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My walking boots lay in the same place where I kicked them off 5 days ago after finishing the 21 mile Walk for the Wissahickon along the Green Ribbon Trail.  The sore legs, blisters on my feet, and yellow jacket stings come with a new insight on one of my favorite places in Philadelphia, the Wissahickon Creek and its watershed.

The Green Ribbon Trail is made up of a string of flood plain easements that wind south through Montgomery County, before the creek and trail meet up with Fort Washington State Park, and then builds momentum as it flows through the storied Wissahickon section of Fairmount Park and onto its final destination the Schuylkill River.  The walk is for the most part wooded and green, but just outside the flood plain that makes up the trail it easy to spot new construction.  It is easy to see the tenuous relationship between the creek and encroaching development and sprawl and the pollution that results.

At one point our group is trespassing on private property along the edge of an exclusive country club that has refused to contribute access to continue the trail southward. The course is green and lush, most likely from heavy pesticide use.  One of the walkers relates a story of being warned that some of the golfers aim for hikers.  And soon, we hop a fence and pass along a road belonging to a closed chemical factory.  Later on, as we near Ambler we are asked to sign a petition to help build grassroots support for the removal of asbestos from a Superfund site on the banks of the creek. Ambler was once a major center of asbestos mining and now has a surplus of the material on its hands.

We think of the water we are carrying with us. Sometimes referred to a “Schuylkill Punch”, the Philadelphia drinking water came in part from the creek that we followed.

At the heart of the trail is the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association’s headquarters in Ambler.  Around mile 8 or 9 of the hike, we stopped at their headquaters in an converted 19th century stone barn structure and were treated to a very nice lunch.  The WVWA began piecing together the land that makes of the trail in the early 1970’s and has been holding the annual walk and survey of their accomplishment for many years.

For over half of the walk I was in great physical pain. I am reminded that walking uses a completely separate set of muscles than biking.  So I was very happy when our walk ended at the Schulylkill River and we were treated to an early dinner of cole slaw and hamburgers on the grounds of the Philadelphia Canoe Club clubhouse,  built over 100 years ago on the confluence of the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill river.  After dinner and a group photo we were given a tour the building and invited back to take part in classes or in the upcoming square dance. Just as the Green River Trail holds together a large tract of land stretching many miles,…..