Green Ribbon Trail hike - 12 miles total, one way hike
Details
THIS IS A ONE WAY HIKE!
please plan accordingly
The Green Ribbon trail runs from Upper Gwynedd Township to Whitemarsh Township, almost 13 miles, and most of it follows along the Wissahickon Creek
We are going to meet at Parkside Place at 10:30am and start hiking by 10:45
We have about 12 miles to hike - we are not doing the last (approx) 1 mile as we are going to cut over to Bethlehem Pike and finish our day at Halligan's Pub for some food/drink
THIS IS A ONE WAY HIKE! That means once we get to Halligan's pub, you need to get yourself back to your car - there are 3 options:
Uber/Lyft back (ride with others to split the cost)
take the 94 bus that stops right by the pub
organize some car pools - I will not be doing this directly but feel free to post comments about it and I will start a google sheet when it gets closer
Will cancel for rain so watch the forecast, but I won't make any decisions about go/no go until Saturday night if there's a chance of rain
Make sure you can keep up - we hike about 3 miles and hour
This is a LONG hike and a long day, we can't go slow or continually wait for people that can't keep up so, sorry, but If you find yourself falling way behind, you'll have to guide yourself to the end or out to a street and Uber on your own
Generally this is an easy hike, besides the distance, as there is not much elevation, but you'll need to make sure you can hike 12 miles - that's far...and if you haven't done 12 miles before, it's longer than you think
PLAN FOR WET/MUDDY CONDITIONS!
This trail is known to hold water and have some mud, especially if there was a recent rain but even if there wasn't it can be muddy in spots.
Plan to wear footwear that is going to get wet and muddy. Waterproof boots are the best option but it's your call.
There will be several stream crossings which are required to continue on the trail and if there's a lot of water, we may have to cross IN some shallow water (you can either let your footwear get wet or take them off to cross).
Plan to bring extra shoes for afterwards and a bag to put your muddy ones in.
Breaks/bathrooms:
there are bathrooms at Penllyn Woods Park - mile 5, we'll stop for a quick break here
and Four Mills Nature Reserve - mile 8, we'll stop here for about 15 minutes
those are the only planned stops though
Note: I have never done this whole trail before so this is my first time and I do not know what we'll see along the way - let's explore!
I estimated the total time to be 6 hours but I have no idea what it's really going to take - I hope we get done quicker than that, but who knows
More information about the Green Ribbon Trail can be found here:
https://wissahickontrails.org/explore-the-watershed/find-your-trail/green-ribbon-trail
the map is here: https://wissahickon-trails-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/attachments/cld3imhfqgo1sjzupvcoogirc-green-ribbon-trail-20230112.pdf
here's the trail on AllTrails (but AllTrails tends to lie so don't rely too much on this):
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/pennsylvania/green-ribbon-preservation-trail
And here's Halligan's Pub website for the menu etc: https://halliganspub.com/
Car Pooling:
if you are going to car pool instead of uber back to the start, then the best plan would be to meet at or near Halligan's Pub, maybe at Fort Washington State Park - Flourtown Day Use Area parking lot, and drive together to the starting point at Parkside Place.