Segment #3 : Loucks Mill Road Parking to York Colonial Complex (Feb 26, 2025) 4 mile O&B
In a time when our attention spans generate someone else's profit, salary, and sales, it's good to turn off the device and notice what's around you. What a beautiful day to make this walk into the city. The Canada Geese have paired off now and both Bald Eagles, nesting nearby, were seen circling Codorus Creek. A woman carrying her finds bag was mud-larking along a gravel bank. A kind old gentleman with a permanent smile on his face and pep in his step outpaced Amos and me as my dog stopped every thirty feet to sniff.
 |
| An adoring hound |
We came to a full stop at the side of the old armory building, now a beautiful creative learning and museum. Amos was drawn to the sounds of children inside and he could see them through the big glass windows. Oh! He loves kids so much. He whined and wagged and sat right down hoping he'd have the chance to say hello. They were busy making something cool at a work bench so we moved on down the rail trail as it entered the city.
 |
| Keystone Kidspace in the old armory |
 |
| Western Maryland Railway |
We crossed over the Codorus and past the historic WMRR railyard depot house. My great grandfather was one of the founding investors of this railroad in the late 1890s (he lost his shirt on it) so I said "Hello Pops!" to the station yard as we walked by. Past the old switching yards and double steel span RR bridge, a family out for a stroller stroll asked if their little boy could pet Amos and this made the coonhound's day.
 |
| Keystone Color Works |
The old Keystone Color Works building, now studio apartments, stands as a monument to what had been a source of Codorus Creek's major pollution problems - wastewater of the paint and dye industry. The effluence from paper manufacturing, dyes, and paints was so obnoxious, city residents called the creek "Inky Stinky." Thank goodness that era is over. A ways further and what's left of the historic 19th century Variety Iron Foundry site is across the river, now a restaurant and outdoor events space. This was once a huge industrial site that manufactured steam train engine components, rails for the railroad, cast iron building fronts, gears, bridges, turbines, and factory equipment.
 |
| Foundry site |
 |
| York History Center |
The tall stack across the street dominates the scene along this stretch of the rail trail. Now the main building of the multi-structure
York History Center, this complex was once the Edison Steam Generating Plant that helped electrify the city at the turn of the century. We arrived in the heart of the transformed industrial center of York where factories and plants once crammed the shorelines of the creek to make this city a manufacturing powerhouse.
 |
| Barnett Bob House (c. 1830s) |
 |
| Kitchen garden, Golden Plough Tavern |
 |
| Golden Plough Tavern (1741) and Gen. Horatio Gates House |
 |
| Colonial Courthouse (1754) and the Second Continental Congress |
Our turn-around spot was the Colonial Courthouse where the
Articles of Confederation were approved during the nine-month 1777 congressional escape from Philadelphia as the British were bearing down on that city. From the safety of the west shore of the Susquehanna in York, the documents approved here were then sent on to the states to be ratified. The Articles of Confederation unified our new nation so that we had the weight of law and the beginnings of a strong congressional government to wage war against the King. Hmm. That's an idea that needs revival.
This document, the first version of the Constitution, would remain in effect as a framework for how the United States of America would function and thrive until the 2nd Constitution took effect in 1789. I had the distinct feeling that our Founding Fathers would be gasping in disbelief if they were around today to see what has become of us.
 |
| Seg. 3 yellow / Seg. 4 green |
Segment #4: Brillhart Station to York College (Feb 28, 2025) 6 .5 mi O&B
I waited until I'd wrapped up my work work before heading out to do this next segment of my Walk with Spring on the York Heritage Rail Trail. It was a gorgeous afternoon and for a Friday, the trail was almost empty except for a few dogs and their humans. We walked north along the packed gravel path through beautiful countryside, between sections of newish suburban neighborhood, and into York. At York College we spun around for the return trip.
 |
| Coming into Hyde |
 |
| Scrap yards in York |
 |
| Above Indian Rock Dam Road |
This stretch of trail had a little bit of everything, but what it had mostly was active Groundhog dens where our furry marmot friends were stretched out in the sun, scratching and grooming, and generally giving Amos none of their business. We walked on the high RR embankment above Codorus Creek, where just downstream is the 1942 Indian Rock Dam constructed to help control flooding in downtown York. In 1933 York had experienced catastrophic flooding - this is no coincidence during the time half the country was in drought and the Dust Bowl occurred. Climate instability works at the extremes. The dam was put to the test in 1972 when Tropical Storm Agnes dumped an ungodly amount of rain in Pennsylvania. It was the only time the spillway has ever been used. It worked. The dam and flood control system is now over 75 years old and we wonder how much more it can withstand as these kinds of flooding events happen regularly now, hence, all the work being done here and in York to bolster an aging system.
 |
| Snowdrops |
I spied my first flowers of spring as we passed little clumps of Snowdrops along the railroad ballast bank. These flowers came to the U.S. with European immigrants who moved to this area to establish farms and homesteads in the 1700s. German was the most used language in York County until WWI when it fell out favor due to loyalty tests. It is still a predominant language in our county, however, and no matter what some ridiculous Executive Order says about English I'll just enjoy the Schneeblum, or Snow Blossoms.
 |
| Codorus Creek near Brillhart Station |
The geological highlight for this section was seeing a section of anticline, a folded and arching section of a great fold of metamorphic rock formed during tectonic plate collisions long ago. A bigger section of this anticline can be observed not to far away and is named Indian Rock the place-name source for a school, campground, and the dam. Noticing how bedrock will bend and fold when under great pressure made me think about some geological analogies that I later composed in my hiking journal.
 |
| Anticline section |
Notes:
A geological guide to the York Heritage Rail Trail can be downloaded here:
