Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.
- Jennifer Pharr Davis
The
Blue Marsh Lake Trail in Berks County, Pennsylvania, stretches 29.7 miles around the perimeter of
Blue Marsh Lake, which was formed by the damming of the Tulpehocken Creek. It has become one of our favorite places to hike, bike and kayak.
The trail is considered "multi-use", allowing for use by hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. The trail also has varied surfaces, including dirt, gravel, grass and some abandoned roads. The trail offers many scenic views and opportunities to view wildlife as it passes through woodlands, fields, and over high hills as it winds down into hidden valleys and along the lake's edge.
We prefer to do most of our hiking in the cooler months during the fall, winter and early spring, mostly to avoid insects and snakes. Unfortunately, it also means we miss out on most of the wildlife and wildflowers you would find during the warmer months. However, a bonus to hiking along the trail in the winter is being able to see the remains of some of the structures that stood on the land before it was flooded, forming the lake.
We've visited the lake many times over the years, but until 2023, had only hiked one section of the Lake Trail. In fall of 2023 we decided to make it our goal to finish the hike around the perimeter of the lake. We chose to do it in 8 out-and-back sections, basically completing the trail twice.
We picked up the trail where we left off in Fall of 2020, completing 4 sections between January and March of 2023. We completed the last sections between October 2023 and January 2024. What follows is a brief description of our hikes on the trail with a link below to a map if you want to follow along to see where each section was located.
Our first hike on the Lake Trail started at the Visitor Center as we headed counter-clockwise around the lake. It was a beautiful fall day with the leaves showing their colors. We followed the trail past the Dry Brooks Day Boat Ramp for about 2 miles until we reached the lake's edge before turning back to our starting point. This short hike planted the first seed in our minds about hiking the entire trail, but it would be more than two years before we returned.
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October 24, 2020
View across to the Dry Brooks Day Use area
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The next time we ventured out was a cold and blustery day in December 2022. We started from a parking area at the top of the road leading to the Dry Brooks Day Use area and followed the trail from there out to where it meets Rt. 183, just outside of the village of Mt. Pleasant. For some reason we didn't take any photos that day, but the trail wound up and down along the lake's edge mostly through woods until we popped out onto Rt. 183 at the first bridge crossing over a branch of the lake. Having completed around 3 miles we turned around and headed back to our start.
We returned to the lake again on January 2, 2023, picking up the trail again on the other end of the bridge at the Mt. Pleasant trailhead. This section of the trail was particularly meaningful to me because my ancestors once worked and lived on this land. We hiked approximately 4 miles to the Church Road parking lot where we took a break before heading back the way we had come.
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 | Mt Pleasant North Trailhead
January 2, 2023 |
 | Park at Old Church Road
January 2, 2023 |
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 | View of the lake from the trail
January 2, 2023 |
 | Ice along the water's edge
January 2, 2023 |
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Thanks to a relatively warm winter, we headed back to the lake on January 29, 2023 for the next leg of our hike. We started at the Old Church Road parking lot and headed north past the Sheidy Boat Ramp and the Union Canal Paddle Launch until we arrived at the bridge crossing the head of the lake at North Heidelberg Road. We walked across the bridge to check out parking for another leg of the hike before heading back and racking up a total of about 6 miles for the day. Most of the trail was flat and paralelled Rt. 183, making it the noisiest part of the trail, although we had views of the lake most of the way.
 | Looking across the lake toward
where we'll be on the next leg of our hike.
January 29, 2023 |
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 | Crossing the bridge over a branch of the lake.
January 29, 2023 |
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 | The confluence of the Tulpehocken (left)
and Northkill (right) creeks as seen from
the North Heidelberg Road bridge.
January 29, 2023 |
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 | | Looking up the Northkill Creek |
at a small dam in the distance.January 29, 2023
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The remainder of the trail would have us hiking on the opposite shore. On February 26, 2023 we headed off on what would be the most rugged leg of the trail as we made our way up and over the former Blue Marsh Ski Resort and down into a valley before climbing an even taller hill and winding our way back to Old Church Road. It was a strenuous 4.5 miles before we had to turn around and head back to our car.
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 | View from the trail
February 26, 2023 |
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 | View from the trail
February 26, 2023
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 | View from the trail
February 26, 2023 |
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 | View from the trail
February 26, 2023 |
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On a bright and sunny March 20, 2023 we headed out for our next leg of the trail. Starting at Old Church Road and ending around 2.5 miles later at the Peacock Road trailhead.
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 | View of the lake from the trail
March 20, 2023 |
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 | Two geese heading for the lake
March 20, 2023 |
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 | Peacock Road Trailhead
March 20, 2023 |
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We filled the coming months with other adventures (see the April to September 2023 posts to this blog) before finding our way back to Blue Marsh to continue along the trail. On October 1, 2023 we picked up the trail at the Peacock Road access. It proved to be a perfect day for hiking with crisp blue skies and plenty of wildflowers to enjoy while we completed the next 5 miles of the trail. We had plenty of company on the trail this day, too. There was an ultra-marathon taking place on the trail and although we had an early start before the race began, the first runners caught up to us before we reached our own halfway point for the day. Because it would be another 2-1/2 miles to the next trailhead and we wanted to get out of the way of the runners, we decided to turn around at the 6 mile marker to head back to Peacock Road. 10 miles of hiking was enough for one day. Of course that was nothing compared to the entire length of the trail that the runners were completing!
On November 25, 2023 we returned to Blue Marsh, planning to start at the State Hill Boat Launch and hike north toward the 6 mile marker. Unfortunately, we saw a merry band of hunters heading up the trail in that direction, so we switched to plan B and instead hiked in the opposite direction toward the Visitor Center. We were disappointed in this change of plans, but we still enjoyed the 2.5 mile hike back to the Visitor Center and the official start of the trail. We would have to return another time to finish the "missing link".
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 | View from the trail
November 25, 2023 |
 | View from the trail
November 25, 2023 |
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 | View from the trail
November 25, 2023 |
 | View of the Visitor Center from the trail
November 25, 2023 |
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 | Path to Dry Roads Farm
January 27, 2024 |
 | View along the trail
January 27, 2024 |
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 | View from the trail
January 27, 2024 |
 | View from the trail
January 27, 2024 |
 | View of the lake from Mile Marker 6
January 27, 2024 |
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 | Squirrel Run Track Trail
January 27, 2024 |
 | View along Squirrel Run Track Trail
January 27, 2024 |
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 | View from Squirrel Run Trail
January 27, 2024 |
 | View along Squirrel Run Track Trail
January 27, 2024 |
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Adding up the miles from all of our hikes around the lake, we finished with a total of 64.08 miles, thanks to repeating a small section at the beginning and adding on the nature trail at the end. We really enjoyed hiking the entire trail and look forward to returning to it again, perhaps with some of our family joining us.
* All photos and videos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *
