Perkiomen Trail

The Perkiomen Trail is a 20 mile rails-​to-​trails bike path linking the Schuylkill River Trail near King of Prussia to Green Lane, PA. It is built on the former roadbed of the Reading Railroad Perkiomen Line and follows Perkiomen Creek for much of the way.
My husband Rick and I did the entire 40-​mile round trip as part of a cycling budget vacation. We stayed in nearby King of Prussia as it’s sort of an epicenter of the area’s trail systems.
The Perkiomen is one of the most scenic in Southeastern PA. And being that we’re from the opposite end of the state, we’ve been on some very beautiful, rugged trails. We started at the south end of the trail, near the junction with the Schuylkill River Trail. There are a couple of trailheads here with plenty of free parking. Almost right at the trailhead is the John James Audubon Center. we didn’t stop here on our ride, but we visited it later. We made our way northwest towards Collegeville, which is about 5 miles from the Schuylkill. Collegeville is an excellent rest stop. Here you’ll find restrooms and drinking water. Indeed, we filled up our aluminum water bottles.
From Collegeville we made our way northwest to Schwenksville, about another 6 miles. We passed Cntral Perkiomen Valley Park, one of several county parks along the way. Just south of Graterford Road, we crossed to the west side of the Perkiomen Creek (we’d been following the east bank) over a renovated old railroad bridge. We had some terrific views from here. We then rode past Pennypacker Mills, another historic house we visited a couple of days later. The town of Schwenksville is another good place to stop and rest. Again, restrooms and drinking water are here.
We then rode the remaining 10 miles or so to Green Lane. The trail works its way through the 3,400 acre Green Lane Park. Here you’ll find ample recreational activities including mountain biking, hiking, boating and camping. We made it to tail’s end before turning around and heading back.
the Perkiomen Trail was well worth the cross state trip. Just so you know, the trail surface is mainly cinders and gravel. We were glad we brought our mountain bikes. Our road bikes wouldn’t have been well suited to the trail.

I’m floored that some people actually ride all the way from Philly up the Schuylkill Trail and up the Perkiomen Trail as far as Green Lane. But that shows you how popular it has become.
That said, it’s time for Montgomery County to step up to the plate if they want this trail to stay popular. Philadelphia has completely overhalued the Manayunk Canal Towpath and made it much more bike-​friendly. No more grunting your way up the hill on Shawmont Street or in Manayunk. Also, Chester county in Fall 2011 opened a trail from Cromby through Spring City to ParkerFord. Its surface is a striking resemblance to the «new» Towpath – fresh packed cinders, virtually stone-​free.
Most cyclists’ biggest beef about the Perky (that would include me) is that the trail is too gravel-​laden for cycling. If that could be replaced with the same surface as is on the aforementioned trails, that would be great,

as good as it gets for a trail. Well connected to other trails. Rode my bike from south Philly to here and back!!!

This is a 20 Mile trail extending from the beautiful Green Lane Park to Oaks, PA, the Audubon Loop and the Schuylkill River Trail. The trail runs through a few small towns along the Perkiomen Creek. There you can stop for quick lunch or get some drinks while using the trail. I have ridden the length of the trail in its entirety and it is gorgeous! The views from here are amazing and the creek is beautiful.
The only 2 downsides to the trail is that it is paved with crushed stone and it is prone to flooding after very heavy rains (the trail is on the banks of the creek. This means that certain bikes cannot handle the trail and the trail can be closed in certain sections at times. Don’t let theses minor problems deter you from using this magnificent trail. Before using, check out the website. The County Parks Department is great with updating the situations.
ENJOY!