TRAIL MAP: Inner Perimeter Walk of Salemtowne
This topic describes a clockwise, inner perimeter walk of Salemtowne. The walk is a large loop of the campus with lots of elevation changes so it is not something everyone will want to or be able to do. However, describing the walk allows me to guide you through the entire trail system and show you how it all ties together.
The perimeter fence that surrounds Salemtowne is about 2.5 miles long. If you walk the outer perimeter of Salemtowne, staying just inside the perimeter fence the entire time, you will walk about 3 miles through rugged terrain with numerous detours to get around deep ravines, fallen trees, etc. However, you can do a pleasant 2-mile inner perimeter walk using streets, sidewalks, and the Muir Trail.
The following is a guide to this inner perimeter walk. Included is information about all other trails and connections between them. Depending on your stride, pace, and stamina, a continuous walk will take from 35 minutes to an hour or more to complete. If you add in some excursions through some of the connecting trails, the walk will take longer. There are many shortcuts and access points along the trails so you can make your walk as short or long as you desire. To add more distance to your walks, you can walk around in the different, circles, lanes, and parking lots instead of just passing by them.
We will start and finish our clockwise inner perimeter walk at flagpoles in front of the Community Center, but you start and finish from any point on the inner perimeter loop. From the Community Center flagpoles, walk north on the Moravian Way Drive sidewalk.
POINT OF INTEREST. During the walk, you may see some PAL Remote Units.
POINT OF INTEREST. If you look left/west over the street, through the trees on the grass lawn, at the ridgeline you will see two active Beehives.
Walk up and over the hill, through Bethabara Place, and down the hill toward the Bethabara Welcome Center.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Near the crest of the hill, on the eastern side alongside the sidewalk is the Pleasure Garden.
As you are walking northward down the hill, as you pass by in front of Breslau Circle, look east down on the side of the hill behind the corner cottage at Prague Circle and you will see the Five Stone Square.
Also, at the bottom of this hill behind the boulders, you will see a Little Green Shed.
Depending on the season of the year, if you look at the horizon through the distant tree line, you may catch glimpses of Mountain Vistas.
As you round the last curve before reaching the gate, there is a white park bench. The Moravian Way Access Point to the Muir Trail is located next to the bench. There is an Access Point Marker at the entrance.
As you enter the trail, you walk eastward along the northern perimeter fence line. As you walk down the hill the trail makes a right turn and heads southward.
POINT OF INTERESTS
Instead of making the turn on the trail, if you were to keep walking down the hill along the fence line into the wood a few yards down a steep hill, you will find a deep ravine that has been cut into the ground by rainwater runoff. The ravine is so deep that it undercuts the fence so much that the fence and a fence pole with its concrete base are hanging in the air.
Continuing southward along the trail you will come to a Partial Clearing. Lots of magnolias bloom in the area.
POINT OF INTEREST. To the right of the trail, a Scraggly Tree lays on the ground. Just past this tree is the Right Angle Tree.
At the southern end of the semi-cleared area, the trail intersects Muir to Hillside Pond Loop Trail Connector.
We will continue into the woods, south along the Muir Trail along the hillside.
POINT OF INTEREST. You pass close beside a hollow tree. You may see some trash in the hollow sometimes; I use it as a collection point for small bits of trash I find in the surrounding woods; later I come back, bag the trash, and carry it out.
Next, you come to a branch in the trail. The Muir Trail continues left, down the hill toward the east. The Salem Village Connector branches to the right and leads up the hill to The Salem Village Access Point. We will continue along the Muir Trail.
SIDE SITE. Black Dens.
As we continue eastward down the hill, the trail will intersect with the Hillside Pond Loop Trail.
CAUTION. When it has been raining a lot, a muddy slit will collect on the road when the trail enters. If you turn left on the trail/road, toward the north, the trail loops the pond. At the north end of the loop, the Hillside Pond Loop Trail Connector leads up a short hill and connects with the Muir Trail. If you turn right/south, you can follow the “green mesh road” up to the Community Gardens. The mesh was put down to protect against slipping when the ground is wet.
We will turn right and, after a short distance, turn left/east on the Muir Trail, go through an opening in the old perimeter fence, and continue eastward down the hill to Dam Bridge.
CAUTION. When it has been raining a lot, the lower section of the hill gets slippery.
To the right/south of the entrance to the bridge is the Dam Bridge Rest Stop.
As we continue eastward from Dam Bridge, we climb a small hill. At the top, if you look east over the perimeter fence, you will see the western end of a parking lot Salemtowne owns on Hunt Lane. As we turn right, southward at the top of the hill, you will cross Deacon Way Bridge over Deacon Way Stream that leads down to the Dragon Pool. Since the stream's source is runoff water, how much water flowing in it depends on when it last rained. After crossing the bridge, we cross a low area. After a heavy rainstorm, runoff water flows over this area for a short time, which makes the area slippery for a few days.
We continue climbing the hill.
CAUTION. When it has been raining a lot, the lower section of the hill gets slippery. You will notice some old birdhouses alongside the trail.
At the top of the hill, the trail crosses the Buckalew Trail.
If you turn left/eastward on the Buckalew Trail, it leads up to the Meadow Loop.
If you turn right/westward on the Buckalew Trail, it leads down to and over the dam to the Fishing Pier.
We will cross straight over the Buckalew Trail and continue south on the Muir Trail.
POINT OF INTEREST. On the left/east side of the trail. you will notice the Lumpy Tree.
Shortly, we will come to a branch in the trail. The Lake Trail leads to the right/west down the hill to Babcock Lake.
We will continue southward on the Muir Trail and pass near the Trinity Oaks.
A short distance farther down the Muir Trail to the left/east side is the Muir to Meadow Loop Connector.
We will continue southward on the Muir Trail.
Shortly, we will come to the Lakeside Bridge.
As we continue southward on the Muir Trail, we approach University Creek and the trail turns left/east and leads alongside the stream up the hill to the Meadow Loop.
Along the way, we come to the Fern Valley Rest Stop.
After a short rest, we continue up the hill toward the Meadow Loop.
POINT OF INTEREST. After a short distance up the trail, there is a short side trail to the right/south that leads the edge of what seems to be the deepest ravine in the woodlands.
As we continue eastward up the hill on the Muir Trail, we intersect the Meadow Loop.
If we turn left/north on the loop, it winds around to the Meadow Loop Rest Stop.
We will turn right/south on the loop and walk around the southern end of the meadow to where the north end of the Meadow Corridor begins.
We will enter the Meadow Corridor walk south along the perimeter fence line behind an activity building at the bottom of the North Point Baptist Church Parking Lot. This is the area where the parking lot's rain runoff feeds the stream where Fern Valley Rest Stop is located. A Boardwalk crosses this wet, runoff area.
After we cross the boardwalk, we turn left/southeast and reenter the Muir Trail.
POINT OF INTEREST. A few yards further down the potentially soggy Meadow Corridor on the left/south is an entrance to an unused section of the Muir Trail.
We continue eastward up the hill beside the perimeter fence that runs between Salemtowne and the parking lot.
POINT OF INTEREST. After a short distance up the trail, we arrive at the Big, Beautiful Beech,
About halfway around the birch tree to the right/south, is the short Muir to Muir Connector that connects the Muir Trail to an old unused section of the original Muir Trail.
POINTS OF INTEREST
As the connector enters the old section, laying on the ground directly across the old trail section is Roberta's Log.
If you turn left/eastward on the old trail section and walk about 25 steps, on the right/west side of the trail is Barbed Wire Tree.
If you continue eastward on the old section of the trail you will cross a soggy area and reach the fallen trees that block the trail. If you are brave, you can get around the fallen trees by venturing into the woods on the right/southern side of the trail.
If you turn right/northward and walk down the old section of the trail, you reach a soggy area in the Meadow Corridor that leads right/north to the Boardwalk.
After circling the beech tree, we continue north and then we curve to the right/south and walk across the side of the hill and cross some steppingstones that help to get across a potentially wet area.
POINTS OF INTEREST
On the left/east side of the trail, you will see the Big Burl Tree.
On the opposite side of the trail from the Big Burl Tree, you will the Sandworm Tree.
Noise. As you walk along the trail on the eastern side of the woodlands, University Parkway is on the left/east side. Salemtowne property is adjacent to the parkway all the way south from the North Point Baptist Church Parking Lot to where it crosses under Indiana Avenue. Depending on the leaf coverage in the woods, the weather conditions, and the time of day, you may see businesses on the western side of the parkway, and you WILL hear traffic noise from the parkway, especially the emergency vehicle sirens and exhaust noise of street racers, diesel pickup trucks, and motorcycles that quickly accelerate from a stop at the traffic light at Bethabara Boulevard. During the day, you will also hear the loud sound of the drying blower at the exit of Sam's Xpress Car Wash.
As we continue south across the hill, we go around a fallen tree and walk west down the hill.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Just to the right/north side of the trail, you will see the base of the fallen pine tree that has fallen down the hill. This is the tree that caused the blockage on the original Muir Trail. Notice that there was only one root on the uphill side of the root ball; when it snapped, the tree fell.
If you look up, you will see a Tree Archway.
As we continue down the hill through a massive tree fall on both sides of the trail, we rejoin the original Muir Trail at the area where the pine tree fell and blocked the trail. We turn left/south and walk down the hill to the Babcock Bridge.
Just to the right/south of the end of the bridge is the Babcock Bridge Rest Stop.
Just as you step off the gravel ramp at the south end of the bridge, to the right/west is the eastern trailhead for the Woodlands Trail.
We follow the Muir Trail southward up a long hill. The first short hill can be slippery after it rains. The top half of this hill has a log walkway to offer more traction. If the trail is slippery, you can walk off the right/west side in the leaves for better traction.
After a short level section, we come to a branch in the trail The right/west branch is the trailhead of the Wildflower Loop Trail.
We will take the left/southern branch and continue up the hill on the Muir Trail.
Near the top of the hill, the trail will turn southward again and lead down to the south trailhead of the Muir Trail at the Babcock Health Center Access Point.
We will walk up the small grass hill to Babcock Drive near the Indiana Avenue Welcome Center.
Caution. This hill is moderately steep and can be slippery when wet.
At the top of the hill, turn right and walk down Babcock Drive until we reach the entrance driveway to the Babcock House. At this point, we will walk on the sidewalk beside the street all the way to the western end of Babcock Drive at its intersection with Salemtowne Drive. At the intersection, we turn left and walk along the side of Salemtowne Drive, walking by Zinzendorf Park on the left/south and the Vogler Building parking lot on the right/north.
At this point, we get on the sidewalk alongside Salemtowne Drive and continue walking west, and then northward around the curve,
We continue to walk until we get back to the Community Center flag poles.
We have just completed our 2-mile inner perimeter walk of Salemtowne.