For those looking for a quiet hiking trail in Milford, PA that gives the feeling of being deep in the forest and is away from the tourists, the north Conashaugh Trail fits the bill. If you've been following along with my previous hikes, the name of this trail may sound familiar. This is the lesser traveled northern path of the trail I visited earlier this month that featured the
historic Zimmerman Farm. Unlike that trail, the north section of the Conashaugh Hiking Trail is pretty much devoid of anything but pristine forest paths and a bunch of hand made stone walls from a bygone era.
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| Hiking the Conashaugh Trail North |
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| East Conashaugh Trail Parking |
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| Hiking up Zimmerman Road |
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| The North Loop is to the Right |
Last week I attempted to hike this trail by starting from the west parking lot on Conashaugh Rd. The reason I chose this starting point was that I knew exactly where the trailhead was located and was certain the lot wouldn't be full. Going this route, I could have hiked along the south trail, to the cutoff, and then to the north trail. However, I wanted to cut some miles out of the trip so I planned to bypass much of it by hiking along Zimmerman Rd directly to the northern loop. Unfortunately, that didn't work out as planned. After hiking down the long and steep Zimmerman Rd, I found that it was washed out by a creek at N41° 16.571' W74° 51.150'. The creek wasn't too deep, so I probably could have crossed, but the tall muddy walls on each side made me think twice about it. I decided to put it off until another time.
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| Up Hill |
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| Still Rising |
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| Up we go! |
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| Woody Woodpecker was here |
On this trip I chose to try my luck at the east parking lot at N41° 16.281' W74° 50.863'. I guess calling it a parking lot is a bit of an exaggeration. It's more like a small area near the closed portion of Zimmerman Rd that you can squeeze into. Luckily, on this quiet Sunday morning, there wasn't a soul in sight. I had the entire parking lot, ahem, parking spot to myself. The route to the north Conashaugh Trail loop from here couldn't be more easy. Just hike up the closed portion of Zimmerman Road until you come along another road block. Directly to your right is the northern loop trail. Before ascending the north trail, look down the hill to your left for a nice view of Conashaugh Creek. There is a spot near N41° 16.424' W74° 50.956' that is level enough to allow you to climb down to the creek for a closer look.
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| Beginning of the loop trail |
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| Follow those 8's |
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| Grassy trail |
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| Bear tracks? |
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| Hiking the Spur Trail |
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| End of the Spur Trail along Milford Rd |
There is no mistaking whether you're on the Conashaugh north hiking trail. It starts off steep, gaining nearly 500 feet of elevation in the first mile. Once you reach the peak elevation of the trail, it is another half mile of rolling hills before getting to the loop portion at N41° 17.093' W74° 51.062'. At this point the path forks in two directions, both of which will bring you back to this spot. I chose to take the hiking trail on the right. No matter which path you choose, just be sure to follow the signs marked "8" to stay on the loop. A little over another half mile of hiking will bring you to a second intersection. If you keep going straight you'll be taking a spur trail that brings you right to Milford Rd. There isn't much to see here but it can extend your hike if you'd like. If you go to the left you'll remain on the loop and will return to the beginning of the loop about 3/4 of a mile later. I chose to explore the spur trail and then return to finish the loop.
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| Old Stone Walls |
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| Old property lines |
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| Hand made stone walls |
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| Tons of downed trees |
On your way back down the loop you'll get a close up look at tons of hand made stone walls. These were built by property owners in the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s to mark the boundaries of their land and they still stand to this very day. Just imagine the amount of people who traveled these paths back then. It's pretty cool stuff if you're into that sort of thing. Once you've completed the loop you can reverse your route back to your car or you can choose to take the cutoff trail along Zimmerman Rd at N41° 16.239' W74° 50.905' which will extend your hike to the south trail. Today I chose to stick with hiking just the north trail. The total trip, including the spur trail, was 5.3 miles.
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| Hiking Trails in Pennsylvania and New Jersey |
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| View of the Conashaugh Creek |
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| Conashaugh Creek |
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| The walk back to the car |
If you'd like to follow my steps through the Conashaugh Trail North,
check out the map of my trip and download the GPX file below. It
contains the route I took as well as some important waypoints.
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| Conashaugh View Trail Map |
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| Conashaugh Trail North Elevation Graph |
