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The Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail runs about seven miles between Tamaqua and Middleport in Schuylkill County, on an old rail bed that sits right beside Route 209 for most of the way. It follows the headwaters valley of the Schuylkill River past the patch town of Brockton, with wooded hillsides on one side and the highway on the other. The crushed stone surface is smooth, The trail rolls over a low divide near Tuscarora, so expect steady short climbs and descents rather than a completely level cruise. Tamaqua anchors the northeast end with its restored 1874 Philadelphia and Reading station and the Newkirk Tunnel mine entrance near the trailhead.
Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail has about 118 to 162 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, birding, biking, e-biking, running, 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 Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail peaks October 16 to 26, typically around October 20. The trail has 56% deciduous coverage, with the majority being chestnut oak, red maple, northern red oak, and white oak.
Horses pulled the first coal cars through this valley on wooden rails. As early as the 1820s the upper Schuylkill valley became the first part of Schuylkill County dug for anthracite, and the Schuylkill Canal, opened in 1822, carried that coal down the river to Philadelphia. To reach the canal, a railroad was laid in 1830 from the canal basin at Palo Alto up the valley to Tuscarora. It was a primitive line, horse drawn cars on wooden rails topped with iron straps. In 1859 the tracks were extended from Tuscarora over the divide to Tamaqua, linking the valley line with the Philadelphia and Reading. Coal from the mines above Middleport, Brockton, and Tuscarora rolled down this corridor for generations, and the patch towns along Route 209 grew up beside the tracks. Middleport itself took its name from sitting halfway along the sixteen miles between Pottsville and Tamaqua. In the late twentieth century the state cleared the corridor to widen Route 209 into a four lane highway. The widening never happened, and the graded strip beside the road became the Schuylkill Valley Heritage Trail, surfaced with crushed stone between Tamaqua and Middleport. Today it is listed with Pennsylvania DCNR as a seven mile trail for hiking, biking, and cross country skiing.
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