The original, the backbone, the mainstem of the Cresheim Trail. First built in 2012, this 1.1-mile segment begins at a handsome trailhead at Lincoln Drive & Allens Lane with a timber gate rebuilt by FOCT, plantings of native species like golden ragwort, new england aster, and wild geranium, and a Friends of the Wissahickon kiosk. Native crabapple and kentucky coffeetrees frame the vista.
Heading north from there, the trail meanders a path following the planned but unfinished alignment of Lincoln Drive for its first half-mile, including a spur to the trails of Wissahickon Valley Park and a crossing at Cresheim Road, where one can enter the Outdoor Classroom. Relics of the unfinished Lincoln Drive are especially visible after the crossing, including stone curbs and retaining walls. The trail continues past two skinnies (mountain bike log rides) and onward under the SEPTA Chestnut Hill West Line bridge, built in 1989.
After the junction here with the Upper Loop, the CT mainstem encounters several large stone formations, including the Grotto, atop which FOCT built a log bench and stone stairs leading to it in 2015. Continuing northward, the trail originally left the woods at the Navajo Connector and continued on the shoulder of Cresheim Valley Drive Avenue toward Germantown Avenue. In 2014, the trail was completed through the woods to the Avenue, after a small stone slab bridge was built over asmall tributary of Cresheim Creek. A rustic wooden tread was laid over two swampy areas until the more-permanent boardwalk was built by FOCT in 2016.
After the boardwalk was completed, the remaining segment to Germantown Avenue was rerouted to the bank of Cresheim Creek, offering new views of the creek, the Cresheim Valley Pergola, and the 1884 stone arch bridge carrying Germantown Avenue over the creek. FOCT made improvements to the trail tread and Germantown Ave trailhead in 2024, including raising the trail tread to meet the sidewalk, clearing invasive vines from the trestle abutment, and planting daffodils.
