Thun Trail meets up with Schuylkill River Trail
The Schuylkill River Greenway Association has opened up the connecting section of the Thun Trail (pronounced tune) with the Pottstown section of the Schuylkill River Trail at the Berks/Montgomery County line.
The Pottstown section is paved while the Thun Trail is a cinder path, the new section of the Thun is wide and smooth however once you reach the previously opened section at Morlatten Village (an historic community) the trail becomes narrower and in some places resembles an improved doubletrack. Signage is non existant on the Thun, hopefully increased use of the trail will provide a need for better signage and maintenance between Morlatten and Birdsboro.
There is an unsigned on road route between Birdsboro and Gibralter via Old Schuylkill Road and Old River Road. The trail picks up again at Gibralter off road for 4 miles to Route 10 at the Brentwood Rd trailhead. You then take Route 10 for a half mile to Hazel St just east of Business 222, this final section of the trail crosses the Schuylkill again into downtown Reading.
The completion of the Schuylkill River Trail from Phoenixville to Pottstown is still expected in 2008. Construction of the section from Oaks to Mont Clare will start this fall or winter.
You can get there by Transit: The SEPTA ride to Pottstown from Center City is long but reliable (90+ minutes via the R6 and 93 bus) with hourly service and timed connections on the weekends. On weekdays the bus stops across the street from the Pottstown trailhead at Montgomery County College. The bus also stops at the Perkiomen Trail in Collegeville so its possible to bike mostly off-road from Philadelphia to Reading with a 30 minute bus bridge between Collegeville and Pottstown.
Google Map of the trail and photos .
This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
3 comments:
IF riding the Thun trail from Reading east through Birdsboro.. the posts are correct that you have to ride Old River Rd from Gibralter to Birdsboro. When close to Birdsboro you have to follow 724 to the Matthew Brooke building (Cross Rt 82 at Turkey Hill)and and continue east parallel to RT 724. You will near Universal Concrete, at this point you will see a road that goes to the right (dirt). This road comes up behind the a baseball field in Birdsboro. You have to haveto follow the 3rd base line towards the outfield to start the Thun trail again.... I am not sure why there are no signs in the town of birdsboro but i live here and this is the bes i can do.... any ?'s RKCLIMBER9@yahoo.com
should be rkclimber69@yahoo.com
The directions in rkclimber69's comment are correct, except what was PA 82 is now PA 345. (Don't ask.)
Due to lack of signage and the poor surface on Armorcast Road and the driveway to the ball field--now that they decided to put GRAVEL!! there--I would advise road and hybrid riders to use caution in this stretch. On the Montco/Philadelphia part of the Schulykill River Trail, many cyclists climb challenging hills to avoid the Manayunk Canal Towpath, for the same reason.
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