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The Perkiomen Trail follows Perkiomen Creek for about 21 miles through Montgomery County, from the Schuylkill River Trail junction at Oaks north to Green Lane Park. Locals call it the Perky. It rides on the old Reading Railroad bed for most of the way, so the grade stays gentle, with a few short rises where the trail leaves the rail line. The surface is mostly smooth crushed stone with paved stretches near the towns. Along the way it links Lower Perkiomen Valley Park, Collegeville, Central Perkiomen Valley Park, Schwenksville, Spring Mount, and the reservoir lands of Green Lane Park, crossing the creek on several bridges. Small towns and trailheads with parking, restrooms, and water sit every few miles.
Perkiomen Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Perkiomen Trail has about 117 to 168 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, birding, e-biking, running, biking, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Perkiomen Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Perkiomen Trail peaks October 25 to November 5, typically around October 30. The trail has 38% deciduous coverage, with the majority being yellow-poplar, red maple, white oak, chestnut oak, white ash, and northern red oak.
William Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme drew this valley on his 1687 map and called the stream Perquaminck Creek. The Lenape name meant cranberry place. Grist mills and small villages grew along the creek in the 1700s, and John James Audubon lived at Mill Grove near its mouth at Oaks. The railroad came as the Perkiomen Branch of the Reading Railroad, running up the creek from the Schuylkill at Oaks past Collegeville, Schwenksville, and Green Lane. The line faded in the twentieth century. In 1978 Montgomery County bought the abandoned branch. The county built the Perkiomen Trail on the old rail bed and completed it in 2003, linking Lower Perkiomen Valley Park, Central Perkiomen Valley Park, and Green Lane Park along the way. Since then Natural Lands and the Montgomery County Lands Trust have put more than 7 million dollars into easements that keep the creek corridor open, and the Pennsylvania Highlands Trail has adopted the route for nearly its full length.
Schuylkill River TrailSkippack TrailEvansburg TrailAudubon Access TrailGreen Lane Park Reservoir Connector TrailPennsylvania Highlands Trail
