This little goose went to market, this one went to the Delaware Canal Tow Path

This past Memorial Day weekend I hitched up my bike to the car rack, and drove out to take on the Delaware Canal Tow Path trail. The game plan was to do as much of the path as possible. The first day was cut short by a massive storm. This was split into two days.

Day One

Though I was aware that the path from Bristol, PA to Morrisville, PA had gaps in the path, I figured that they were like small ones I have seen before where you simply cross a road, usually well marked. Hmmm... NO.

The path in Bristol is right by a park with a HUGE parking lot (at Prospect St. and Jefferson Ave) and  the Bristol Regional Rail SEPTA stop, for those who don't want to drive there. This area is fairly nice, but the trail-head is hard to notice. Look for the crushed gravel path that is on the opposite side of the water from the gazebo. The trail ends at US-13 and a Wawa gas and market station, so good for those that need a snack or liquid. There is also an Amish Market.

The breaks exist in most (though not all) spots since when they hit major roadways, such as US-13 and US-1. Impassable. My favorite is the path that "starts" halfway in the woods next to a motel at US-13.

looking towards that entrance from no-where

So let's leave it at this: Going FROM Bristol to the US-13 end is a fine ride, but if you want to try any of the other sections before Morrisville, be prepared to get back to the car and hunt for entrances and parking. I found one such behind a pizza joint somewhere down the line, which linked up to the aforementioned motel "entrance" and went through entrances to a busy strip mall next to...you guessed it! US-13 (13 being a lucky number since I survived I guess).

It IS a good idea to try to get to this middle section since you can see a full old style canal (with a crap load of graffiti) which doesn't exist a whole lot on the rest of the pathways. So park in that pizza lot and head on out (and hell, if you're hungry and don't want pizza, there's the strip mall with a Sonic).

Full Canal along US-13 around Edgley, PA

Full Canal along US-13 around Edgley, PA. One wonders if the taggers got swept away.

Sonic. I did not attempt to see if they do bicycle-side service. Note the frequently used and non-marked road you have to cross.

If you zoom in, you can see the TWO non-marked, non-signaged for path users, entrances into the Home Depot/Wal-Mart section. Use Caution!

Ssshh! The pizza joint parking lot.

The route gets VERY narrow and hard to climb up due to large red-rock chunks rather than the crushed version on most of the path. It also dead-ends when US-13 gets high-speed. Don't cross unless you wish a dead end.

I didn't include all of the photos of the entrances, but do know that they aren't the easiest to spot.

This ended my first day. Total mileage was a little over 10 since I went to another path to round up the miles (these paths round trip was 8 and change).