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| - Not to be confused with Boyce Park near Monroeville, Upper St. Clair Township had its own Boyce Park. In 1996 the township acquired 238 acres of the Mayview Farm property from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The plan was to combine the existing park with the new acquisition thus creating Boyce Mayview Park. Both were largely undeveloped and the combined properties gave Upper St. Clair Township over 500 acres of extensive woodlands, level fields and open spaces as well as stream valleys, hiking trails and active vegetable gardens. The master plan is shown here http://www.twpusc.org/rec/parks/boycemay/masterplan/masterplan.pdf and while it's a huge PDF, it'll show you how the township wanted to protect wetlands and habitat while creating additional recreational facilities. Today the Boyce Mayview Park has ten miles of hiking trails, an environmental center with outdoor classrooms, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and an abundance of wildlife.
The address I gave you is for the recreational center and there's plenty of parking available here. There are other access points with parking off of Boyce Road at Bird's Meadow Drive, Boyce Road at Morton Road, and Morton Road north of Ravine Drive. We parked the car at the Regional Environment Education Center and began our hike on the Beach Valley Trail. Looking at a map, we realized the trail system was too extensive to do it all in one day, but by golly we were gonna get in as much as possible! It was a short hike down the Beach Valley Trail to the Sycamore Floodplain, one of two in the park. The other is the Chariters Floodplain. I recommend beginining your hike towards the edges of the park so you can see both. We picked up the Between Two Worlds Trail, which passes Cathedral Point and is the closest to the Sycamore Floodplain. The Between Two Worlds Trail skirts Chartiers Creek, which forms a part of the park's boundary. We took that down to the Cahrtiers Floodplain Trail, which is a short path and as its name implies, connects to the Chartiers Floodplain. It dead-ends into the floodplain, but does give you a good sense of place. We resumed heading south, this time over the Woodlands Trail. As its name suggests, the trail goes through a short stretch of woodlands and we could hear but not see some of them critters which inhabit the woods. We could also hear some birdcalls in through here.
The Woodlands Trail ends at Ravine Drive. Here you can turn right on the road and then take a left on the Covered Bridge trail. Hint: it's right before the road turns right. We then crossed a tributary of Chartiers Creek and followed the Trillum Trail. This took us down to the PennDot Wetlands. Now these wetlands were owned by PennDot long before the park was created. Here you can find an abundance of wiildlife: reptiles, turtles, aquatic birds, etc. We stopped at the observation deck and note to self: next time bring binoculars. I could have spent hours on the deck just looking out over the sights. We then looped counter-clockwise around the wetlands, stopping at the second observation deck. Wetlands and floodplains are ecologically important for us. Not only do they host an abundance of fauna and flora. whose habitats might otherwise be lost, they act as sponges and help prevent area flooding.
We zigazgged a little bit, crossing another bridge while picking up the Wetlands Trail. If you take the next loop like we did via the Wetlands Trail, Little Falls Trail, and the Many Habitats Trail, keep your ears open for the many birdcalls. We were circling the Bird Meadows and birdwatchers might want to take a slight detour on Bird Meadows drive as that goes much closer to the meadows. While on the Many Habitats Trail, we paused at the Spring House Remains. This made for a good snack stop, althugh I'd like to get more information on the house. I wondered if it was a part of the original farm here. At the Springh House Remains, we took a sharp right and then looped up clockwise via the White Pine Trail and the Upland Trail. By doing so, we were able to get in some meadows and woodlands too. The Upland Trail ends at Split Earth Point and here we picked up the short Switchback Trail. This trail ends at the Covered Bridge Trail. Just so you know, there's a short stub off the trail at the bridge which goes to the falls. Now this is not much more than a little waterfall at the confluence of two creeks, but it is still kind of pretty. We wrapped things up by returning on the Woodlands Trail to the Old Farm Trail.
I'd say we did a good 7 miles that day. Just remember Susan's hiking tips. Wear sturdy hiking or athletic shoes, bring snacks and water, hike to your abilities, and take only photos and leave only footprints.
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