Let's walk with spring on the York County Heritage Rail Trail over the next month or two and see what the Codorus Creek Valley holds in store. This is the best time of year to see ruins and old industrial relicts while the woods are bare. Geology (my favorite hiking hobby) is easy to appreciate and I'm always on the lookout for old quarries and mines. Lots of great birding, too. Amos the Minor Prophet, is my hiking partner.
 |
| Codorus Creek |
Segment #1: John Rudy County Park to Emig Road Bridge (Feb 10, 2025) [Yellow on Map]
Once we walked out of John Rudy County Park we came almost immediately to a beautiful winter vista of the creek, extra full with snow and ice meltwater, and a very broad flood plain. Cattle and horses grazed on a portion of the plain while another large section is farmed for crops. During large flooding events this landscape is underwater.
 |
| Ruins of a smokehouse |
The paved trail dips down along a cut-bank of the Codorus, past the present-day park administrative and maintenance buildings that were once the farmhouse, barns, and outbuildings of the Bixler Farmstead. The farm's smokehouse ruins are found right on the trail and contain a mix of red sandstone, limestone, quartz, and dolostone ( higher in magnesium than limestone). When these old farmsteads were built, stone was always sourced from fields or from pits nearby, so I kept my eye open for small quarries and waste rock piles. It wasn't long before I saw both.
 |
| Limestone boulder |
Amos was his usual 90-pound LOUD self as we turned a bend to cross over a small bridge to surprise a herd of Whitetail Deer. The gods were awakened! The deer vanished! A flock of Hooded Mergansers sprung from the main creek and Mallards dashed upstream to escape the commotion! I hung on for life as the coonhound sleigh ride dragged me along the trail to where he last saw the flashing white rumps enter the low woods. I grabbed a trailside bench to end the ride. There was a nice huge hunk of burrow-filled limestone to admire as I caught my breath. This section of the landscape along the Codorus is underlain by thick, massive beds of limestone that formed when warm, shallow seas existed here. This particular boulder is part of a large outcrop that has been quarried since the 1800s nearby at the Codorus Stone Company banks.
 |
| Mundis Mill (1841) |
Two Kingfishers rattle-called up and down a big bend in the creek. These two may be resident, non-migratory birds enjoying the hunting opportunities on the now ice-free Codorus. We've had a more typical Mid-Atlantic winter with frequent ice-overs and freeze/thaw cycles this year so the cold water fishing has probably been very good for the Kingfishers and Herons. A gang of Turkey Vultures launched off the chimney of the 250-year old Mundis Mill/ Brillinger Mill as we came through a patch of invasive bamboo to leave us to gawk at the huge brick four-story structure. Though a tad neglected, it is still sporting its covered truck shed porch and arched millrace entrance, and a good roof.
 |
| Grain/feed mill (left) with rubble ruin of Dam #5 |
It was here in this bend of the creek that the long-gone Codorus Navigation Canal had its mid-point Dam No. 5, where the mill's headrace received its water. The race flowed to the mill into the wheel pit to power the basement level turbines then flowed out to the tailrace and returned to the creek. I was able to find the tailrace by following a line of very old Red Maples that are growing along the slight rise of race wall. Codorus Creek once had gads of mill sites from its headwaters to the mouth on the Susquehanna and this old grain/feed mill is the first one we encountered on the Heritage Trail Northern Extension heading south towards York City where there are many more.
 |
| Massive Sycamore |
 |
| Old Red Maples along a trace of the tailrace wall. |
When we reached the modern green pedestrian bridge over the Codorus we looked downstream (north) across the wide floodplain. The rubble remains of Dam #5 were just visible near the beautiful old Yorktowne Farms hay barn. Not so beautiful was modern trucking warehouse on the rise above the creek, part of a large industrial center where truck traffic and interstate noise permeates the cold, crisp air all around. Here we made our turn-around for the 4 mile out-and-back to return the same way we came to John Rudy County Park. It was a short walk but it fit neatly into a busy day.
 |
| Codorus Creek at Emig's Road Bridge |
Segment #2: Emig's Road Bridge to Loucks Mill Road Parking (Feb 22, 2025) [Green on Map]
I squeezed this walk into an early morning few hours before work for a 5-mile out-and-back to where we left off two weeks ago at the Emig Road Bridge. This is part of the 8-mile northern extension of the York Heritage Trail above the city of York. The original trail begins in downtown York City and ends in New Freedom, PA, 21 miles long. This 8-mile extension was completed only a few years ago and is still relatively new.
This section of the trail passes through high bluffs of quartzite ridge and talus slopes where the trace fossil Skolithos are found in abundance. Named new to science in 1840 by our very own Samuel Haldeman, naturalist and geologist from Lancaster County, the appearance of these trace fossils represent a high energy beach front environment - think the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras. Trace fossil burrows may have been made by marine invertebrates such as worms or arthropods at the edge of the sea along the tidal and surf zones. These bluffs are high above the trail and cast the creek valley into shadow until the sun rises above them. This morning it was frosty through this section! Brrrr!
 |
| Skolithos trace fossil burrows (Haldeman, 1840) |
 |
| Skolithos. |
 |
| Rolling trail. |
Ice edged the Codorus below and patches of residual snow were still holding fast to shady banks. But signs of spring were beginning to show - fat red leaf buds of Red Maple, plump yellow flower buds of Witch Hazel, and an early morning chorus of bird song let me know that spring is fast approaching. Common Mergansers patrolled the creek while Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and a Pileated Woodpecker represented their clans setting up territorial boundaries and beginning work on nest cavities. Everything was very busy!
 |
| Quartzite ridges and Codorus Creek |
 |
| Black's Bridge carries CSX freight to and from York |
One of the things I love about the York Heritage Trail is that it follows active rail lines for much of its length. York City is served by Norfolk Southern and CSX both being essential freight lines that carry product and materials to and from the busy industrial fringe and heart of this once powerful manufacturing center. During the late 1800s and early 1900s no less than five rail lines utilized this valley including a trolley line, two standard gauge railroads, and a narrow gauge railroad. I was hoping a Saturday train might come through but I guess they have weekends off.
 |
| Ardent Flour Mills |
The hum of the busy Ardent Flour Mills across the creek reminded me of how important this creek was to the dozens of mills that operated along these banks in the 1800 and 1900s. These railroads, the mills and their products were very much in the crosshairs of Confederate invaders and all were put under guard by Union soldiers during the tumultuous summer of 1863.
 |
| Cascade of Partridge Berry |
 |
| Frost-curled fern |
 |
| Flood levied and straightened Codorus Creek |
Coming into the more industrialized northern edge of York City, the wild creek valley suddenly becomes an engineered flood-prevention project with levies and stripped banks. This is the start of a four-mile section of Army Corps of Engineers projects that began in the 1930s to prevent damaging floods from destroying industries, commerce, and neighborhoods. The project continues its upgrades and improvements to flood walls, a dam, upstream reservoir, and rip-rap diversions/banks in what seems to be a never ending years-long refurbishment of this aging flood control system.
 |
| Urban eagles nest here |
 |
| An active nest |
Just before the parking area on Loucks Mill Road where I left the truck, we passed an active bald eagle's nest where I was able to see a sitting female and an attentive male nearby. Most eagle pairs have by now laid at least one, possibly two eggs, and are awaiting hatching. Their presence in this wild pocket of flood plain forest surrounded by industrial lands and busy roads is a good sign for the recovery of Codorus Creek as a reliable fishery. It wasn't too long ago that this creek was overwhelmed by industrial waste water and sewage. The creek was dead. Fifty years on and it is a success story for the urban wilds.
 |
| The wild side. |
I was surprised by how much wildlife Amos and I saw and heard on this little 5-mile O&B. Red Foxes, Red-Tailed Hawks, Mergansers, Mallards, all the Woodpeckers, Killdeer (lots of those on the flood control banks), Robins, White-Tailed Deer, a Meadow Vole, Great Blue Heron x 5, Grey Squirrels, and (my favorite) an American Mink, filled my species list. Never mind that Amos YELLED at the Red Fox (who cared less on the opposite bank) until he went hoarse, this little sanctuary at the edge of the city was full of life ready for spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment