Another great biking adventure!
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this bike trail, but I know that I had not heard of it before 2020, and I liked it so much that we visited it 3 times this summer! We parked at the Jersey Bridge parking area just south of Titusville, PA. This is also within walking distance of Drake Well and Museum, which celebrates the inception of the petroleum industry. Pairing a trip to the museum with a ride on the trail would make for a nice day, but unfortunately, it was closed throughout 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
We rode this trail, the entire distance of the park, as a family of five twice. It is 20 miles round trip, but the relatively flat grade made this doable for everyone, including the youngest, at age ten. The third trip here we were joined by my parents who, still very active in their 70’s also enjoyed the trail.
The trail is very secluded. Once you leave the parking area, there are no roads or road noise!
The path follows Oil Creek, crossing it twice on the way to an area of the park called Petroleum Center. This part of the state park had a restroom, picnic areas, a seasonal train station, and a very cool interpretive boardwalk with photographs of what the town of Petroleum Center looked like during the Pennsylvania oil rush of the mid 19th century.
This was a great ride, in a beautiful place. It was also a powerful reminder of how humans can both destroy and restore the world that they live in. I enjoy learning the history, but hope to live my life as one of the restorers.
