On Sunday Denise and I joined the Elverson Walking Club for a six-mile walk on a section of the Horse-Shoe Trail. For some reason, after finishing the Appalachian Trail she wants to go walking every weekend.
We walked out the front door and picked up the Horse-Shoe Trail just west of Crow's Nest, at the State Game Lands #43 parking lot on Harmonyville Road. On its way southeast from here it skirts the boundary of the preserve, crosses Mine Run, picks up the Hog's Back railroad right-of-way (a flat cinder path) and follows it toward St. Peters' village, then follows French Creek down into a gorge that is a cold microclimate that fosters the only native hemlocks left in the area. Then the trail crosses Route 23 in Knauertown and enters Warwick County Park where we finished (other hikers gave us a ride back).
It is wonderful to experience the local landscape in a way less familiar than the roads passing on the other side of a car window. A hike like this is also a reminder how protected lands can be more significant when they are connected to each other. And that hiking clubs are a really good way to make friends and build community.
