Marsh Creek, PA
by Bryan on June 25th, 2007
Single track for miles, green lush forests, a beautiful lake and plenty of crisp clean air. A description that is completely quite the opposite of what mountain biking is like in Southern California. This is Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania.
Allen and I met up with Jake Davidson, one of Evomo’s sponsored Mountain bike athletes. Jake is local to West Chester and we lead us on nice 2 hour ride through some of the sweetest trails around Marsh Creek. Marsh Creek is a 1,705-acre park which contains the 535-acre Marsh Creek Lake. This place is huge! Not Tahoe huge, but non the less, quite big and noticeably peaceful.
Our ride began at the end of Chalfont Rd. in a small parking lot where we were just a few feet from the waters edge. We rode inland and were quickly under cover of tall trees and the temperature was nice and cool. We started climbing - nothing steep really. The challenge was all the roots and rocks that you had to keep consistent power over the whole way up. Once you stopped or slowed to much your wheels will just lock themselves into between two rocks and there was no starting up. Get off, walk and find a spot to get going again.
We shot down some double track hoping roots and rocks until we came out near the west launch ramp. As we coasted along the waters edge you could see kayakers and people relaxing as they fished. We cut along a fence where we turned left and hammered along some gravel roads past some neat looking farm houses and wide open fields with hay and your typical lonely tractor.
The whole time I am riding, I can’t help think how beautiful this area is. Pennsylvania in general is covered in trees. Everywhere I have been has required that we drive into town past and through forests, wide open spaces, farms and corn fields. Its just awesome. So much nicer than that urban concrete jungle of Los Angeles.
We were entering back into the cover of trees and dropping down a fun single track which had a new feature, something you don’t find in SoCal. Log jumps. When a tree falls in the forest (does it make a noise) and ends up across a trail, rather than cut it up, people build up stacks of other smaller branches and logs to create a ramp of sorts. Some are small and you just hop your front wheel right over, others are much larger and require a bit of speed to get over them. We reached the bottom of East Branch Brandywine Creek and found a few wooden bridge crossings then we climbed up and across the dam.
We ended up running into another group of local riders who we then decided to follow as we snaked through the trees like a bike train. It was loads of fun and the pace was really good. I think there where about 8 of us at this point and everyone was so friendly and made sure we were all together and no one was lost.. especially me being the out of Towner.
Once we all went out separate ways Allen, Jake and I headed back the way we came in. I though to myself, you mean I have to climb up that single track and over all those logs! Well, it was easier than I thought actually which made the return trip even more rewarding.
Once we got back to the truck, we chatted a bit about the local races and then figured on meeting up for another ride next Thursday evening.
Allen and I headed back through the small town of Chester Springs where we made a food stop at the local Wawa. Wawa’s are pretty much like the 7-11 or AM-PM mini mart/gas stations we have in SoCal. They have a “deli” where you can order up some food - sandwich type meals mostly. The funny thing is you don’t give your order to the person making your sandwich, you punch it into a computer kiosk right in front of the counter. The guy stands there waiting for you to finish and then your order pops up on his screen and he makes it. Weird! You never even have to talk to the guy! I guess that’s peak into the future of how computers and machines are removing any sort of human interaction. So far instant message chats, blackberrys, myspace and now you don’t ever have to talk to anyone when ordering up a chicken sandwich. As for the Wawa sandwich, its kind of so-so. It’s pretty basic and kind of dry. Hey what do you expect from a robot made sandwich?
I got to say Marsh Creek makes for an awesome mountain bike experience and a really good place to dial in your technical climbing, rock hoping, and log jumping skills. Next stop French Creek, PA.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:15 am
The place looks beautiful. No red flag closures there. No bikes allowed posted at every trail head there. just pure freedom. The sandwich looks tasty after a great ride. Could you imagine ordering a sandwich fom a kiosk here in socal, god knows what the hell you get. then again it would probally speed things up since nobody understands what the hell you want anyway…Que?
June 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Southern California also has single track for miles. And green lush forests. And beautiful lakes. Well, 3 outta 4 aint bad! Maybe if the Santa Ana winds blow after a rainstorm in January, we may get crisp clean air. At least we don’t have to dodge Amish horse and buggies on our trails LOL. And we eat tofu…NOT hoagies! Hey but seriously, Pennslyvania IS a beautiful state. The mountains along I-80 are quite spectacular in the fall. Thanks for posting. Just be aware that I will defend Southern California mountain biking to the death. Peace.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Don’t be hating on the WaWa!!! I really like the sandwiches. Not the best out there but they get the job done. Thanks for coming out and riding. Hope you enjoyed French Creek! I was looking for you, but we were working in a section of the park that’s closed to bikes (but will be open in the very near future). It was cool.
June 29th, 2007 at 7:57 am
[…] We decided to meet again up with Jake for his regular Thursday evening ride over at Marsh Creek. This time we checked out the trails in the North West section of the park. I totally enjoyed the trails we hit last week and was definitely look forward to seeing what the rest of the area had to offer. […]
June 29th, 2007 at 8:26 am
looks like someone needs to do more NorCal riding. (i.e. downieville)….
PA sound alot like what we got here. but we dont have any flat trails. you have 3 riding choices: up, down, or both (which it usually is.)