Schuylkill River Trail Beckons: Enjoy Autumn, Ride For The River On Saturday

PHOENIXVILLE, PA — Pottstown Riverfront Park is the place to be early Saturday to enjoy the Schuylkill River Trail in beautiful weather and join in Ride for the River.

Saturday morning isn't too late to join the 6th Annual Ride for the River. The cycling event is a fundraiser for Schuylkill River Greenways and its partners who are working to build, improve and promote the Schuylkill River Trail.

Day-of registration is from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Sept. 25 at Pottstown Riverfront Park. Registration is $55 and kids 12 and under ride for free, but must be with an adult.

One of the largest finished trail sections is the Pottstown to Reading stretch — about 20 miles. Ride for the River begins and ends at Pottstown Riverfront Park. Three ride options are available for Saturday's event. Find more information here.

Along with the Schuylkill River Trail Ride for the River, Pottstown's Sly Fox Brewery will bring a FREE CAN JAM Music Festival starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. To date, Sly Fox has donated about $26,000 from the sale of SRT Ale, according to Schuylkill River Greenways. The funds support the trail's Safe Crossing program for signs and road markings where the trail intersects major roadways.

Schuylkill River Trail Is Getting Connected

The Schuylkill River Trail exists as more than 100 miles of trail in sections. A 30-mile recreational path runs along the Schuylkill River from Center City Philadelphia, through Valley Forge National Historical Park in Montgomery County, and ends in Parker Ford. It picks up again in Pottstown where it continues for about 20 miles to Reading.

The project to close the gap of trail between Linfield Road in Parker Ford and the U.S. 422 bridge over the Schuylkill River in Pottstown is in Phase 2 now. Read that Patch story here.

Chester County Commissioners along with PennDOT, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Schuylkill River Greenways, and the Circuit Trails gathered in April 2021 to break ground on Chester County’s latest extension to the Schuylkill River Trail.

"This four-mile extension of the Schuylkill River Trail is also important because it will complete one of the priority 'puzzle pieces', helping to fill a gap in the nearly 60 miles of trail connecting Reading to Philadelphia," Chester County Commissioner Michelle Kichline said in April.

On Sept. 20 a new pedestrian bridge opened over Route 724 in Union Township along the Schuylkill River Trail. On July 26, contractors installed three 100-foot, concrete beams to the abutments of what is becoming the Richard P. Whittaker, M.D. Memorial Bridge. The bridge will be a part of the Schuylkill River Trail and will allow users to safely cross over Route 724 in Union County.

The trail, built mostly on abandoned railroad lines, brings cyclists through small townscapes, cornfields, industrial backyards, and along the riverbank, as seen in the drone photography with this story.

The Schuylkill River Trail was built and is managed by a group of connected organizations and municipalities. These include the Schuylkill River Development Corp. (Schuylkill Banks), Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, East Falls Development Corp., Manayunk Development Corp., Montgomery County, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Borough of Pottstown, Chester County, Borough of Phoenixville, Berks County, Schuylkill River Greenways NHA, Borough of Hamburg, and Schuylkill County.

The work has happened in local sections that have only recently been connected in the larger plan to create longer trails and an envisioned circuit of connected trails all around Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Schuylkill River Greenways said, "Enormous efforts have been made to connect these sections, close gaps, create a unified sign system, and promote the trail as a single entity. This work continues with plans to close several remaining gaps and to extend the trail in Philadelphia at the lower end and in Schuylkill County at the upper end."

The Schuylkill River Trail is part of The Circuit, a trail network around Greater Philadelphia that will have a trail network unlike any other in the country when its 750 miles are eventually all connected, bringing together urban, suburban and rural communities around Philly.

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