Take a hike — the colors of autumn in the Cresheim Valley | Photo: Bradley Maule

Philadelphians with even the slightest predilection for hiking under the canopy of fall colors tend to migrate to Wissahickon Park this time of year, from entrance points all across the Northwest, East Falls to Chestnut Hill and Andorra. One particular route, a two and a half mile section forging the natural boundary between Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, offers a nice cross section of the marriage of city and nature: Cresheim Creek.

Cresheim Creek, one of a number of tributaries depositing into the Wissahickon Creek proper, bubbles up from the ground at the USDA facility in an area wedged into Montgomery County’s corner formed by Stenton Avenue and Ivy Hill Road at the city’s edge. From here, it tumbles a little under three miles toward the Wissahickon parallel to a former rail bed (which will ultimately become a proper rail trail), over 17th and 18th Century dams, beneath a grove of white pines, past a fascinating guerilla landscape installation, under a number of bridges, trestles and aqueducts, and through the legendary but deadly Devil’s Pool.

This short set presents no commentary, only a look at the Cresheim valley doused in fall color. All photos here were taken between Cresheim Valley Road and Wissahickon Creek.