Crow's Nest Preserve

Date of Hike: Thursday, April 30, 2015

Total Distance: 7.07 Miles

Avg speed: 2.1 MPH

Avg moving speed: 2.29 MPH

Moving Time: 3:05:34

Total Time: 3:22:12

Conditions: Sunny, 69 Degrees

Difficulty: Easy, Moderate

Day two of my camping adventure brought me to the Crow's Nest Preserve in Elverson, PA which is  just south of French Creek State Park and part of the Natural Lands Trust. This entire area is filled with places to go hiking, more than can be completed in just a few days. My hope is to return there for another few days to continue my adventures in the area.

Address is:
201 Piersol Road
Elverson, PA 19520
GPS: 40.1882432,-75.7563504

For the first time in a while, Google Maps is actually pretty accurate and places the marker right in the parking lot to the preserve. 

When you arrive in the parking lot, you'll see a kiosk station with information about the preserve and if you need one, you can also grab a trail map. A trail map is also available on the Natural Lands Trust website and can found here.

I started out heading north on the Creek Trail which will bring you through woodlands, low wetlands, and alongside French Creek. In this area, French Creek is a relatively small creek, almost small enough where you can jump across it at places.

A short distance up the trail, you'll reach this trail marker and to the west is a bridge that crosses over French Creek and heads into the eastern section of State Game Lands 43. For the time being, I stayed within the preserve and continued northeast for a distance.

View looking back from the bridge over French Creek

While there are woodlands at the Crow's Nest Preserve, a good part of it is open fields and what looks to be farmlands which offer a good view of the hills in the surrounding area. There are also some alternate unnamed trails you can take if you'd like to extend the distance you're hiking. This view is looking back alongside one of the fields towards the Chief's Grove Trail after I turned to the northwest.

Another view looking back to the area I had just hiked. For the most part, the trails skirt around the edges of the fields along the tree lines. At this point, I had turned back to the northeast.

This grove of trees is known at Chief's Grove. Unfortunately, I can't find any additional information about why it's named this.

As you reach the northern end of the preserve on Hopewell Trail, the area turns to woodlands for a distance.

This sign is at the northernmost section of Crow's Nest Preserve. From here, the trail continues northward to the Hopewell Furnace National Historical Site.

The Hopewell Trail then opens up to a small field. Across the street (Hopewell Road) from the trail is Bethesda Church and this was the point where I turned around and headed back into the preserve. I have eventual plans to explore Hopewell Furnace and the surrounding area but today wasn't the day for it.

Since I had already been through this area (now heading south back into the preserve), I didn't take many pictures.

I returned back to the open fields of the preserve. To the left of this picture is Chief's Grove. This is also one of the few areas where the trail actually runs through the middle of the open field instead of alongside a tree line.

There was a small bridge through a treeline separating two different fields.

I was now back at the bridge that crosses over French Creek. Instead of continuing south back towards the parking lot, I decided to head east to check out some of State Games Lands 43.

After crossing over French Creek, there's another open field that's also part of the preserve. Like most of the others, the trail (unnamed) leads along the edge of the field.

Entering the state games lands, the trail isn't much of a trail but instead a wide swath of taller grass.

Between the game lands and the preserve, there's a small grove of trees separating them and this sign which indicates you are entering/leaving the preserve.

This section of State Games Lands 43 is actually pretty small and is sectioned off by Pine Creek. I didn't make it very far before I turned around and headed back into the preserve. There were a few small trails leading into the woods but they were overgrown with thorn bushes.

This was the best view of Pine Creek I could get from the edge of the field. I had to walk through a few thorn bushes to get a good vantage point.

I crossed back onto the preserve property and found an unmarked trail. I decided to take a chance to see if there was a way to get across the creek.

It turns out there is a way to get across Pine Creek! I've heard of cable crossings before but had never seen  (in person) or used one until this point. The water wasn't deep so if I fell, it wouldn't be that big of a deal and I'd end up with wet feet at the worst so I went for it. 

I made it across without any problems, pretty cool!

The trail with the cable crossing leads to an unnamed trail on the opposite side and another open field. Just a quick word of caution, the fences in the area are electric. Whatever you do, don't touch them...and no, I didn't try to find out the hard way!

The unnamed trail leads to and crosses over Harmonyville Road, then cuts to the west (this is known as the Deep Woods Trail once you cross the street) and up a decent sized hill. It's not steep by any means but it's long enough to get the blood pumping.

When you get close to the top of the hill, you have a few options of what trails to take. There's one that will continue alongside the field (Deep Woods Trail) and another (unnamed) that runs through a small stretch of woodlands. I took the trail that led through the woodlands, I was getting a bit tired of hiking in open fields by this time.

Once you get to the top of the hill, there's a pretty decent view of the surrounding hills.

Pressing further south, you'll pass a barn on the eastern side of the trail and once you get past it, the Deep Woods Trail then cuts across Northside Road and up another small hill.

As you reach the top of the hill, there's a bench and alas, some woodlands to explore! I stopped at the bench and took a short break. By this time, I was already tired and my legs were fatigued from hiking at the Birdsboro Preserve and Waters the day before.

View from the bench looking down the hill at the farmhouse and barn I had just passed

I was glad to finally be hiking in some woods. The views of the surrounding area from the open fields are really nice but I do prefer to have some variety when I'm hiking. I'm also glad it wasn't as warm as it was the day before, I would have probably been baked by the sun otherwise.

Throughout the hike, the trail markers were easy to spot and for the most part, all of the trails are in good condition. I ran into some muddy spots on the Creek Trail and again on the Hopewell Trail in the northern section of the preserve but nothing that I was unable to avoid. The trail in this section of the preserve is in good condition with plenty of rocks as you'll see in a moment.

I spotted several trees along the trail similar to this where they looked to be dead and stripped of bark.

I didn't take pictures of them but somewhere in these woods, you'll spot piles of rocks that look like they were mined from somewhere close. I also spotted a pretty decent sized hole in the ground alongside the trail that looked like it might have been blasted at one time.

I'm sometimes amazed at how some plants can grow just about anywhere, this violet plant was growing out of the crack of a rock.

Somewhere in here, the Deep Woods Trail swings to the east, then northward.

This almost looks like a smiley face

Rocky patch alongside the Deep Woods Trail

It looks like someone was trying to build a fort too.

The Deep Woods Trail then runs back to an open field and this is where I took a wrong turn. On the map, it shows as a roadway leading in a northeasterly direction through a private residence. By the time I realized what I had done, I was already next to the buildings, sorry about that!

As you follow the roadway, you'll pass the Crow's Nest Farm (the private residence) which you'll see if you take the Deep Woods Trail but it turns away from the farm itself.

Once I passed the farm, I hiked along Harmonyville Road eastward for a short distance which crosses over French Creek.

This looks to be a solitary sandpiper

A short distance past French Creek on the northern side of Harmonyville Road, the trail heads north. By this time, you're almost back to the parking lot.

The trail will also lead you past the Visitor's Center and manager's residence and from there, you'll be back in the parking lot.

That was it for my hike at the Crow's Nest Preserve. In all, it was a decent hike although I prefer woodlands over open fields. There's a good variety of terrain throughout the hike as well as the woodlands in the northern and southern ends of the preserve (also some mixed in between) so it's worth the visit. If you want to add some distance to your hike and as mentioned, State Games Lands 43 is adjacent to the preserve, most of which I didn't explore although I had intentions of doing so. I plan to eventually return and explore the game lands at another time. On top of the Crow's Nest Preserve, there are a multitude of other places in the vicinity to go hiking, all of which within a few miles of each other.

My only issue (just to be clear, it's not with the preserve itself) is that right alongside the preserve is the Northern Chester County Sportsman's Club which has a shooting range (one of three in the area that I'm now aware of). Throughout the hike, I could hear gunshots which can be a bit of an annoyance if you're looking for some quiet time.

One last item to note and again, this has nothing to do with the preserve. Since I was camping at French Creek State Park, I used Google Maps as my GPS device to return to the campground and it took me down a road by the name of Green Lane to get back. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT take this road unless you're driving an SUV or another vehicle that has a good amount of clearance. It's a dirt road and in areas, there are dips and ruts where some vehicles may end up getting stuck. I made it through with my car but it bottomed out a few times and in one area, there was a dip in the "road" that I wasn't sure if my car was going to make it past. Luckily, I made it through but it would have been better to have turned around or backed out instead of being stubborn.

With that being said, I hope you enjoyed the tour. Happy adventures and happy hiking!

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Southeastern PA Hiking