Worlds Away

A day on the Wissahickon Valley Trail began by riding up the Schuylkill River Path to the trailhead just up from Center City.  The 28 mile round trip included a stop in a pine grove of unusually tall and slender trees growing atop a ridge overlooking the creek.  They looked different than the common pitch pines of the local Pine Barrens and surrounding forests but stood out in a familiar way all their own.  The trees and the smell came as such a surprise that they caused me to stop in my track.  I thought about Flagstaff, Arizona and the Lodge Pole Pine forest a world away. 

From there the trail swooped on and quickly dropped back down to the flowing Wissahickon creek.  The waters were teeming with the invisible trout stocked only a week ago for the opening of the fly season.  The ride was through contrasts of natural and not.  An experience, I decided, no more than complete without a ride down the Rocky Steps.