Valley Girl Views: Biking The Ironton Rail Trail

The Saylor Cement Kilns, on the Ironton Rail Trail, located approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to the south east.

This 13 mile paved rail trail is full of historical artifacts and interesting sights. It's very much a city bike path, with several busy road crossings, and many housing developments along the trail providing crowds of people out for a Sunday stroll. There is also a very active gun club providing a cacophony of gunfire along one section, making it perhaps the most unique bike path we've ever visited.

Read more about the Cement Kilns here:

https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/delaware/cop.htm

Without actually researching the trail, I somehow had the idea that we would be biking around a series of kilns. Which, technically we sort of did - but we also parked right beside them.

The kiln area is basically a small interpretive park, which happens to be alongside the path.

In other words, if you just want to see the cement kilns, you do not have to bring your bike, nor will you need to walk far. They are all grouped right together, right beside a large parking area.

See the trail map, and also an interpretive historical map, here:

https://www.irontonrailtrail.org/map.html

If you do wish to bike the trail, it is is 13 miles long - There is a 5 mile loop, and a 4 mile (4 miles out, then 4 miles back) spur. There are a variety of historical artifacts along the way, and there is an interactive historical map available online. There are quite a few geocaches along the way too.

It's a paved, easy trail, the biggest obstacle being the crowds, and dogs on retractable leashes darting in front of your bike. Everyone was polite and friendly, with many of the local residents obviously taking pride in the trail, and several asking us if we needed directions, when we were stopped at various points for the geocaches and historical signs.

If you are not biking, but just stopping to see the kilns, a short walk will take you to this cement phone booth, another extremely interesting sight along the trail.

"This Block Phone was located 99.6 miles from Lehigh Valley Railroad's Liberty Street Ferry Terminal in New York City. The LVRR started putting them in around 1903 and by 1910, they began dispatching by telephone. The Block Phones eliminated the need for a telegrapher. A train could stop, call the tower man on each end and get orders to go out. They didn't need to have a telegrapher with them to attach wires and a telegraph."

The path does cross quite a few busy roads on the extension, as is typical for many of the rail trail paths. There was one crossing in particular, near the end of the extension that would have given me pause had we been biking with small children, but in most cases, it was not difficult to cross.

Directly across from this green ironton railroad car is a gravel path. Here we took a short detour for a geocache, and immediately we left the crowds.

We did not see a single other person on this side path. There were a few large grassy fields, and some great old ruins.

There were a variety of neat old structures right along the main trail though, too.

There were several interpretive signs along the way too.

On the extension, or spur, you bike alongside the gun club property for a good stretch. It's obviously perfectly safe, with large cement walls blocking the property from the path.

Biking this area was a bit... disconcerting. This was not a few random shots, bur rather a steady barrage of gunfire, at a volume loud enough that conversation in this section would have been possible, but difficult. This was the one section of the trail where we did not pass too many crowds of people.

The Troxell Steckel House

We made a quick, brief, detour off the trail to see the Troxell-Steckel home, which is visible from the trail. Dan's 7th great grandfather is widely reported to have build this home, although the inscription mentioning Maria Magdalena gives me pause. But, as Dan is descended from two different Troxell lines in this area, I have little doubt he is related to whichever Troxell did actually build this structure.

Many different housing developments line the trail, and its obvious that the many, many residents not only use the trail, but decorate areas of it with benches, flowers, and garden knick knacks.

At the end of the spur, or extension, is a nice paved parking area, with a pavillion.

A sign at the pavilion shows some of the old buildings and gives some of the history.

The local boy scout and girl scout troops were utilized as well, with an Eagle Scout project displayed nearly every half mile, in sections.

The mural here was a girl scout Silver Award project.

Although I personally struggled with biking through the throngs of people, and felt like I was using my brakes more than the pedals for much of the trip, there were quite a few more serious bikers along the way who were doing just fine. Again, everyone was exceedingly polite, which is so unusual that I can't neglect to mention it. I would frequently hear "on your left" as a more serious biker passed through where others were walking, or where I had slowed down to read the historical markers.

A dog on a retractable leash did nearly clothesline me, as it darted across the path and up a small bank beside the trail, running right in front of my bike. But the woman who had been stopped chatting alongside the trail was obviously more upset by this than I was myself. The brakes on my bike worked just fine, and no one was too close behind me, so it was all ok.