Offbeat spots to see | Outdoorsy Newsletter

The end of October is approaching. We’ve explored so much of our region together. Since this journey began, we:

🍓 Went berry-picking, birdwatching and learned how to hit the trail safely

🏕️ Explored new campsites, chased waterfalls (against TLC’s advice) and took a dip to beat the heat

🐕 Got loose with our best furry friends and looked up at the stars while pondering our existence

🎃 Followed the pumpkin patch road and took on apple-picking adventures

🥾 Scoped out the best hikes of the season and took scenic bike rides down the Shore and in Philadelphia

We covered a lot more ground in between, but now I want to hear from you.

📮 How many of these recommended activities did you try this season? Email me back and tell me about your experience for a chance to be featured as the most outdoorsy reader in the final edition of this newsletter. (Don’t forget some photos!)

☀️ Your weekend weather outlook: Friday and Saturday forecasts call for some showers. Look forward to a beautifully sunny and breezy Sunday with a high near 59.

Today, we’re taking a brief getaway, meeting Delco’s very own “lumberjill,” and exploring a revamped Philly trail with a secret spot worth seeing.

— Paola Pérez

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Tired of the same old haunts?

We’ve got ten places to check out in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that could serve as good destinations for a quick adventure.

Whether that means a trip to an underground cave, or just a unique hike, all of these are within about 100 miles of Center City. Some are closer, while others are worth a full day of fun:

See the full roundup of solid day trip options to try.

🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to Jason Nark. You’ll always find his work here.

In a clearing of felled trees and log piles, Martha King stands on a sawdust-covered stage, wielding a heavy ax and a whole lot of power. She draws from her family, her faith, and a lifetime of experience handling sharp objects.

Her biceps help, too. King, 34, is ripped.

She’s eyeing a piece of wood on a Saturday morning in Chadds Ford, swinging the custom ax slowly, like a batter warming up outside the box. Then King turns it on, the blade in and out of the wood in a half-second with loud “thwacks” that echo across the yard. She exhales hard with every hit, and wood chips fly through the air all around her.

“Yeah,” she says without pausing, “this will toughen you up.”

Few lumberjills in the world can work an ax, or a single buck saw, or a chainsaw like King. In July, out in Milwaukee, King won her third U.S. title at the Stihl Timbersports National Women’s Championships. She won the title in 2018 and 2021, too, and last year, won first place at the Timbersports International Women’s Cup in Vienna, Austria. She even chopped wood on the set of Live with Kelly and Mark. — Jason Nark

It’s all in Jason’s feature story. Keep reading for more on the extraordinary life of a champion lumberjill.

For years, unlucky hikers, bikers and runners have wandered onto a trail off Chamounix Drive in West Fairmount Park, following the path through woods and ravines only to get lost amid numerous cutoffs, I-76 rumbling in the distance like a taunt.

But the lucky have stumbled upon Skew Arch Bridge, a unique structure of stone and spiraling bricks built in 1896 as part of a long-defunct trolley line built by Fairmount Park Transit Company — one of those hidden histories of Philadelphia’s forgotten past. The trolley line went bankrupt and closed in 1946.

Now, the Trolley Trail is more clearly marked and manageable. Since 2017, Fairmount Park Conservancy has worked with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Belmont Plateau Trails Alliance to more fully develop the 4.5-mile, multipurpose loop that roughly follows the former trolley line that once whisked visitors across Fairmount Park to Woodside Amusement Park, which closed in 1955.

Keep reading to explore the newly renovated trail.

Captured this at Decatur Street beach in Cape May recently. I was lucky enough to enjoy the breathtaking sunset soon after.

It’s been a while since I was near a body of water like this. There’s something about the ocean...

Hoping to head back down the Shore one more time before “shoulder season” ends.

Before we went biking down the Shore last week, I asked you to submit special biking memories. Here are some responses:

Ed Halper of Basking Ridge, NJ: Love that 13-mile island route, and do it the first day of our vacation each year. Good route, take different thoroughfares north and south to get some different scenes, and observe what’s changed from the year before. I’ll try that Cape May Zoo route one day next year, too.

Jen Ragen: I can’t recall if it happened just a few times or dozens, but my favorite biking memory is of being picked up from school in the mid-1990s. My dad would ride his bike from near Front and Olney to St. Helena’s at 5th and Godfrey to retrieve my brother and I. Only, he did it while carrying both of our bikes too. Balanced one on each of his handle bars, he did what I can’t even imagine attempting, just so we three could ride home together. Or maybe our family car was on the fritz? Who could be sure?

Mark Hale of Tokyo: My suggestion is to rent a bike in Cape, I can think of 3 or 4 bike rental shops, then ride your bike along Sunset Boulevard to Cape May Point: first check out the light house and the natural area, head for the old nuns’ retreat, St. Peter’s by the Sea, and Lily Lake before returning to Cape May. Takes about 2 hours. It is a nice easy bike ride and really pretty. You can see the sunset too.

📮 Give us a review of your outdoors experience for a chance to be featured in this newsletter by emailing me back.

I’ll leave you with these motivational words from Mon RovÎa: “Big love ahead / Mountaintops you’ll scale.”