Valley Forge - Mount Joy

Date of Hike: Sunday, April 5, 2014

Total Distance: 8.38 Miles

Avg speed: 2.07MPH

Avg moving speed: 2.32MPH

Moving Time:  3:36:20

Total Time: 4:02:58

Conditions: Mostly Sunny, 60 Degrees

Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult

This past Sunday, I took another ride to Valley Forge National Historical Park to explore some of the trails that I had yet to be on, namely the trails on Mount Joy. My hike also included the Chapel Trail and a portion of the Joseph Plumb Martin Trail as well.

There are several places to park throughout Valley Forge and for this hike, I parked in the parking lot at the visitor center and started my hike from there.

Address:
1400 North Outer Line Drive
King of Prussia, PA 19406
GPS: 40.1010038,-75.4219836

In all the years I've lived in the area, I never knew this was considered King of Prussia. I always thought Valley Forge was its own town, learn something new every day! When you get to the parking lot, you won't miss it, it's huge with plenty of space to park. If for any reason the parking lot is full, there are three more parking lots about another mile west on route 23, you won't be able to miss them either.

On the northern side of the parking lot, there's a gate closed to vehicles (it is or was an entrance/exit at one time and is now closed off) you can exit out on to County Line Road. Just across the street is this cliff area. 

Several years ago, I explored these cliffs with a number of friends before it had been closed off due to asbestos...yikes!! This is the second week in a row where I've run into a location where these was asbestos in the area. The other was an asbestos waste disposal site next to the Four Mills Nature Reserve in Ambler, PA.

Approximately 112 acres of land in Valley Forge are currently fenced off due to asbestos being in the soil with the below signs posted throughout. From the 1890's to the 1970's, the Ehret Magnesia Manufacturing Company operated an asbestos plant within the boundaries of the park and had been dumping the waste in abandoned quarries and the Schuylkill River for decades. The catch was, they did so with the permission of the Pennsylvania state government!

The asbestos had been covered by soil in the 1970's but over time, erosion had re-exposed the waste. Since then, removal actions have been taken and are still being worked on with an anticipated completion date of the fall of 2016. Re-vegetation of the areas cleared of the asbestos will continue into the spring of 2017 where it will then be re-opened to the public once completed. For additional information about the asbestos in Valley Forge, click here. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about asbestos, click here. For a map of the areas that are currently closed off to the public, click here.

I followed County Line Road northeast to route 23, crossed over and headed towards the Chapel Trail. Currently there's construction in this area, some of which is for the asbestos removal and at the end of this road, a new pedestrian bridge will be built over the Schuylkill River in place of the old Betzwood Bridge (demolished in 1995) to connect the regional trail systems of Chester and Montgomery Counties to Valley Forge and Upper Merion Township. This new pedestrian bridge (Sullivan's Bridge) will replace the three foot wide walkway that's bolted onto the side of the current Betzwood Bridge along route 422 and will be 14 feet wide.

When you get to the top of this small hill, to your right, there will be a few paths you can take. One of which will take you under route 422 and continue east alongside the Schuylkill River. The other, I believe is the paved Schuylkill River Trail. My intention was to go west so when I got under the bridge, instead of continuing to follow the trail, I went down the hill and turned west walking alongside the railroad tracks that are there.

As you walk past the remains of the old Betzwood Bridge, the staircase you see was an old entrance to the now closed Valley Forge Park train station and what I thought would be the Chapel Trail. This area is one of the sections of the park that's closed due to the asbestos. Just so everyone knows, I didn't hop any fences or walk through any of the areas that were closed off, I went around them. From time to time, I may cut it close to what could be considered trespassing or hiking on private property but I don't mess around when it comes to a safety hazard such as asbestos. There aren't any signs in the area stating that you aren't allowed to be there, just don't hop the fences.

 

I hadn't seen this railroad station in several years!

I followed alongside the railroad tracks west for a distance until I finally found what looked like a trail head of sorts. It was really a dirt road that eventually led to the Chapel Trail.

I finally found the Chapel Trail. The beginning stretch of the trail is gravel or crushed stone but it eventually turns into a natural dirt trail. 

Another sign of spring, we're getting there!!

This pile of rocks were the remains of a building or something but I couldn't really tell what it was. 

A little further down the Chapel Trail was where I spotted this stone wall alongside the tracks pointing towards the Schuylkill River. At first, I thought this might have been the remains of what was once General Sullivan's Bridge built during the Revolutionary War but it seems to be too far east from where the memorial is on the north side of Valley Forge. 

View from the top of the stone wall looking towards the Schuylkill River

Blue Jay Feather

There are a few trails that will lead south towards the parking lots on route 23, this is the intersection of the trail that will bring you up to the chapel parking lot. I didn't want to go to the chapel (this time) so I continued going west on the Chapel Trail.

I love finding these types of ruins and as you can see, I went a little crazy with the pictures and it was well worth it to me. I hope to someday find some more information about this place.

Just outside the ruins of the home, I spotted this hole in the ground which I would assume was a well or some sort of spring house at one time. It was too shallow to be a well in my opinion but I also didn't step in it to see how deep it was. It looked to only be a few feet but it might have also been capped off to prevent anyone from falling in.

Back on the trail continuing west

View of the Schuylkill River from the Chapel Trail

This was my first challenge of the day. Most of the Chapel Trail is relatively flat along with some rolling hills that aren't steep but at this point, you run into this somewhat steep but small hill. This was the warmup for what was coming!

This was the first of many memorials scattered throughout Valley Forge. I took quite a few pictures of them but in order to keep my blog post a bit shorter, I chose not to include most of them. Had I done so, this could very well have ended up being a history book instead of a blog post.

Major General John Armstrong, known as the "Hero of Kittanning" during the French and Indian War, also assisted with guarding the roads that led from Philadelphia to General Sullivan's Bridge during the Revolutionary War. 

Along the trail and looking across the Schuylkill River, you can see the Pawling Farm's barn that was built in 1826 then added on to in 1845 by the Wetherill family and a few helpers. For more information on the Pawling Farm, you can check out my blog post about the north side of Valley Forge.

This opening in the woods is a short distance from Washington's Headquarters. The below view is of Mount Misery and although it doesn't look like much, the next picture is of Mount Joy.

Mount Misery

Mount Joy

Arrival at Washington's Headquarters

This train station, built in 1913, sat looking lifeless for as long as I can remember until it was renovated and re-opened in 2009.

To the left of where I was standing when I shot the picture of the train station, three soldiers huts stand side by side, one of which was open for exploration.

If you decide to visit the inside of the open hut, be forewarned, there's a motion activated speaker inside it that starts playing the moment you walk in. If you're not expecting it, you might get a bit of a surprise as it did to me. What you'll hear will be a few soldiers talking but I don't recall what they were saying as I was more interested in taking pictures.

Springhouse in front of the soldiers huts

I made my way down to the train station. Inside, I believe there's a small museum and tour you can check out if you're interested.

Welcome to Washington's Headquarters. George Washington and his staff worked and lived inside this house during the winter of 1777, as many as 25 people! It's said that at one time, a log structure addition was built adjacent to the building for eating and meetings.

I didn't explore the entire building, just to the left side where the opening is.

Valley Creek just opposite of Washington's Headquarters

After Washington's Headquarters, it was time to cross over route 23 and head south to my actual objective which was to hike Mount Joy. In the beginning, this trail is gravel/crushed stone. As you get further up the trail though, like the Chapel Trail, it slowly turns to dirt for the most part.

Somewhere in here is where my first real challenge of the season began. There are a few steep hills to climb on Mount Joy and I hadn't really been on any since last year before getting plantar fasciitis in my left foot. Since it's been healing, I've taken it easy on hitting any steep or long uphill climbs until I was confident it wouldn't have any effect on my foot. I'm thankful to report that for now, the hike did not cause any discomfort other than the usual pain you feel after hiking several miles. Fingers crossed that this is a good sign! I have a feeling that my new(ish) hiking boots also contributed to this as well. 

Seems I've been finding both asbestos and old bees nests over the last two weeks!

Looking up the hill I was about the climb

Looking back after the climb

While still heading in a southerly direction, the trail splits off in two different directions in this area, one section going southeast leading to the top of the second hill (there are two on Mount Joy) and the other alongside it. I took the trail heading southeast that would bring me to the top of the hill.

This section was a bit odd. It looks like it was paved at one time but instead of it cracking like a normal abandoned road usually would, it just warped and seems to have changed shape with the terrain under it.

I stopped and took a rest at this rock. There are several in the area that look like quartz. 

Looking back on the paved remains I was just on

Several years ago, this clearing used to contain a road and parking lot with a pavilion on the left side and is also where the trail was supposed to cut back to the southwest but I was unable to find it.

Instead of turning back, I bushwhacked through the woods until I found the trail again.

Back to the trail!

Looking south on the trail I was just about to hike on

Looking back to where I had found the trail again.

This was where my hike got fun again. If you look in the background of this picture, you might be able to tell that there's a pretty steep drop. I was hoping to find a trail in this spot and had yet another objective in mind at the bottom of this hill.

Looking down from the trail at the covered bridge on Yellow Springs Road and route 252. This hill was steep!

What I was happy to find out was that the trail thankfully didn't go straight down the hill and instead was a series of switchbacks.

I know this might be strange but these stone steps were my objective. Last year, I went hiking on Mount Misery and as I circled down the hill to the trail alongside Valley Creek (you can see a small section of the trail in the above picture of the covered bridge), I decided to stop for a quick rest and a snack at a bench that's close to the bridge. When I looked across the river and road, I noticed these stone steps and wanted to check them out. I've lived in the area for over 20 years and have driven on route 252 countless times and until that day last year, I never saw the steps.

If you're familiar with this section of route 252, you'll also know that getting across the street from where the covered bridge is would be asking for a stay at your local hospital or worse. The steps are right next to a sharp turn and the hill creates a blind spot where drivers wouldn't be able to see you until they're right on top of you. In this case, it would be better to err on the side of caution and find another way.

Here's a picture of the steps (what you can see of them) from route 252. I did not take this picture myself, it's a screenshot taken from Google Maps street view.

I took another picture of the covered bridge from the top of the steps

I'm not sure why it is I didn't take any pictures but once I was done at the steps, I had to return back up the same hill to get back on the trail I turned off from to get to them. Safe to say that for me, going downhill is much easier than up! I had to stop once to catch my breath on the way back up but to me, it was worth the effort.

Once I returned to the top of the hill, the rest of the hike was pretty much a breeze. After climbing Mount Joy not once but twice, I was glad there weren't any more more large hills. At this point, I was heading east and basically en route to returning to my car.

A little further down, it turns into the Joseph Plumb Martin Trail and from there, you're basically in open fields. This is a view of the chapel on route 23 from the Joseph Plumb Martin Trail.

The Joseph Plumb Martin Trail then turns to the south, and along the treeline cuts to the east (left). Instead of following the trail, I turned to the west and followed along the opposite side of the treeline next to Baptist Road/South Outer Line Drive.

Along Baptist Road, there's another soldier hut that's larger and different from the ones that were next to Washington's Headquarters. All that was inside of this hut were two beds and a wooden closet.

As I hugged the treeline, I turned towards the east again and walked along these wooden entrenchments,

The sign in the background states "keep off the entrenchments"

Just beyond the entrenchments is a statue of Anthony Wayne who was born in Chester County, PA (Waynesboro, now Wayne). He commanded a number of troops throughout the Revolutionary War and was commended for his actions in the victories in the Battle of Monmouth, Stony Point (a British Fort), assisted with the blockading and surrender of the British and Charles Cornwallis in the battle of Yorktown, VA, pressed the British to evacuate Savanna, GA after a number of battles, and was involved in actions in Charleston, SC. This statue is facing towards what was his home in Wayne, PA.

I took one last picture of a soldiers hut and the memorial beside it. The plaque itself is designed using letters from the Revolutionary War where the letter "s" resembled an "f" at the time. What was strange though, was that some of the "s's" were what we would consider normal in this day and age and the others were like the letter "f". I'm going to have to do some research on this and am wondering if the placement has anything to do with when one was used compared to the other.

By now, I had stopped following any of the trails since the entire area are open fields with smaller wooded areas in between. I walked out to the middle of a field to get this shot of the United States National Memorial Arch which was built "to commemorate the arrival of George Washington and his Continental Army into Valley Forge."

Construction on the arch began in 1914 with dedication ceremonies taking place on June 19, 1917

These twin eagle mast memorials had the names and faces of several leaders of troops from the Revolutionary War on the dark colored plaques towards the bottom and on both sides.

After taking pictures of the eagle masts, I crossed the field and shot off some closer pictures of the arch.

On the opposite side of the road from the arch was this American flag which was dedicated in remembrance of the Continental Army in 1997.

After the arch, I looked for a few other places that I had seen in pictures of on the web but was unable to locate any of them. During my search, I passed a bit closer to the chapel and took another shot. Beyond this point, I spotted a fox in the middle of a field but unfortunately, it saw me as I was about to take a picture and took off leaving me with a picture of tall grass instead.

I walked along County Line Road until I made my way back to the parking lot. From here on out, I snapped off a few more shots but nothing worthy of posting. By this time, I was walking next to where the ground had been contaminated by asbestos and really had nowhere to go other than staying alongside the road.

That was it for my hike in Valley Forge for the day. I'm still thinking of returning to see if I can find some of the ruins I was looking for and unable to locate but I don't think I'm going to be in much of a hurry this time. Most of the other trails are paved and in open fields which doesn't really leave a whole lot to take pictures of. In all and as usual, it was a good hike and as of right now, the most challenging one I've been on this season. It's still early though, I have a lot more exploring to do!

Until next time, happy hiking and happy exploring!

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