Sunday, March 9, 2025
It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to understand just how difficult of a task it would be to map out a continuous walkable/bikeable path from the tip of Florida to the Canadian border in Maine, passing through the largest urban areas on the eastern seaboard. The folks at the East Coast Greenway have done a fantastic job of it, but inevitably there will be sections where the best they can do is simply get you from Point A to Point B along major roads, which favor biking over walking. Today's amble, from Claymont, DE to Essington, PA (just south of the Philadelphia International Airport), is a prime example. This section is not a "greenway" by any stretch of the imagination - it is an urban corridor of fast traffic, heavy industry, tough living, and the historic echoes of early 20th century prosperity. I am not, however, complaining in the least. This is what we signed up for: to walk from Delaware to New York, and experience all the varied textures along the way. And "grit" is definitely a texture. Note that we walked this section slightly out of order, jumping ahead so we could get through it on a Sunday morning, when the traffic would be at its lightest.
We drove the 35 minutes or so from our house to the Clarion Hotel south of the airport, and the friendly folks at the desk had no problem letting us park the car for the day. Our Lyft driver shows up right out of central casting from NYC: heavy accent, NY cap on backwards, sequined black jacket, blue jeans, converse, rosary hanging from the rear view mirror. I dunno, it just sort of felt... spot on. We shuttled to our starting point at the Food Lion grocery store in Claymont, and after the all-important check to make sure we're walking in the correct direction, set off on our adventure on Route 13.
In a mile or so you leave Delaware behind and cross over into Pennsylvania, entering the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, where you get to see how the chemical sausage of our modern lives is made. It would be helpful to have some modicum of engineering knowledge to truly appreciate this section, but we were left to simply marvel at the sheer volume of metal piping going every which way, huffing and chuffing and spurting out the occasional blast of steam. Marcus Hook, the town, was interesting in itself. Former home of the American Viscose Corporation, whose claim to fame was being the first to manufacture artificial silk in the US, the largest maker of rayon, and the largest supplier of parachutes to the WWII war effort. Their other claim to fame, aside from being defunct (of course), was the construction of a very interesting "industrial village" for their workers, still preserved as rows of attractive homes arcing around a central green.
Next stop up the road is the much maligned city of Chester, PA. I'll admit it's tough to sugar coat this stretch, but I'll toss out a few sprinkles for you. The greenway takes you right through the Philadelphia Union (professional) soccer complex, which was a beehive of activity on this day. We stopped to chat with a friendly stadium employee and take photos of their "Jolly Ben" mural (as in Ben Franklin meets Jolly Rodger).
Just the other side of the complex you get a brief, but picturesque walk along the banks of the Delaware River, and then you're back onto the main road. That pile of construction debris jumbled across the sidewalk up ahead? That's a cleverly camouflaged Old Swedish Burial Ground with a historic marker and monument dedicated to John Morton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Here's hoping that whatever was going on there was a work in progress, but it didn't exactly look like it.
Next stop on our tour is the glorious Harrah's Casino, curiously situated immediately next door to the Chester State Correctional Institution. I'm not sure which is more depressing. We ducked into the Casino for a brief sit down and snack, but didn't stay long, since their ventilation system struggled to meet the goals of the "This Part of the Casino is Non-Smoking" regulation. I bet you $5 we were the first people to ever thru-hike that casino.
As you leave the casino area, you're now getting close to the airport, and walking past the Boeing rotocraft facilities. Not much to see but some very large, modern buildings and tidy grounds (all of which is a nice change), but there is the occasional "I wonder what the heck that is?" structure to ponder. If you're ever in the area, just up the road is Pho Philly, a terrific Vietnamese restaurant where we had lunch and celebrated another section completed.
Today's Mileage: 10.8
Cumulative Mileage: 32.8
Bird of the Day: A great horned owl I stared at for a good ten minutes until I decided it was a decoy (the fact that there were three others also sitting on nearby rooftops did not dawn on me). Second place goes to a herd of ring-billed gulls doing their collective wind vane imitations in a parking lot (there was a stiff, chilly wind blowing all day, thankfully at our back).
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