Wissahickon Creek - Geography

Geography

Though at first fairly tame, in its last 7 miles (11 km), the Wissahickon stream drops over 100 feet (30 m) in altitude. Its dramatic geography and dense forest attract thousands of walkers, riders, and bikers. Except for the main trail that parallels the stream, Forbidden (or Wissahickon) Drive, permits are required to bicycle or ride horseback on the trails. All users of the park are asked to stay on marked trails to protect against erosion.

Forbidden Drive, also known as Wissahickon Drive, is the gravel road which follows the Wissahickon Creek from Lincoln Drive to the County Line and is the most popular point of access to explore the stream valley. Originally known as Upper Wissahickon Drive, it received its current name in the 1920s when automobiles were first banned from the road. As stated above, Forbidden Drive is the only trail open to bicyclists and equestrians without a permit.

A paved path on the west bank connects the junction of Forbidden Drive and Lincoln Drive south to Ridge Avenue at the confluence of the Wissahickon and Schuylkill River. This path is a popular access point for cyclists coming off the River Drive bike paths to Center City Philadelphia, or for pedestrians departing the Manayunk/Norristown Line transit route at Wissahickon Station or Bus Interchange.

Forbidden Drive is also accessible at its midpoint at the Valley Green Inn. Valley Green Road can be reached from Springfield Avenue in Chestnut Hill, two blocks west of St. Martin's Lane and the St. Martin's R8 Station. Just above Valley Green, Wise's Mill Road meets Forbidden Drive, connecting it to Henry Avenue in Roxborough. Wise's Mill Road may be the same as that described in Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 story "Morning on the Wissahiccon": "I would advise the adventurer who would behold its finest points to take the Ridge Road, running westwardly from the city, and, having reached the second lane beyond the sixth mile-stone, to follow this lane to its termination. He will thus strike the Wissahiccon, at one of its best reaches ". Forbidden Drive ends at Northwestern Avenue (which is the county line) after crossing Bell's Mill Road.

A number of trails climb out of the valley from Forbidden Drive to the "upper trails" which run along the precipitous walls of the valley. Many of these upper trails have been marked with colored blazes. The green blazed trail has been designated a multi-use trail approved for mountain bikers with permits. The blue blazed trail has been designated a hiking trail only. All trails in the Andorra Natural Area are prohibited to all bicycles.

Devil's Pool is an attraction best reached from Valley Green by crossing the stream and taking the footpath on the eastern bank, going downstream to the mouth of the Cresheim Creek. As the ravine widens into the Cresheim, the waters gather in a basin surrounded on either side by rocky outcroppings before flowing into the Wissahickon Creek. Legend has it that the Native American Lenape tribes used this as a spiritual area. Although it is not legal due to unsafe levels of pollutants, Devil's pool has become a popular area to swim, lounge, and drink. Unfortunately, Devil's pool often falls victim to litter and vandalism. However, recent efforts to clean the site by the Friends of the Wissahickon have been moderately successful.

One of the most romantic hikes in this park leads to a precipice overlooking the gorge. It can be found by entering the main footpath at the Ridge Avenue entrance and following the west bank to Hermit's Lane Bridge. Coming from Blue Stone Bridge, follow the path at the west end to Lover's Leap.

Another well-known outlook in the park is Mom Rinker's Rock, on a ridge on the eastern side of the Park just north of the Walnut Lane Bridge, close by the Toleration statue. Here on a moonlit night in May 1847, George Lippard, romancer of the Wissahickon, was married to his frail young wife according to so-called Indian rites. Years afterward in 1883, the Toleration statue was erected, a marble statue of a man in simple Quaker clothing. Atop Mom Rinker's Rock, the nine-foot-eight-inch statue has the single word “Toleration” carved into its four-foot-three-inch base. Created by late 19th century sculptor Herman Kirn, it was brought to the site by landowner John Welsh, reported to have purchased the statue at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Welsh, a former Fairmount Park Commissioner and U.S. Ambassador to Britain, donated his land to the Park prior to his death in 1886.

Some miles away is the path leading to the Indian statue, a dramatic 15 ft (4.5 m) high white marble sculpture of a kneeling Lenape warrior which was sculpted in 1902 by John Massey Rhind. (The statue is popularly but erroneously known as "Teedyuscung," the name of an 18th-century Delaware chief.) Commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Henry, it is a tribute to the Lenape Indians who hunted and fished in the Wissahickon prior to the arrival of colonists. The statue can also be viewed from Forbidden Drive across the creek if one stands just north of the path to the Rex Avenue Bridge.