Manor Township will host a full-moon bike ride on the Enola Low Grade Rail Trail on Monday, Nov. 7, affording cyclists their first nighttime opportunity to cross the recently opened Safe Harbor trestle bridge.
“We’re just trying to have a community event that highlights the rail trail and showcases our bridge,” township Manager Ryan Strohecker said Thursday. The trail is generally open dawn to dusk.
“I envision cyclists crossing the bridge and stopping to look at the Susquehanna below the dam. You just see the moonlight glistening off the water. To me, that just seems really cool,” he said. (Rain date is Nov. 14. Check the township’s
Facebook page.)
The bridge, which at 125 feet above the Conestoga River is the third-highest railroad trestle in the country, opened in June.
From the start of the trail in the parking lot (2459 River Road, Washington Boro) across the bridge and back is about 10.5 miles. The free ride starts at 7 p.m. Headlights or flashlights are required. Water, hot cider and snacks will be provided at the bridge, while supplies last.
“It’s meant to be a community, family event,” Strohecker said.
Riders could go further — the rebuilt Martic Forge railroad trestle over Pequea Creek about three miles downriver opened to the public Friday — but they should be cognizant of time.
“We’re telling people that you need to be out of our parking lot at 10 p.m., because we close the gate,” Strohecker said.
The township hosted a nighttime ride two years ago and about 30 people participated, but crossing the bridge was not an option then.
Creating the quarter-mile concrete pedestrian crossing atop the bridge was the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ top trail gap priority for linking regional rail trails in the state.
It now links two popular sections of the Enola Low Grade multi-use trail, enabling users to traverse 28 miles from Turkey Hill to the Chester County line.
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