Rachel Carson Trail

Hiking is one of my favorite things to do. Beside the fact that I enjoy wandering around in the woods, it provides good exercise, fresh air, better sleep, and has restored my figure to that of my pre-college days. However, it can be somewhat inconvenient to always drive to the wilderness in order to find hiking trails. Luckily, for those in the suburbs north and east of Pittsburgh, we have a trail, quite literally, in our back yards. The Rachel Carson Trail is a 35 mile long day hiking trail. We did an out-and-back hike from North Park to Hampton Park and back. This was also a nostalgic hike, since M and I met 10 years ago at the very spot where we ate lunch.

We started our adventure in North Park, at the corner of Babcock and Pierce Mill Road (near the spill way). We crossed the street, heading east, and the path followed the creek, then went through the back yards of the houses in the subdivision North Park Mansions, before coming out behind the 7-11, where we crossed the street again and headed up the hill and back in to the woods. This first half mile introduction to the trail is pretty representative of what you will find, at least for the part that goes through Hampton Township. We had to cross the creek at least a half a dozen times, and as it was about 35 degrees, we did everything in our power to keep our feet dry.

Recent rains made the trail a bit muddy and there are several pretty steep hills to climb, making it pretty slick in places. There were also a few places where trees had fallen across the path. However the yellow blazes look fresh and are really easy to follow.

One complaint we had was the utterly terrifying dash across Route 8 - the trail brings you directly, and unexpectedly to the edge of this busy, four lane road, and it would be just as dangerous to try to make your way down to the traffic light as it was to look both ways and run with all our might to the other side. Aunt Elaine used to live right at this spot. The funniest thing we saw was a fax machine in a tree. I guess this should be a hint for us to get involved in the trail conservency and do some clean up work.