Back in the Saddle Again - Alum Creek Greenway Trail

After visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial, we spent the night at Mountain Pines Campground in Champion, PA about 35 miles away. It was chock-a-block full of RVs, permanent residents and seasonal folks. Golf carts were whizzing around on the crushed gravel roads, kids were screaming, dogs were barking, people were everywhere. The campground was celebrating its 100th anniversary… a century of commercial campground expansion. It was a great spot for some folks, especially families. There was a myriad of activities on the agenda… bingo, Gaga  ball, swimming, fishing, mini-golf… most with additional costs. As for us, we were one of the few camper vans and we were relegated to an empty field area in the back forty which was perfectly fine. it was a place to spend the night and make an early departure.

We woke to a foggy morning with a muted orb of a sun trying to break through the dense cloud cover. Heavy dew coated the grass. The nights are getting colder. We’d pulled out the extra blanket for the bed, but we stayed comfortably warm in Blanche without it. Despite all my complaints, it was good to be camping again.

We drove to Westerville, Ohio, then set about figuring out what to do with the rest of the day. It was too late to start cycling, but we wanted to do something. All the local campgrounds were full when we checked and we still didn’t have a place to stay for the night. Hotel nights are pricey these days, especially on weekends. When you can’t figure out what to do, take a walk. We took a long amble in Sharon Woods, a lovely metro park that offered lots of paths and trails, then treated ourselves to an ice cream at Graeters, a downtown ice cream shop favored by the locals based upon the long waiting line.

Westerville is an very cool little city with a vibrant downtown area. As we finished up our cones, we heard live music down the street and followed the sound. The city sponsors a summer concert series, Uptown Saturday Night, and we sat on a wall at the City Hall Courtyard on a perfect late summer’s evening and listened to an excellent performance by the duo, Acoustic Super Friends (???). Admittedly, if we hadn’t heard their music, their name would have deterred us  from attending, but their music was awesome.

We finally ended up spending the night in the local Walmart parking lot which turned out to be just fine. We were well-positioned for an early start at the trailhead in the morning.

Alum Creek Greenways Trail

Alum Creek Park to Sunbury - 23 miles RT

Alum Creek Park to Innis Park - 14 miles RT

Total: 37 miles

We parked at the Alum Creek Park South and headed back to Sunbury, our ending point from a few weeks ago. We threaded our way through Westerville city streets with so many road crossings it was somewhat frustrating, a slow stop-and-go, stop-and-go ride. We finally connected with the Genoa Trail and then the Galena Brick Trail… all of which are part of the larger Ohio to Erie Trail, a planned 370 mile trail from Cleveland to Cincinnati.

The Galena Brick Trail follows the route of an old rail bed of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway built in 1873. The residents of Galena raised $13,000 to bring the rail line to its town. The former Galena Shale and Brick factory once employed 150 people and was a major industry in town until it folded in 1983. Nothing remains of the factory and the railroad line was discontinued in 1986 and is now the trail upon which we were riding.

We finally arrived in Sunbury where the trail ended abruptly at an old train depot which now serves as the exhibition hall for the Sunbury Model Railway Club. Not much to see here, so we turned around and rode back to Alum Park.

After a quick rest and coffee break in Blanche, we headed back onto the trail and what a difference. This part of the trail was superb. Instead of crossing busy streets, we went over and under them. The paved trail was smooth and level and passed over beautiful wooden arched bridges. Under a forested canopy, we criss-crossed over the Alum Creek as it wended its way along, sometimes riding over long, planked boardwalks.

Mile markers were imprinted onto the trail itself.

Sweeping, graceful curves provided diversity and it was exhilarating and interesting rounding the curves. We passed by baseball fields, lacrosse fields and soccer fields… all busy with games in progress and enthusiastic spectators on the sidelines. It’s always a pleasure to see people enjoying themselves and using the local parks and trails.

It was good to be riding again. Unfortunately, a rain day interrupted our plans. We found a local hotel and caught up on chores. We did a little food shopping between cloudbursts and caught  up on reading, writing, bill-paying, and laundry. We even watched a movie, ‘Thirteen Lives’, a Ron Howard film that we highly recommend.

Next time, we’ll continue on and ride through downtown Columbus… not as nerve-wracking as we’d anticipated.