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FOCT Announces Leadership Transition and Continued Momentum
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Recent Posts

February volunteer workday CANCELED (Sun 2/15)
Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sat 1/17
Cresheim Trail: 2025 in review, 2026 in preview
Final CT volunteer workday of 2025: Sun 12/7
Love Your Park: Cresheim Trail Fall Planting Sat 11/15

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Donate to Cresheim Trail online (Square)

We encourage you to join our group by making a donation ($50 suggested) online at our Square page or by mail to:

Friends of the Cresheim Trail

PO Box 4341

Philadelphia, PA 19118

Contact Us

Email: info@cresheimtrail.org

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Salute to fellow FOCT board member, Mt Airy local,

Salute to fellow FOCT board member, Mt Airy local, and professional rock star @casualfantastic for sharing these photos of his Cresheim Trail night ski.

If you've gotten any photos on the trail in this snowstorm, be sure to tag us - we wanna see em!

#cresheimtrail

A hearty huzzah and thank you to FOCT board member

A hearty huzzah and thank you to FOCT board member and rail trail local Greg Gutgesell for these photos. He took a proper snow day family hike today with his wife and daughter and came home with this little roundup of the rail trail, Ed's Loop, and Wissahickon East. Thanks Greg!

#cresheimtrail

Some news from the top: At this month’s meeting, t

Some news from the top: At this month’s meeting, the Friends of the Cresheim Trail board of directors voted unanimously to remove the “interim” from John Raisch’s title — he’s now President of the Board for real.

John, who lives in Cheltenham Township, joined the FOCT board in 2018, and really stepped up in 2025 as the organization underwent transitional growth, including the onboarding of our first-ever Executive Director and the advancement of board-level strategy and planning. The new official title of President reflects John’s leadership through this period, and it continues today. But it’s not his first presidency.

Coach John is also the President of @yojustride, a for-profit outdoor education and consulting company, and @independenceyouthcycling, a nonprofit dedicated to youth development through cycling. If you’ve been out on our workdays, you’ve surely seen him and the other helping hands from the IYC community.

If you subscribe to the monthly Cresheim Trail newsletter, you already knew all this. But if you don’t, why not join us! It’s free and typically sent out once a month (sometimes two), with volunteer workday info, upcoming events, and other general CT news yous can use. You can sign up at the link in our bio.

#cresheimtrail

It's 2016 again on the internet? All righty then.

As it happened: ❄️ A snowy shoutout to the 20 peop

As it happened: ❄️ A snowy shoutout to the 20 people who braved the elements and joined us yesterday for a most successful outing on the Cresheim Trail!

We had three crews doing three things: One cut and cleared invasive english ivy, freeing trees from a death grip and exposing nice rock features along the trail. One hauled trash, hiking up and down the trail and clearing an abandoned encampment off trail, for a total of 20 trash bags and various debris. (Double thank you to @philaparkandrec for hauling it out tomorrow after a second snow!) And one spent the morning in the Quarry Rock Garden, pulling potentially hazardous deadfall from the walls of the quarry and cutting it on the ground. All of this while snow progressively fell around us, leaving a couple inches by the time we called it a day.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out. Let’s do it again on Sunday, February 15th. Stay tuned for details. Photos by John, Nick, Dan, and Brad.

#cresheimtrail

NEWS: Cresheim Trail volunteer workday, this Satur

NEWS: Cresheim Trail volunteer workday, this Saturday, 9AM–NOON. Couldn’t cut much straighter to the truth. A big thank you to @erincolemanTV and @nbcphiladelphia for having us on this morning to talk about this weekend’s volunteer workday and bring the trail to a broader Philly audience. You can watch the 4-minute segment at the link in our bio.

We hope you can join us for a morning of pulling english ivy, trash cleanup, and other assorted Januarian tasks, with possible snow flurries to join us. Fun! Bundle up and let's hit it.

We’re meeting on northbound Cresheim Valley Drive opposite from Navajo Street, where all the tree tubes and cages are. (Please do NOT park on southbound CVD if you’re driving.) See you there?

#cresheimtrail

🗣CT Action Alert 🗣 A study of Cheltenham Avenue i

🗣CT Action Alert 🗣

A study of Cheltenham Avenue is underway, a collaboration between @montcoplanning @this_is_springfield & @cheltenhamtwp, encompassing the 2.7 miles between Paper Mill Road and Ogontz Avenue. A public survey as part of the study offers a great opportunity to express your support for a safe crossing of the future Cresheim Rail Trail.

North of Stenton Avenue, the trail will continue a half mile under the power lines to Mermaid Park in Wyndmoor. From there, it's another half mile to Cheltenham Avenue, where the trail must cross the middle part of the dogleg intersection between Mermaid Lane and Waverly Road.

Currently, there are no crosswalks or traffic calming features on four-lane Cheltenham Avenue, with only stop signs on Mermaid and Waverly. This study presents a chance to add critical safety measures for cars, pedestrians, and bikes alike: a protected crosswalk, turning lanes, a new traffic light, etc.

The overview of the corridor study includes a wikimap feature where you can leave a comment right on the map. The survey is comprehensive and takes about 10 minutes. Both links are in our bio.

IMPORTANT: The deadline is Saturday, January 31st. Make your voice heard and help us ensure that the Cresheim Trail will have a safe crossing when it reaches Cheltenham Avenue!

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Pic 1: Map of study area; pink line shows planned route of Cresheim Trail
2: Cheltenham Ave looking east (Mermaid Lane at right)
3: Cresheim Trail corridor looking south across Cheltenham Ave
4: Cresheim Trail corridor looking north from near Cheltenham Ave

#cresheimtrail

Holiday break’s over, time to get back to work in

Holiday break’s over, time to get back to work in the woods! Join us next Saturday for the first Cresheim Trail volunteer workday of the new year. We’ll take advantage of January sightlines and free some trees from the deathly grip of vines, english ivy in particular.

English ivy is as invasive as they come, aggressively spreading to outcompete native groundcover, and climbing up trees indiscriminately, ultimately choking them if left alone. (Pic 2 shows a recently cleared tree fallen by english ivy.) We’ll have some other “offseason” things to do too for a fun wintry morning in the great outdoors.

We’ll meet at the classic CT meetup spot, on *northbound* Cresheim Valley Drive, opposite Navajo Street, amongst the tree tubes and cages. It’s a three-minute walk from the Germantown Avenue trailhead. If you’re driving, there’s room to safely park on the shoulder. Please do NOT park on southbound CVD.

It’s happening Saturday, January 17th at 9AM. See you there? #cresheimtrail

(c) 2026 The Friends of the Cresheim Trail

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