We found a very nice place for a trail walk near Harrisburg, PA. It’s actually located inside the loop in Mechanicsburg, called The Grandon Farms Walking Trail.
You can reach the trail by parking at the Creekview North Park Entrance and walking across the street – look both ways! – to the trail head just south of the intersection of Creekview Road and Grandon Way.
The paved trail is easy walking, unless hills or walking on slants is a problem. I call this kind of asphalt-paved trail easy as I can walk along without paying too much attention to foot work. Others might call it a moderate trail due to the inclines in places.
The wide asphalt-paved path runs through a wooded area adjacent to a small creek, called Sears Run, that runs between housing developments and eventually empties into the Conodoguinet Creek.
While we were there we saw a couple of other walkers and one guy walking his dog on the trail.
Most of the path runs through wooded areas which provided some cool relief from the hot sun. A section of the trail followed a power line right-of-way and that part of the trail was in full sun.
The trail was nicely maintained and the grass near the trail’s edge had recently been mowed. Not one single downed tree was left on the path. We saw several had been cut down or were torn down by vines and these lay in a steep gulley between the path and the creek.
It was delightful that there was no trash left behind by previous walkers.
Unfortunately, there were plenty of invasive plants like garlic mustard and especially multifora rose, which was in bloom during the last week of May.
Other more interesting plants we saw:
- stinging nettle
- wild aniseroot
- false Solomon’s seal*
- cut-leaved toothwort
- mayapple
- blackberry*
- black raspberry*
*Plants were in bloom on 25 May 2015. The others were in fruit or seed, except for the stinging nettle.
The trail has several benches along the way and some of them made from logs. An Eagle Scout project, for sure. Also, a half-dozen markers are posted to help the curious identify and learn about trees on the trail.
We did see a pair of Mallard Ducks on the creek. They flew up or down the creek when we got too close for comfort.
Surely this wooded lot is a great place to see other birds or have a peaceful lunch in a nature setting.
how long is the Grandon Farms Trail round trip??
Hey Luke,
The trail is a short one and I can’t see it being more than a mile round trip. To make it a slightly longer venture, you can cross Sears Run on the bridge and work your way over to Trayer Lane, then take in a refreshment at Armitage Golf Club before returning to the trail. 😉
Have fun and let us know what cool stuff you see!