Cross County Trail

I had my first ride on the Montgomery County "Cross County Trail" tonight. I had initially intended to ride on the Schuylkill River trail towards Norristown from the Spring Mill train station, but ended up switching to the newly opened portion of the Cross County at Elm Street in Conshohocken. The path was generally flat and went through some former industrial land near the Alan Wood Steel plant. After passing by Ikea and Circuit City, the trail dips down underneath Ridge Pike. After passing Cracker Barrel and the Metroplex shopping center, the trail abruptly ends underneath the Blue Route (I-476) underpass along Chemical Road.

It was fun to ride, though it was a little spooky to be the only person on the trail. According to the County Web site, the trail will eventually be 17.5 miles connecting Conshohocken to Bucks County via Willow Grove. The Web site mentions pedestrian bridges to be built over Germantown Pike and Flourtown Road, which will make the route much safer than attempting to cross these busy roads. I can still remember when both of these crossings were railroad grade crossings, all remnants of which are long gone.

While the Rails-to-Trails locator doesn't mention it (yet), this new portion of the trail certainly follows an old railroad right-of-way that is still shown on Google Maps.

All told, it was a little over 9 miles from Spring Mill to Metroplex and back. That was a great ride length for a late spring after work ride.