Harmony Hill Nature Area

Date of Hike: Saturday, June 20, 2015

Total Distance: 7.27 Miles

Avg speed: 1.9 MPH

Avg moving speed: 2 MPH

Moving Time: 3:38:35

Total Time: 3:49:07

Conditions: Partly Sunny, 80 Degrees

Difficulty: Easy*, Moderate, Difficult

This past Saturday, I took a ride to the Harmony Hill Nature Area and when I was done there, I also hiked the M. John Johnson Nature Center which is directly next to Harmony Hill. There's no specific website for either of the nature areas but if you go to East Bradford Township's website, you can find information and a trail map for both in the recreation section. For the Harmony Hill Nature Area trail map, click here. Be sure to bring one with you, there are two kiosks at the nature area but neither had trail maps in them.

The reason for the asterisk on the "easy" part of the difficulty rating is because of the East Branch Brandywine Trail which is paved, flat, and runs alongside the East Branch Brandywine Creek. The unpaved trails in the nature area however, offer quite a bit of mixed terrain and provided a good workout, an adventure that was well worth the drive. My legs are still feeling the bite from the effort I had to put in to complete the hike!

There are two different places to park at the Harmony Hill Nature Center, one of which is off Skelp Level Road which I was unable to locate (approximate location to the entrance is here) and the other is on Harmony Hill Road.

Approximate address is:
1195 Harmony Hill Road
Downingtown, PA 19335
GPS: 39.9762296,-75.6824926

The official address for the Harmony Hill Nature Area is 1183 Harmony Hill Road but if you plug that address into your GPS, the parking lot will be closer to the East Branch Brandywine Creek than the street address states. Also note that if you use Google Maps as your GPS device like I do, make sure to plug in the actual street address. If you use "Harmony Hill Nature Area", you'll end up on the Wilderness Trail (actually a road) northeast of the nature area instead of being close to any parking lots.

I used to use my Garmin GPS for getting from one place to another but after a few occasions of it taking me on the "fastest route" through busy towns (like Business Route 30 for several miles), it's safe to say that I've retired it in favor of using my phone and Google Maps as my GPS device. I'll never buy another Garmin GPS again. To say they're unreliable is an understatement...more like a piece of (expletive).

With that being said, let's start the tour!

 

Kiosk in the parking lot of Harmony Hill Road

 From the parking lot on Harmony Hill Road, I headed north on the East Branch Brandywine Trail.

A short distance up the trail and to the east (right), you'll see these rocks. I wasn't even off the paved trail yet and I was already impressed and excited to see what I would find. 

A few hundred yards or so up the East Branch Brandywine Trail (White Trail), there's an alternate natural surface White Trail veering off to the right and where I turned off the pavement.

 

Once again, to the east side of the trail there were more rock formations

Still heading north on the alternate White Trail, I noted the excellent condition they were in and that they were quite clean (for dirt trails). Throughout the hike, I found very little trash anywhere. Impressive!

Not only are the trails in excellent condition, they are also very well marked. I didn't get a picture of it but somewhere in this area, the alternate White Trail intersects with the Black Trail heading east, then gradually starts turning to the northeast.

Walking along the Black Trail, I noticed a side trail (unmarked) and decided to investigate. Once further up the unmarked trail, it split off in two different directions, both of which eventually led to private property.

Once I was done investigating the unmarked trails, I returned to the black trail and continued in a northeast direction.

I recently purchased a new backpack and was testing it out during this hike. Somewhere in this area, the hip belt managed to pull itself out of its strap adjuster so I had to stop to fix it. When I stopped, I discovered that somewhere along the trail, my sunglasses fell off (I had put them on top of my hat since it was cloudy at the time and somewhat dark with them on). When I realized they had fallen off my hat, I doubled back to see if I could find them but unfortunately, no dice.

Make note to self, don't put your sunglasses on top of your hat when hiking, this is the second pair I've lost on the trail in less than a year! Low branches and limited peripheral vision certainly didn't help. On the bright side of things, I managed to add some distance to my hike even if it was unintentional.

After searching unsuccessfully for my sunglasses, I returned to where I had left off on the Black Trail which had made a sharp turn to the southwest (more west than south).

Throughout the hike, there were side trails everywhere, most of which aren't shown on the map. Again, I decided to investigate to find out where it was going. 

The side trail led up a small hill to this wooden bench and memorial plaque. 

Clyde A. "Bud" Mauger suddenly passed away on May 24, 2010 while mountain biking. He was an avid volunteer who had assisted with several trail projects at the Harmony Hill Nature Center.

Once I was done checking out the memorial, I circled back to where I had veered off the trail. I could have taken a shortcut since there were other trails leading away from the memorial but I wanted to cover as much of the nature area as possible.

The Black Trail then took a sharp turn to the northwest and alongside a hill. Like many areas throughout the hike, there was a side trail leading down the steep hill. This time around, I decided not to investigate.

Steep hill to the west side of the Black Trail

 

 

More rock formations, I love how the different rocks seem to have been blended together

Although the trails were in excellent condition, there were a few low spots where it was wet and muddy from the recent rains. No complaints though, they were easy to walk around. 

Another shortcut that cuts off a section of the Black Trail and also leading into the Blue Trail. Like a few of the others, I decided to investigate where it led.

Once I realized that this was another shortcut (you can see the main trail to the left of this picture), instead of continuing, I turned around again. 

The end (or beginning depending on which direction you're hiking) of the Black Trail. From here, the Blue Trail intersects heading either north or northeast. I took the trail leading to the northeast (right).

I normally try to avoid putting blurry pictures on my blog but this flower was about about the size of the head of a thumbtack.  

Somewhere in this area was another shortcut trail which I also explored. After a third time of exploring unmarked side trails and realizing most of them were shortcuts, I stopped going off the marked trails.

The Blue Trail cuts in a northerly direction, circles back to the southeast, then back to the northeast again. The trail to the right was I believe the shortcut I mentioned above. 

I didn't completely stop checking out the unmarked trails but I didn't venture as far as I did the first few times. Just after this fence was another unmarked trail leading to the north that I investigated. 

The hill was somewhat steep

One of the problems with pictures is that they sometimes just don't convey what you think they're going to. The side of this unmarked trail was littered with these flat rocks (I believe it was mica, there was a lot of it at the nature area) which was why I had headed down the hill. 

Back on the Blue Trail, still heading northeast

The Blue Trail then intersects/merges with the Green Trail which also cuts either to the southwest or continuing in a northeast direction which was the direction I went.

Getting close to one of the few open areas within the nature area

As much as I have a distaste for hiking in open fields, I do enjoy it in small doses. This was probably the best part of my hike since there were wildflowers, berries, and insects to get pictures of.

The Green Trail intersects with the Red Trail in two different places. At first, I bypassed both of them so I could locate the parking lot in the northeastern corner of the nature area. I found the parking lot fine but it's so far from Skelp Level Road that it didn't really help for getting an idea on where the entrance might have been. 

Both entrances to the Red Trail cut to the west, one of which is longer than the other and has a few more turns. I took the longer of the two trails that had the turns. If you look at the trail map, it was the one further south. 

The Read and Yellow Trails merge for a very short distance with the Yellow Trail heading either south or north. I followed the trail heading to the north (right).  

The Yellow Trail changes directions a number of times throughout this section of the nature area, too many for me to list which direction I was heading. It's main direction is westward but with the turns, you'll be shifting from west to east, south to north, then back to the southwest.

My first view of the East Branch Brandywine Creek, now heading alongside the creek in a southerly direction.

Somewhere in this area, there's an unnamed connecting trail that will lead you out to the East Branch Brandywine Trail and a bridge crossing over the East Branch Brandywine Creek. 

Ruins of a building. I couldn't get any better pictures than this. Maybe a place to return to in the winter!

Looking downstream on the East Branch Brandywine Creek

Looking upstream on the East Branch Brandywine Creek

Once you cross over the creek, you're now in the Brandywine Meadows Preserve (for more information, click on the East Bradford Township link I posted close to the top of this page). Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with this preserve, I had hopes that there would be more than just the paved trail and that they would run closer to the creek but I was unable to locate any side trails. If they're there, I didn't spot them. There's also a pond within this preserve but getting to either the creek or pond didn't look to be possible.

This was as far north as I walked on the East Branch Brandywine Trail. I stopped for a few minutes to grab a snack and change into a new pair of socks, then headed back to the Harmony Hill Nature Area. 

Heading back to the Harmony Hill Nature Area

Once I crossed back over the creek, I headed south for a very short distance on the East Branch Brandywine Trail to another connecting trail heading in a northeast direction.

Connecting trail that will lead you back to the Yellow Trail, I continued west (straight)

The connecting trail intersects with the Green Trail heading east or southwest. I turned to the southwest (right). Gradually the trail turns to the south (and somewhat east).

The Green Trail then turns to the west and the intersecting Black Trail continues to the south which was the direction I continued going.

Eventually, the Black Trail merges with the alternate White Trail, still heading south. At this point, I was Getting close to completing my hike. 

At this intersection, the Black Trail then splits off to the east and the alternate White Trail continues south back to the East Branch Brandywine Trail. When I started my hike, I had hiked past the above bridge.

Heading back to the parking lot on the East Branch Brandywine Trail

That was it for my hike at the Harmony Hill Nature Area. To say the least, it was an awesome hike! I'd like to return there sometime in the future, perhaps when winter rolls around so I can check around for more ruins like what was left of the building (or whatever it was) I had passed. Clean, well maintained, and well marked trails and a pretty good challenge to boot. For such a small place at only approximately 230 acres, you wouldn't think think there would be this many miles of trails but there are!

Until next time, happy hiking and happy exploring!

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