Monocacy Hill Recreation Area
Hiking in Monocacy Hill Recreation Area | Douglassville, PA | Walking Across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge | Downtown Philadelphia | April 2025
During our first weekend in Southeastern Pennsylvania, we had two full days to do whatever we wanted, and it was still early enough during our time here that we were super motivated to do things, even things that required a bit of driving. On Saturday, we started off the weekend with a hike in Monocacy Hill Recreation Area, which was about 30 minutes West of us near Douglassville, PA.
We arrived at the small trailhead off of Geiger Road early on Saturday morning and prepared for our hike. Our main goal was just to make it to the peak, and somehow make a loop out of the many trails in this park. We began on the Monocacy Hill Trail, which started out wide and fairly easy, then became more narrow and rocky as we ascended. Charlotte was doing great on the trail, but just before reaching the summit the trail turned into more boulder hopping than hiking, so Curtis gave her a lift through the hardest part. The peak itself doesn’t have any views, but continuing on down the trail we were able to find a clearing in the trees with a nice view to the West out towards French Creek State Park. We sat down on a rock, took some pictures, admired the flowering tree standing over us, and relished the feeling of summiting this tiny mountain together.
From the lookout, we continued on the trail which descended rapidly, much steeper than the trail we took going up. At the base of the hill, we took the Railbed Trail around until it ran into the Lower Trail on the North side of the hill, then followed that passed some ruins back to the road. Between the Railbed and Lower trails there were several fallen trees, which Charlotte was determined to try to squeeze under rather than jumping over. It took some convincing but we managed to get her over them all. Altogether, our loop through the park was about 2.6 miles, not too challenging, and an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning.
The next day, Curtis and I rose early with the goal of doing a lot more walking together in downtown Philadelphia. We know there’s so much to do and we go into this assignment every year thinking we’ll try and spend more time in Philly, but each time we do we get a little overwhelmed and only end up making one trip into the city. This year was no different…but maybe next year we’ll cross more off the list. We had one simple goal for today’s walk: we wanted to walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge and claim a new county in New Jersey. Sure, we could have accomplished that by driving into the state, but when we were trying to plan routes into the state to maximize counties we just couldn’t find anything we really wanted to do there, and the traffic and bridge tolls make it less appealing. To be honest, when we look longingly at our county map, we never find ourselves looking at New Jersey and hoping to be able to fill in those counties. But since Curtis’ job seems determined to put us near (or soon maybe in) NJ, I guess it’s bound to happen somehow.
Anyway, we arrived downtown just before 8 and decided to park in the parking garage next to Independence Hall. It wasn’t too busy, and arriving before 8 gave us the early bird parking rate for the day. From here, we started our little self-guided walking tour, first heading North and then East to the sidewalk that goes over the bridge.
The day we chose to do this was as nice as we could have hoped for, with it being not too cold or windy while crossing over the Delaware River. Walking the bridge was steeper than expected, as these bridges normally are, but without our pokey puppy we made pretty good time. We officially crossed into New Jersey, made it as far as the New Jersey Bridge Tower, said ‘good enough’, then walked right back across. We find that it’s easier to enjoy city views when you’re a bit removed from it all, and on your feet rather than in a car.
Once back in Philadelphia, we continued making a little loop around the downtown area where we got to see the Mint, the Quaker Meeting House, Benjamin Franklin’s grave, Betsy Ross’ house, and Christ Church. When we returned to Independence National Historic Site, we walked through the President’s House Site and saw the Liberty Bell together, just because it was right there and free to walk through. After getting our NPS cancellation stamps, we called it good enough and made our way back out of the city, to our hotel and our happy puppy.
