Skiing the Sewer Line: A Wissahickon Snow Day Adventure

This tour is impromptu every snowy day in March.

This spontaneous tour is for cross-country skiers and winter hikers/runners/snowshoers who want to see the Wissahickon Valley from a whole new perspective. We will need snow on Forbidden Drive so participants should be flexible as you may only get a few hours of notice! Any new-fallen snow day (morning) from January 5 to March 6 is possible, including weekdays. You must have your own skis or be able to keep up by running or walking. Your guide is not fast, but if
snow is deep it can be tiring to walk.

The Wissahickon Valley was added to Fairmount Park in 1868 to protect Philadelphia’s water supply. An interceptor sanitary sewer, to keep waste out of the creek, runs along most of the valley. We will parallel its route on Forbidden Drive and stop occasionally to talk about types of sewers, the urban water cycle, trail erosion and stormwater runoff, and water quality in the Wissahickon and Monoshone Creeks.

When you get the email or text message that we’re on, meet at the bottom of Green Lane in Roxborough (map). Free parking along the road. We will ski 1.5 miles to the confluence of the Monoshone and return.  Coffee and biscotti provided.

Tour time is approximately 1.5 hours. Be sure to register here.