MLK Day Hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park

Join me for a wonderful hike in the most visited park in the State during a cool winter morning.

We will take the Yellow, Red and blue trails for a combined distance of 6 mi. that showcases the beauty of a hardwood forest and the creek valley.

The first trail (Yellow) passes through some of the most beautiful hardwood forests in the park and has an elevation gain of approximately 350 feet. The second trail (Red) is the most frequently used trail in the park because it’s the shortest trail to the mill ruins and best showcases the beauty of the creek valley. Then we will take the blue trail climbing up and overseeing the creek to return to the interpretive center (parking).

We will start on the Red Trail at the bottom corner of the parking area turning left after approximately 150 feet. onto the Yellow Trail loop for 3 mi. The Yellow trail drops into the creek valley and heads upstream to the bridge across Sweetwater Creek. This bridge was rebuilt last year after the previous one was washed out a couple of years ago. After crossing the bridge the trail turns downstream where we will pass the wooden footbridge taking the left side at the fork.

As the trail descends through the ravine on the south side of the loop, look for the large rock overhang on the left. Archaeologists estimate that Native Americans used this as shelter for several thousand years. To protect this area do not climb on the slope or the rocks. When the trail leaves the ravine it levels out into many dense stands of Mountain Laurel (beautiful in the spring when they bloom). This is also the area where the bricks for the New Manchester mill were made in the late 1840s. The pits are visible from the trail in the winter.

When we complete the loop we will return to the Red Trail, which after a quarter of a a mile, will take us to the impressive New Manchester mill ruins alongside the white-water rapids of Sweetwater Creek. New Manchester was a mid-nineteenth century mill town which met its demise during the Civil War. A history guide for the Red Trail is available in the Interpretive Center. The second half mile of the Red Trail, downstream of the mill, continues to follow the rapids to the Sweetwater Falls area and is considerably more strenuous because of the very rocky terrain. At the end of the trail we will turn up to return on the blue trail trail back to the Interpretive Center.

Note: Parking is very limited, and there is a $5 parking fee... that is why we are doing the carpool.