Sanatoga County Preserve
Sanatoga County Preserve offers a natural, somewhat wild hiking experience along the Schuylkill River with opportunities for quiet nature walks and family outings. It is a more rustic, unkempt preserve featuring trails that can be overgrown and challenging to navigate, but it offers a serene environment with scenic spots like an old bridge and fields ideal for outdoor activities like bug hunting. It is not wheelchair accessible and has basic amenities but is appreciated for its peaceful, off-the-beaten-path appeal.
Reviews
we didn’t do much in the park honestly most of the time we spent tubing down the river between parks and local wildlife areas. What I did see of Saratoga and other area parks was decent but pretty basic with not much new or special things if that’s what you are looking for. But it’s definitely a great place to bring your family and just hang out.
Just a short walk from the Schuylkill river trail. Fall colors look great early in the morning.
There is no official entrance to this place. You have to take Porter Road and park at the bend, then walk under the train tracks. Follow the path to the old bridge and cross the river to the preserve. I like the mysterious and unkempt aspect of it. It’s pretty inaccessible and I almost never run into other hikers here. The field near the train tracks is great for bug hunting. And the preserve itself is a good hiking spot, although there isn’t much wildlife. The old bridge is a nice hangout spot, and you can take some great photos there.
Well….if you like a narrow trail with plants and spider webs then this is the trail for you. I went almost completely around until the trail ended abruptly at vegetation covered cliff. There is much to enjoy considering the really wild feel of it but, because I have already done it I will not return except to walk Sanatoga Road.
This is a gorgeous preserve along the Schuylkill River, but it needs to be maintained. More than half of the loop trail is impassable thanks to invasive giant knotweed and stinging nettle. The road going into the trail is already covered with knotweed, while the trail / path coming out on the other end is covered with invasive Asian grass.
The preserve hosts 8 geocaches, three of which are missing. They’ve been reported to the cache owners (not your problem), But several of them are partly unavailable due to the invasives.