Black Rock Sanctuary — Attraction in Phoenixville

I needed a place to take the niece and nephew while I was watching them for the day. This was the perfect place! I was told that adults are not meant to ride bikes there, but it was a good safe place for a kid new to bike riding with even pavement on the path and no cars. We took the shorter path that was about a mile, but there were plenty of stops along the way to interact with nature. It was a hot day, but most of the trail is under the tree canopy. It was great to see the kids outside enjoying nature! There's even a free little library to exchange books. I could see it being a fun weekly adventure to take kids if you live nearby. Also all the dogs we ran into were on leashes, which I highly approve of, especially not knowing how they are going to act around you...

Located just outside of phoenixville, pa on rt 113. Nice park with a large Porta pottie, info kiosk, and several picnic tables at the parking lot. It also has a spigot for filling jugs, etc... with water. Download a map before going as there wasn't any when I visited. Initially, the trails aren't well marked for the first timer but easy enough to get around if you just keep a basic sense of direction. The most traveled trail (interactive) is paved with a lot of very neat lil stops. Bring bug spray because there's a large natural pond that the one trail loops around and a lot of the sanctuary is wetlands. All-in-all, pack a lunch grab the dog(had my k9 with me) or the kids and spend a CPL hrs checking out the place. Nice...

My wife and I have been to the sanctuary on quite a few occasions and I would describe our experience as fairly average. It is certainly nice to have a patch of green closeby and we appreciate that. It also offers some opportunities for bird watching (the telescopes help) and that's nice. On the other hand, the trail is quite short and in order to get a decent walk, we might end up walking around the trail about three or four times, which feels less than ideal. Parking is free and quite convenient at the trail head and we have never head an issue with parking. So all in all, if one is in the area, it is a nice patch of green to have but it also isn't something special enough to draw someone from say...