Susquehanna River Walk

This morning I drove downtown and took lots of photos for a Williamsport travel guide I plan to create. I don’t really need a travel guide for Williamsport but I thought it might be interesting to compile one to publish as an e-book. Downtown is really deserted on a Sunday morning so I was able to take lots of photos without getting people in my shots. There was nobody around to bug me.

I also explored the Susquehanna Riverwalk because I thought it may be a good place to get some photos of downtown. The Susquehanna River Walk is a fairly new bit of urban development. It is a four-mile paved pedestrian loop on the levee along both sides of the river between the Market Street and Maynard Street bridge. Apparently this was created way back in 2009 and I’ve only just discovered it. There were probably some articles about it in the Sun Gazette but I don’t read the Sun Gazette due to their hostility towards the working poor. Basically I don’t want to read my class enemy’s propaganda against my community. Anyway, I walked practically the entire length of the Susquehanna Riverwalk. I crossed the Market Street Bridge over to South Williamsport and then I crossed the Maynard Street Bridge back to the Williamsport side of the river. I took lots of photos of the Susquehanna River, the mountains, and downtown Williamsport. It is a pretty good trail for photography.

I must say that the Susquehanna Riverwalk is too difficult to reach from downtown. On Route 180, aka the Susquehanna Beltway, you need to take the Hepburn Street exit and then cross the railroad tracks to reach the levee where there is a small parking area. That was the only way I could see to reach the Susquehanna Riverwalk. You can’t get there on foot after parking in the Basin Street stripmall. Of course, you can reach it from Market Street by crossing over the Market Street Bridge but that seems a little dangerous.

However, if you do manage to find the Susquehanna Riverwalk you will enjoy some great views of the mountains behind South Williamsport. The levee blocks the view at times on the South Williamsport side but it is still a great way to get close to those mountains. You also get a river view of Williamsport and plenty of great spots to see the Susquehanna River, especially from the bridges. On the Williamsport side of the river, you can see South Williamsport as seen from the Susquehanna Beltway but with the opportunity to take some photos of the mountain gorges and the houses nestled below the mountains.

The Susquehanna River Walk is very scenic. If Williamsport were a more prosperous metropolis there would probably be condominiums built all along the river for the view. Now that I’ve been traveling more, I’ve developed an eye for the special qualities of a tourist destination and the Susquehanna River Walk reminds me of places like the Manayunk Canal Towpath part of the Schuylkill River Trail which is lined with condominiums.