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Toast to the Trail: Cresheim Trail Fundraiser 2026
Earth Day Workday CANCELED! Volunteer event Sun 4/19
Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Wed 4/1
Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sat 3/21
February volunteer workday CANCELED (Sun 2/15)

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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

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Email: info@cresheimtrail.org

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cresheimtrail

Come on in, it’s a rhodo photo party! Rhododendron

Come on in, it’s a rhodo photo party! Rhododendrons are common in Pennsylvania — at least 11 species are native to the commonwealth, both evergreen and deciduous, and they’re pretty common across the Wissahickon.

The ones pictured here are evergreens — the first three pics are in the Quarry Rock Garden near the stone staircase; the last two are along the mainstem Cresheim Trail just north of the SEPTA Chestnut Hill West bridge.

Catch these rhodo beauties while they’re still in bloom. 🌸

#cresheimtrail

You’re invited! 🎟️ Friends of the Cresheim Trail a

Kindest blessings to Mother Earth on her big day.

Kindest blessings to Mother Earth on her big day. We celebrated Earth Day with 31 volunteers this morning — on a weekday, in the rain. And we did our best to care for her in yon Quarry Rock Garden and Friends Loop.

We pulled every last invasive garlic mustard plant, we hacked and hauled little thorns of multiflora rose and big thorns of trifoliate orange, we cleared cut up deadfall, we freed a very nice native spicebush in a prominent part of the cliff from years of invasive overgrowth, and we removed 13 bags of trash, many of it decades old from the farthest part of the Friends Loop’s new section, along with a tire and big scrap metal. And all of this happened before the rain became too heavy to continue. Not bad for a Wednesday!

Our next volunteer outing will be Saturday May 16th’s cleanup of Cresheim Valley Drive, but come and see us before that at the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival on Sunday May 3rd! More info on both to come.

#cresheimtrail

All right, let’s try this again: Earth Day, for re

All right, let’s try this again: Earth Day, for real! 🌎 Friends of the Cresheim Trail will host a weekday workday to show our love for Mother Earth. She’s been awaiting our collective hands in the Quarry Rock Garden for a while, so let’s put em to work this Wednesday, April 22nd.

We’ll meet at 9am at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill and hike in on the Friends Loop for an invasive plant whacking party, which in turn makes the native plants happy — plants like northern spicebush, which we’ll be putting a keen eye on. (See our post two before this one for more info.) We’ll be joined by David Bower and the @fowissahickon Q-Team, and we’d love your company too.

Once again, a shoutout to @athleticbrewing who are supporting our restoration efforts in the Quarry Rock Garden through a Two for the Trails grant.

#cresheimtrail

Maaaaan, we really hate to do this, but we’ve made

Maaaaan, we really hate to do this, but we’ve made the decision to err on the side of caution and begrudgingly cancel this Sunday’s volunteer workday. Potentially heavy rain and high winds are in the forecast, neither of which make for a safe or fun workday.

HOWEVER: The early forecast for next Wednesday looks pretty great for an Earth Day proper outdoors. So, let’s try that! If you’re available for a weekday workday, we’ll try all the same tasks in the same space at the same time: Wednesday, April 22nd, 9am–12pm in the Quarry Rock Garden. We’ll meet at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill (7645 Germantown Ave). Join us?

#cresheimtrail

This weekend, we’re gonna keep it spicy. Spicebush

This weekend, we’re gonna keep it spicy. Spicebush — northern spicebush specifically, Lindera benzoin — is native to eastern North America. It’s notable for its spicy fragrance, yellow spring blossoms (which are winding down after this heat wave), and red berries in the fall. It’s one of the most abundant understory shrubs in the Cresheim corridor and throughout the Wissahickon. And, it’s surprisingly plentiful in the Quarry Rock Garden, where we’ll be working at our volunteer outing THIS SUNDAY.

The forecast looks like it’ll be a little wet, but as long as the rain does not involve thunder, lightning, or high winds, we’re gonna go for it. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than getting out in a little rain. Our partners at @wissrestvols and @fowissahickon agree, so grab a hat and a slicker and let’s do it!

There are lots of invasive plants to remove (including several crowding otherwise healthy spicebush plants), deadfall to clear, trash to pick on the Friends Loop, good times to be had.

We’ll meet at 9am in Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill, where @chestnuthillcommunity installed a butterfly as part of a collaboration with @morrisarboretum that will be up throughout 2026.

If the forecast takes a turn for the worse, we’ll post any cancellations here.

#cresheimtrail

Greetings, earthlings! 🌎 With a warm week ahead, t

Greetings, earthlings! 🌎 With a warm week ahead, the early forecast looks just about *perfect* for our next volunteer workday. Celebrate Earth Day weekend with Friends of the Cresheim Trail and our partners from @fowissahickon @wissrestvols & @chestnuthillcommunity this Sunday, April 19th at 9am.

We’ll meet at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill (7645 Germantown Ave) for another morning in the Quarry Rock Garden, plotting against invasive plants and planning for native ones to come later. We’ll be clearing brush and deadfall, pulling vines, picking trash, and all of the usual fun stuff of a volunteer workday. If we have enough people (and it looks like we might), we have some other tasks elsewhere like watering plants and placing gravel on the new connector trail at Wissahickon East.

A very special thank you to @athleticbrewing, whose Two for the Trails grant is supporting this outing, and of course to David Bower and the Q-Team, Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers, and Chestnut Hill Community Association.

It’s happening THIS SUNDAY, and as always, if you’re a Weavers Way member, you can count your volunteering towards your working hours.

#cresheimtrail

Once again, a monumental offering of gratitude goe

Once again, a monumental offering of gratitude goes to the 37 volunteers who came out yesterday, in the middle of the week, to care for our beloved Cresheim Trail! Extra special thanks to David Bower and the @fowissahickon Q-Team, @independenceyouthcycling, and @philaparkandrec. Teamwork ⟿ dreamwork. With spring buds starting to emerge around us, we met and worked in the area of the trail crossing at Cresheim Road, from the Outdoor Classroom down to the road crossing at Buttercup Cottage.

Among the work that got done: we removed and scattered a bunch of yard waste and organic debris that was littering the road, we cut back lots of honeysuckle and multiflora rose before it started encroaching into the trail, we continued our mission against english ivy, and of course we hauled out a few bags of trash. Most importantly (and arguably most fun), we did some much needed trail work on the south side of the crossing, stabilizing some loose areas, building some new grade reversals to help shed water off the trail, and we debermed the area where the poison ivy grows so strong.

All in all, a heck of an outing for the middle of the week. Thanks again to all who came out. We’ll get back to it on Sunday, April 19th for a big tag team Earth Day weekend outing. Save the date for now (we’ll start at 9am) and we’ll announce details shortly.

#cresheimtrail

(c) 2026 The Friends of the Cresheim Trail

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