately known as "Messy" 

by his high school friends, and "The Original Horseman"

of the Downingtown High School soccer program who now

is in the embrace of his heavenly father.

Our son Chris drowned here at St. Peters Quarry, August

21, 1992. Chris had just turned twenty years old. He was

a fine athlete and an excellent swimmer. His two buddies

who were here with him were also very good swimmers, but

they were unable to save him. Good friends cannot always 

guarantee your life. Please stay away from this place. 

Don't swim or dive here. This quarry is a quiet, but 

 dangerous place that sneaks up on you

Please heed my words: Spare yourself, a friend, a family

the pain of a terrible loss. Remember life is precious

but so fragile. Let us not allow another tragedy

to happen here

We love you Chris, and miss you very much

Chris' dad and family

I took these pictures in June 2007, not too long after the parking lot had been built. I panned from left to right to get the entire quarry then combined them when making a collage for my wall at home. 

That was about it for my adventure at St. Peters Village. After I was done here, it was off to French Creek State Park to go camping for a few days. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the history of St. Peters Village, you can check out this page and while I don't always put much weight into Wikipedia since anyone can edit it, you can find some more interesting information there too. Giving it's close to French Creek State Park and Hopewell Furnace, they have a history with the mining industry and quarries within the area.

Happy adventures and happy hiking!

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