Ricketts Glen State Park

On Tuesday, we had a rather leisurely morning and left the campground a little after 10 am to go to Ricketts Glen State Park.  In 1868, Colonel R. Bruce Ricketts bought land in this area of Pennsylvania to timber it.  After discovering two branches of Kitchen Creek that cut through deep gorges causing a series of waterfalls, Colonel Ricketts built trails to the area of the waterfalls which became known as the Glens Natural Area.  Colonel Ricketts named the waterfalls after his friends and family but also after several American Indian tribes.

While so much of Pennsylvania was logged, this area was protected and has within it trees that are over 300 years old.  In 1969, the Glens became a National Natural Landmark and in 1993 it became a State Park Natural Area.  

The park has several trails but the one that is probably the most hiked but also the most difficult is the Falls Trail.  Ken and Bonnie had hiked this trail previously and had told us about all the beautiful waterfalls along the trail.  

The first 1/3 of the trail is part of the Highland Trail at the top of the gorge.

We saw mushrooms,

baby trees,

and several outcroppings of rock.

We walked through the Midway Crevasse.

and then we turned off of the Highland Trail and began walking the Falls Trail along the eastern branch of Kitchen Creek.

Occasionally, we would see a tree starting to change into its fall colors.

We began descending down the gorge...

...and came to our first "official" waterfall, the Onondaga.

We descended further,

crossed the creek,

and looked back at F. L. Ricketts waterfall.

Although the trail is rated "most difficult" in the park's guide, it is very well built with series of steep, stone steps in many places.  

This particular level section of the trail almost was floored with big flat stones.

We spotted this big tree that had fallen across the creek.

Chuck "went out on a limb" and showed us how he could cross the creek.  :)

The next waterfalls we came to was the Shawnee...

...followed by the Huron waterfalls.

One of my favorite waterfalls along the trail was the Ozone...

...because of the way the mist and spray came up from the falls and glistened in the sun.

The last three waterfalls we walked by before taking a break and eating a snack were the R. B. Ricketts,

the B. Reynolds,

and the Wyandot waterfalls (which I didn't get a picture of).  

While the first third of our hike didn't have any waterfalls, the second third of our hike down into the gorge had 8 named waterfalls not to mention the countless little spillovers we saw as the eastern branch of Kitchen Creek ran down into the gorge.

At Water Meet (where the west and east branches of Kitchen Creek came together), we ate our snacks and rested about 15 minutes before beginning the ascent up the gorge of the western branch of Kitchen Creek.  We could have continued hiking a little further past Water Meet to see three more named waterfalls; but we knew we had a pretty steep hike in front of us and voted to began the hike back up.  

Even though fall is approaching, there were still beautiful little wildflowers here and there.  (You knew I couldn't pass up a picture of some pretty wildflowers!)

Again, there would be steps in places where the trail was particularly steep but in many cases, you were hiking over big tree roots running out in every direction over the trail.

As we began the hike back up, we saw the Erie waterfalls,

the Tuscadora,

the Conestoga (another one I didn't get a picture of), and the Mohican,

I loved the way the steps followed along the side of the Mohican waterfall.

Next, we came to the Delaware,

followed by Seneca Falls,

and then the tallest of all the waterfalls in Ricketts Glen:  the Ganoga at 94' tall.

A view from the top of Ganoga:

The last three waterfalls were the Cayuga,

the Oneida,

and last, but not least, the Mohawk.

As we climbed those last final steps, all of our knees were getting pretty tired.  

By the time we made it back to the car, we had walked about 3.5 miles.  It was a beautiful trail and I don't think we have ever seen that many waterfalls on one trail!  It took me awhile to figure out which waterfalls were which by comparing my pictures with the Park brochure and I still missed getting pictures of a couple of them!  

We were all pretty tired by the time we got back but not too tired to play a couple of games while sitting outside at the picnic table.  Ray, one of the campground owners, came by and visited with us until it was too dark to see our cards so we called it a night and headed inside.  

Another beautiful day in beautiful Pennsylvania!