Take a hike through the urban jungle

View the map

Urban hikes can be a lot of fun. Certainly not a "deep woods" experience, but equally exciting, stimulating and thought-provoking.

Urban hikes provide a new perspective on places I think I know but never slowed down enough to really explore. I like to say the trail is where you find it, and this is a city hike worth taking.

This outing is roughly four miles round trip from Slab Cabin Park near Lemont. From there I set out for Millbrook Marsh and Spring Creek Park following the bike paths. I follow several streams, spot some wildlife, get mud on my boots and find some new places. I also experience hiking underneath one of Centre County's busiest intersections and alongside a four-lane expressway.

I begin at the Slab Cabin parking lot. This wonderful park near Lemont is a

Directions: Slab Cabin Park is located on Elmwood Street, the main exit to Lemont between state Route 26 and U.S. Route 322.

favorite sled-riding hill when it snows. Slab Cabin Run flows across the lowest part of the hollow and a bike path runs alongside the water. In contrast, U.S. Route 322 guides a stream of traffic a few yards away. A chain-link fence forms an urban barrier filled with windblown trash and debris.

The bike path provides an opportunity to slow down and study the contrasting landscapes. The trail is a political design, a corridor plotted by boundary lines and funding allowances, not topography or ease of movement.

Sometimes it's worth walking in a place where everyone else is hurrying. Looking down onto the four-lane, Route 322 appears like a racetrack that has no finish line. Drivers slice and dice to get on the exit ramp or make a mad dash past it. Tiny cars zip past big trucks and both appear oblivious to the chaos around them.

A geology lesson can be explained by looking at the rock strata exposed during highway construction. The sedimentary layers rise at a 65- degree angle, suggesting the collision and subsequent folding of continental plates. A cross section of Mount Nittany would yield similar results, although I hope I never see the mountain cut in half.

Continuing on my hike, the bike path enters a large tunnel which provides safe passage under state Route 26. It's not exactly a covered bridge, but perhaps the industrial interpretation? I wonder how many cars run over me, literally, as I pause below four lanes of traffic and gaze at the stream.

Slab Cabin Run originates above Shingletown Gap and Pine Grove Mills. I have drank from the spring that forms the headwaters, the purest source.

The water has traveled less than seven miles to reach this tunnel under the highway where I stand listening.

It will travel hundreds of miles before reaching the Chesapeake Bay, flowing through hundreds more tunnels and countless communities along the way. The water carries trash. Certainly noone would drink from it here. This is sad when I think how close to the headwaters I am. This stream has only been "alive" for less than seven miles and look how we have mucked it up. Imagine what happens by the time this water spills into the Chesapeake Bay.

Leaving the tunnel the path crests a small rise. I pause and look around. Mount Nittany stands tall to the east. The land drops off to the west in a low spot. From the path I can survey most of what is Millbrook Marsh and the fen. That's where I'm headed first.

The bike path leads to Puddintown Road where it splits to Millbrook Marsh or Spring Creek Park. I turn left to Millbrook. A small Quonset hut is visible from the bike path terminus. A footpath starts behind the hut and leads to another stream and the marsh. The ground is wet, my boots sink a few inches and I like the sound of it.

A few ducks squawk at my intrusion but are too lazy to depart. A trail winds towards the old barn. This wonderful restored barn is closed during the winter months but stands picture perfect in the bright sunshine. I spot several deer who bound away into the fen. They may appear to have found a sanctuary, but actually they're at great risk living this close to the highways.

At the barn I follow another path back to the hut. This hut was used to store toxic waste in the 1950s. At the time it made sense to put such materials close to wetlands.

Wetlands were unsuitable for development and, as such, had little value. Today we realize they have immeasurable value as a natural water filtration system and are a key element in our own survival.

I retrace my steps to the bike path and pass under Route 322 to Spring Creek Park. This park has a playground, ball fields and a covered bridge. I wander the stream banks and explore to the park's edge. Spring Creek originates in Boalsburg and Linden Hall and is considerably larger than Slab Cabin Run. On this afternoon I have the whole place to myself. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have driven past on the highway but no one can be seen in the park. I wonder how many of them even know it's here.

I return to the bike path and wander back to Slab Cabin Park where my own car awaits. I think how inaccessible this hike would be without the tunnel, which is the most important element of this urban trail. If it did not exist, the path would merge dangerously with the intersection above, if the path existed at all. The tunnel allows the pedestrian to safely ignore the traffic and allows a valuable recreational experience.

Wouldn't it make sense if more were designed into future road-building projects? Keep that in mind at the next township meeting.

Get out and hike around the places you drive by daily. There is more to see than you may expect.