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into the creek to break the near silence ,
and sendgrrngdes along the glossy
olive-hued surface.
The quiet mysterious lure of the
Wissahickon catalyzed Edgar Allen
Poe's imagination. Poe frequented the
park when he lived in Philadelphia and
wrote Morning on the Wisesldekon, a
tale about a mysterious boatman on the
water here.
Across the road the trail picks up
again. AboUt half a mile down is a
popular unofficial swimming area.
Large slabs of rocks on a cliff about 15
feet above the creek form platforms.
Here the Wissahickon ranges in depth
from ten feet to more than 30 feet,
which makes this place ideal for cliff
diving. Although the water may not be
as clean as when Poe visited the
Wissahickon, it is clean enough for
swimming—much cleaner than the radi
ation-and toxic-chemical -steeped water
in the Susquehanna. I wouldn't recom
mend swallowing the water though.
A few hundred yards down the
creek a tributary empties into the
Wissahickon. About a hundred yards
up the tributary, stone walls and
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boulders form a pool and provide
another unofficial swimming and diving
area. As the water is shallow here,
diving or jumping in from only a few
feet above the water or taking a
shallow dive is in order.
Further down the trail, a Roman
arched bridge towers more than 100
feet over the trail. This stone bridge
crosses over the park here and spans
the Schuylkill River into which the .
Wissahickon empties after winding
about half a mile downstream. A
painting of people rowing a boat along
the Schuylkill by this bridge hangs in
Thursday, April 24, 1980
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the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
It takes about 45 minutes to walk
the trail from the Bells Mill entrance to
Valley Green Restaurant, and from the
restaurant to the Henry Avenue
parking lot the walk takes about an
hour and a quarter, if one keeps a
steady pace. Most visitors should be
enticed to - slow. down and enjoy the
walk along the wooded banks of the
meandering Wissahickon—this refuge
from the bedlam of center city Phila
delphia a mere fifteen-minute drive
away.
Directions to the park from the
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Harrisburg area are: Take the turnpike
east to King of Prussia (Valley Forge
exit) or take route 283 east to route 30
to route 202 north, Norristown, which.
is picked up just outside of Exton, to
the Expressway (76) east. From the
expressway get off on the Blue Route
(476). From 476 get off at the Consho
hocken exit which follows Ridge Pike.
From Ridge Pike look for a sign that
reads "Valley Green," which directs
you to a left-hand turn onto Bells Mill
Road. About a half mile down Bells Mill
Road is a parking lot for Fairmount
Park.
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