Ridley Creek State Park – Delaware County, PA

Ridley Creek State Park –  Delaware County, PA
Distance – 13 miles total (we did 4.8 in a lollipop)
Type – Various
Difficulty: 3  of 10

Website – Ridley Creek State Park 
Open – Day use areas open dawn to dusk.

Terrain – Forest, hills, stream, and woods
Surface – Some paved, some dirt, some rocks

Trailheads – N 39° 56.727 W 075° 25.290

Directions – 598 Barrens Road, Media, PA

Parking – Very crowded on nice days.  Parking lot is at trailhead coordinates, additional parking along Chapel Hill Road.

Dog friendly? Leashed dogs allowed
Stroller friendly? Some are, some are very much not
Benches? Some by the creek
Facilities?: Port a potty.

Markings – Painted blazes
Map – Check park website.  As of this write up, map was available here

Description –

So one of my wife’s very few faults (one might even say her only fault) is the she’s from Delco.  That means that, every once in a while, we as a family need to leave the Greatest State in the Nation (South Jersey) to go hiking in Pennsylvania.  So on Mischief Day, we headed over to Ridley Creek State Park in Delaware County for a little hike.

The parking is the hardest part of this, but we found a spot and headed for the trailhead.  We went along the Sycamore Mills Road Trail creek at first, which had some beautiful old houses and a picturesque waterfall, but is also a road.  The views of the creek were nice and the fall colors were showing off.

Okay, I get it. We don’t have these in South Jersey.

We followed that trail until we split off to the left to take the Forge Road Trail which is a trail and road.  We followed this until we hit the Yellow Trail, when we took a left to follow it.

The Yellow Trail follows the edge of Tyler Arboretum on a long straight stretch before turning back toward the Forge Road Trail.

Once we reached the Forge Road Trail, we decided to cross over it and follow the Yellow and White Trail where they overlapped, then make the right split onto the White Trail.  We crossed the Yellow Trail and climbed up the hill where the kids found a giant rock to climb on.

At this point, the Big Fella was getting a little tired.  We decided to look for a nearby geocache that hadn’t been found in quite a while (kids found it!), then head back down the hill to follow the Yellow Trail.  The Pres, Tree Rider, and Kite Flyer flew ahead down the trail, while the old people and the Big Fella took out time heading down.  Right before we reconnected with the Forge Road Trail, we crossed a bridge, passed a big rock, and ended up where we’d originally left the road.

We made the left turn and backtracked to the car, enjoying the creek again once we were next to it.

Nice 4.8 mile adventure on a beautiful fall day!