Posts Tagged ‘Robinson Run’
Walkers Mill, Panhandle Trail
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The start of the Panhandle Trail is pictured above, at a location which the people who run the institution call ‘Walkers Mill.’ Recent endeavor led to discovery of the trailhead location, which offers both parking and a porta potty. I checked the location into active memory after seeing it, and resolved to return and check the trail out. Glad I did, as Walkers Mill is only a 15 minutes drive from HQ. This sort of place is precisely what I’m needing at the moment, in terms of the post broken ankle ‘stretching and strengthening’ mission described in a post earlier this week.
This is a ‘rail trail,’ meaning that there used to be a freight train outfit whose ‘right of way’ was abandoned when they went out of business. I grabbed a shot of their signage, describing the history of this route, which you can see here. Obviously, a great more detail can be gleaned at the friends of the Panhandle Trail website.
I’ve encountered another section of the Panhandle Trail in the Pittsburgh metro area before, where it crosses the Montour Trail at a nice railroad trestle bridge. As it turns out, you can theoretically walk to West Virginia on this path. How’s about that? You’ll know you’re there when you start hearing Banjo music being played.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Alongside the trail is a shallow but quick flowing waterway called Robinson Run. The trail had a few other people walking and jogging around, but the population was sparse (it was a Monday, early afternoon). Your humble narrator had a few errands to accomplish nearby, and a Doctor’s visit later in the afternoon with the orthopedist who put Humpty Dumpty back together again. There’s a side trail or two which take you into the woods, notably one which leads to a ‘fossil cliff.’ The signage cautioned that accessibility is ‘difficult,’ but that usually refers to the grade of the hill. At the moment, walking on steep grades is still an issue, so I filed away that one for a visit in a couple of months when the ankle is stronger and surer.
Robinson Run does seems to receive a good amount of waste water from the surrounding town’s residences and businesses, based on my observation of the liquid’s coloration in areas of the stream bed which allowed pooling, and a few good sniffs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This sort of thing is absolute nepenthe for me right now, especially so with the vague odor of sewage popping up every no and then. Reminds me of home. Speaking of, I’m going to be back ‘in the old neighborhood’ for a few days in June. My dance card is already fairly full, but I’m planning on riding the ferry, smelling salt water (mixed with sewage), and visiting a certain waterway which provides the border of Brooklyn and Queens. I used to add in ‘undefended border,’ but who knows what’s been happening there since I’ve been gone.
Crushed limestone or paved surfaces, the Panhandle Trail is graded according to railroad standards, one foot’s worth of change in elevation for every hundred linear feet horizontally. Easy walking, this, and given that the rest of this year is going to be all about getting my legs back into scuttling condition… perfect.
Back tomorrow with more.
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