Day 2 of Philly to DC: This is the next rail-trail that everyone will be talking about

The Enola Low-Grade Trail is the biking secret you want to discover in Lancaster County, PA.

Since we first biked part of this trail during a three-day, three-trail trip during the height of Covid, two trestles (think really high bridges) have opened.

Oh the views!

From the Martic Forge Trestle you look down on the Pequea Creek … and a really hilly part of the county. I bet the fall colors here are amazing. And yes, I was thankful I wasn’t biking those hills.

This trestle, which dates back to the railroad’s construction in 1905, was reconstructed after a teen arsonist burned it in 2018. Amazingly it reopened in the fall of 2022. Super fast in my book!

A few miles later we reached the Safe Harbor Trestle, which opened in 2020. We looked across the wide Susquehanna River and down on the Safe Harbor Dam. If you’ve seen an Instagram-worthy photo of the Enola Low-Grade Trail, it’s probably of this. (Yeah, I’m not that photographer.)

Did we just see an eagle?

And can we tour the dam?

Impressive fact: Construction began just six days after the stock market crashed in 1929 and was done in 763 days. Essentially two years and one month. Then hydroelectric power started flowing.

No doubt, this trail was the day’s highlight. We pedaled around 22 miles on the Enola Low-Grade. The first two were a little rough, but my road bike and 28 mm tires handled it fine, just not fast.

The trail has an interesting history: a freight-only line built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1903-1906 that bypassed bottlenecks in Philadelphia. Known as the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch, it was the middle section of a 140-mile route that ran from Morristown, west of Trenton, to a yard west of Harrisburg.

The route was a success. An average of 52 trains a day came through this section in 1941. However, the last train rolled through in December 1988.

If only all of that was a rideable bike trail today! Especially with that maximum of 1% grade that we experienced!

Most of the trail we rode was crushed stone, and I’m hopeful we will get more of that. The vision is that this trail will be bikeable to Atglen (this article suggests it could happen by the end of 2024, but I’d be thrilled with the end of 2025), where it would one day link to an extended Chester Valley Trail. PLUS it could one day connect to Columbia, where you’d pick up the fabulous Northwest Lancaster County River Trail — or do what we did, which was to cross the river and follow PA Bicycle Route S to York.

Second on the day’s highlight list was the 10 miles we biked from Gap, the end point of our first day of our ride from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. , to the Enola Low-Grade Trail. Rolling countryside in the sunshine. Much easier than the Brandywine hills of the day before. Some Amish or Mennonite homes. I kept looking for solar panels on the roof because I’d read that in some communities, that’s now an acceptable way to get electricity. No luck.

We passed on the tempting blueberry pie/blueberry cobbler sign. Too early! And then there was that sign for soy-free eggs. Huh? New one on me, but apparently soy in chicken feed makes some people allergic to eggs.

Our route took us to Valley Road, which didn’t seem as flat as I expected. Glad we took the first left, onto Pumping Station Road shortly before Quarryville. But where was the trail access? On the other side of the bridge (ie trail) and up a stony incline. That’s not what we remembered from where we parked in 2020! Turns out we’d gotten on the trail a little early, near mile 22. But we could ride fairly slowly on it until the crushed stone began around mile 20 or 19.

Lots of amenities along the way, from benches and picnic tables to portapotties. The only thing missing was water, and that’s a big ask.

And what about when the trail ended?

That was the Turkey Hill Trailhead, five miles south of the trail town on Columbia, Pa. Now it was back on the road, and we’d been warned about trucks. Maybe we got lucky; more seemed to be going the other way. All told I counted about two dozen vehicles, including one Turkey Hill 18-wheeler and another, smaller truck.

Was that a Vietnamese Buddist temple in the middle of the old mansions of Columbia?

Here’s some of what else we saw:

An ice cream break (Hershey, not Turkey Hill!), then a quick stop at the bike shop in Wrightsville across the river and we were on our way to York, less than 15 miles away. This was also all road, albeit with a shoulder. And intermittant rain. Amazing where you can find shelter when you need to.

And because you can eat anything when you’re on a bike trip — right? — we stopped at Maple Donuts, which claimed to have 50+varieties. One that played off smores, another filled with apple pie filling, a third with lemon cream (or custard), then one with peanut butter…

In York, we opted for back roads and going through an industrial area, rather than downtown York and trail, to reach our hotel by the York Heritage Trail and U.S. 30. Note: if you go our way, go through the parking lot for the trail just south of U.S. 30 so you can be on the bridge sidewalk/trail and not U.S. 30.

Lots of hotels there, so pick your favorite.

Overall, a pretty great 52-mile day (or something like that).

Day 3: The route to Baltimore