Bayfront Bikeway Trail (from Behrend, Erie Lot, to Frontier Park) Erie, PA

December 2023

Address: I used Google Maps to get to parking at: Frontier Park, West 6th Street, Erie, PA. We dropped off one car, then drove to:

Erie Lot (Penn State Behrend Campus), College Drive, Erie, PA, where we started the walk.

Parking: Paved, Room for 50+ vehicles at the Erie Lot and Paved, Room to 20+ vehicles at the Frontier Park Lot

48-55 degrees at 12:12 PM - 3:48PM, gray with sunshine breaking through for the last hour, light breeze on the miles closest to the lake

I did not check to see if there are restrooms at the building at Frontier Park when we arrived and there was an event there when we were at the end of the hike. Public restrooms were scarce, this time of year especially. We were able to pop in to a Kwik Fill around 2 miles in.

Parking and entrance to the trail is free.

Dogs on leads were allowed but Wesley stayed home.

Our walk was around 9 miles long. We had many road crossings, more than 6. There were a few turns where other paths or sidewalks made for some guesswork about which one we should take. We were lucky in our choices but a few trail markers would have been very welcome. My daughter joined me so that we had a car at each end enabling us to walk the entire path in one go. The path was wide enough to accommodate walking side by side or easily allowing two-way traffic.

The entire bike trail was paved.

We only passed a few runners, a few dogwalkers (these were on the college campus) and a few bikers. It is December but it was an exceptionally mild day.

The trail has very few shaded areas. That was not a problem this time of year. There were many trees on the edge of the trail. Maybe once the leaves come out, they might provide some shade during summer.

There was trash along the path. If I wanted to double the amount of time I was on the trail, I could have probably filled a full-sized trash bag.

Mosquitos were not out today.

Shorts in warmer weather would not be a problem.

I saw pigeons, Canada geese, squirrels, goldenrod, milkweed, cat tail, and a wide variety of tree species along the walk but with many at the arboretum at Frontier Park including many oak, pine, hemlock, sycamore, staghorn sumac, eastern cottonwood, Chinese crabapple, snowdrift crabapple, spring snow crabapple, flowering crabapple, golden raindrops crabapple, Adam's crabapple, pin oak, royal raindrop crabapple, white cascade crabapple, American masterpiece crabapple, and white birch.

For more information: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/pennsylvania/bayfront-connector-trail-bayfront-bikeway and

https://www.traillink.com/trail/bayfront-connector-trail

I am fascinated by the changes over recent years; here is a link to the overall plan for pedestrians and bicyclists:

https://www.penndot.pa.gov/RegionalOffices/district-1/ConstructionsProjectsAndRoadwork/ErieCountyProjects/CentralBayfrontParkwayProject/Pages/BicycleandPedestrianAmenities.aspx

Nearby:

Andora's Bubble Tea Shop, 516 State Street, Erie, PA 16501

https://www.andorasbubble.com/

No visit to Erie with my daughter is complete without a stop for bubble tea. Today, they were also serving hot chocolate. I had the caramel hot chocolate with 2% milk and it was fantastic.

View of the trail entrance from the Erie Lot on the Behrend Campus.

The trail overlaps with other trails so here it is also marked on Google Maps as the Penn State Bikeway.

Erie Lot

View from the first bridge shown in the first photo.

Walking over the highway

View from the bridge

Sociable bench arrangement

This stand of sumac and goldenrod must be beautiful in the autumn.

First road crossing

Looking back as we leave the Penn State Bikeway part of the trail

Next road crossing

We crossed the road at the interesection to get to the Citgo. It does not have public restrooms but the Kwikfill across the road from it does have a public restroom.

Purchased a few snacks and made use the public restroom. Thank you, Kwik Fill.

A splash of floral color

A few murals along the trail

Train was not running today

When we crossed the road, we were not sure whether to go left or right. We chose left and that worked well for us.

We had a better view of this mural when driving from the Frontier Parking Lot but it was still cool to see.

Another cross walk

Mural

Right end of the same mural

Another road crossing

Canada geese

If there is not enough parking at Frontier Park, there is more parking available by the library.

Bus Station

Brigadier General Strong Vincent, Gettysburg

9-11 Memorial with a piece of the Twin Towers as the center piece

In front of the library

Bike Trail that is not yet open

We went to the right

We used the path on the left'. The traffic noise to the left and the water flowing in the creek to the right made hearing difficult for me so we fell in to single file because I did not think I would hear a bike approaching.