Shock’s Mill Bridge on the Susquehanna River
We spent a little time in Lancaster today and then took what turned out to be a fairly adventurous walk along the Susquehanna River. We parked at Riverfront Park, southwest of Maytown, Pennsylvania and walked upstream on the Riverfront Trail. Most of the (paved) trail isn’t actually close enough to the river to see it, going through woods and along the edge of corn fields, rather than being actually on the river. Still, it was a pleasant walk.
Just before the trail reaches Shock’s Mill Bridge—the train bridge we saw from Schull’s Rock two days ago— the trail turns to go under the bridge right at the rivers edge. It also drops down so that you are only four or five feet above the level of the river. There are signs saying, “Area Subject to Flooding – When Flooded Turn Around.” Although it had started sprinkling, the water was nowhere near the level of the trail. We went a little beyond the bridge but then it started to rain in earnest. We ran back to the bridge, which provided adequate shelter while the rain was falling vertically. The rain got harder and harder and then the wind picked up. I put my camera and lens on the ground as close to the stone wall as possible. Cathy was nervous about flooding, but with the strong winds, I was honestly more worried about a small tornado.
As it turns out, two tornadoes touched down in Columbia, just seven miles from where we were (and where we had breakfast yesterday). Still, the storm ended and although we were soaking wet, we survived (and so did my camera).