Mountain Man Adventure, Day 4 - the last day

It was a cold night - and we were attacked by a roving band of raccoons. I actually slept through the whole thing, but Jason tells me everyone around us was yelling and banging on pots or whatever to shoo the trash pandas to the next campsite.

The clouds had cleared off at some point in time, and the lake we were camping on (the view below was about 30 feet from our campsite) had a ton of mist floating on it.

The mist burned off as the sun was rising, but there was still some light mist to provide some drama to the photo.

Shortly after I took this, we packed up camp, loaded up Jason's truck, and made the drive home. I think we lucked out - phenomenally - with the two absolute gems of Loyalsock and Rickett's Glen. The weather was just about perfect, the leaves were pretty near peak color, and we got to spend some time in a beautiful place that I never would have attributed to Pennsylvania. Two WELL-kept secrets!

Cheers!

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 3

It rained at some point in time in the early morning hours, but it was light and it stopped a bit before breakfast. We decided to go find a diner for breakfast, which gave us a nice warm, dry place to eat and no dishes to clean up afterwards...win!

Along the way to the diner, we crossed the lower trail that leads up to the final 4 falls in Rickett's Glen, all below Water's Meet. The first photo is Abram's Falls, and is just off the road. It has 3 distinct falls, the one pictured is the middle falls. This one was a bit sketchy - with the rain and leaves, the rocks were slippery in places.

We then hiked about a mile or so up the river to see the final 3 falls. We kept kidding (just like the day before) that the next waterfall was just that, another waterfall in the 25+ we'd seen in the past 2-3 days, but they always seemed to amaze us.

After the hike, we went back to camp, and started a fire which we nursed for the rest of the day. Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 2

The next day we made our way to Rickett's Glen State Park. It has 22 named waterfalls, and a whole host of smaller, unnamed waterfalls. We took the long (scenic) route to get there, and got a later start to the hike, but ended up hiking the main circuit (down Genoga Glen and then up Glen Leigh).

The place was pretty busy, with loads of folks on the trails and clustered at the larger waterfalls. 

We didn't let that stop us, we just enjoyed the sites and moved on to the less popular falls and really enjoyed those.

The leaves were really just starting to turn at Rickett's Glen, compared to just short of full throttle at Loyalsock. 

Eventually, the two streams merge into Water's Meet (photo above) which does not count as a named waterfall. There were leaves swirling in the pool, so I thought I'd try to capture the motion with a longer exposure. I kinda like how this turned out.

We both joked with each waterfall that we'd seen them all, but the next waterfall was always just perfect, which slowed us down. Just what the doctor ordered!

Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 1, Part 2

From Miner's Run, we drove about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile up the road to the next trailhead - for Middle Falls on Rocky Run. I knew from my planning that it was going to be a pretty special place, but we were totally unprepared for just how amazing this place was. 

The waterfall itself is fairly small, definitely less than a 10 foot drop, but it drops into a small cut and then empties into a large pool. The photo above shows the first pool, which then drops into a much larger pool. Both are large and deep enough to swim in, with the lower pool hitting at least 15 feet, probably 20 feet of depth. This place has to be a great place in the summer to come cool off!

Once we'd had our fill of Middle Falls, we drove on up the road to get to the Upper Falls trailhead. This is another place that had a deep pool that would make for a fantastic swimming hole. The tree on the right third has a rope swing - so people definitely come here to make some fun memories.

I did a little hiking upstream to cross to the other side, and found that the river had carved a pretty path through the rock.

And finally, from downstream of the Upper Falls.

All in all, Jason and I both thought the two falls were crazy awesome - we cannot believe that the locals have managed to keep this such a well-kept secret!

Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 1, Part 1

Every year for the past 5 or so years, I have met up with an old friend from high school, and we go hiking and camping. We've hiked at Dolly Sods in WV, the Escarpment Trail in NY, Red River Gorge in KY, and the Great Smoky Mountains in NC. This year we headed north into Pennsylvania. I had heard of Rickett's Glen State Park from a guy at church, and with a short leash this year (thank you very much COVID), that is where we headed.

Because all campsites were booked for the whole time I had available, I looked nearby for other places to day hike and stumbled across Loyalsock State Forest.

We made our way to Miner's Run, a small river (creek is a better descriptor) just a couple of miles in from the entrance. We parked next to this bridge, and then started following the river upstream. There are supposed to be seven waterfalls, none named, on this short stretch of river.

The first one is just under the bridge, and then again about 100 feet upstream. The leaves were not quite in full swing for the autumn color change, but we were within a week of peak color.

We continued to hike upstream until the last large waterfall, which required some decent bouldering to get around (not in the pictures here).

We both agreed that this little state park is an unsung gem - but we didn't know how much better it would be!

Cheers,

Marc

More Kansas

I have no classes this weekend, so I decided to do a bit of exploring rather than just sit and read in my room. I was originally planning to head south into the prairie, but decided to instead head north and explore the countryside.

I found a scenic highway, and then with the help of both my GPS and google maps, drove off into the countryside on some pretty rural roads.

On two different roads, the gravel disappeared and I was left with a dirt road. On more than one occasion, the road I thought I would take became a two-rut dirt road. For THOSE, I turned around and found a different way.

I drove north just over the Nebraska state line, and then headed back for some lunch and a leisurely return mostly along the Missouri river.

I have some laundry and homework to do - but that will all be done shortly. Next up - planning my Sunday excursion. Have a great day everybody!

Marc

Konza Prairie

I am in Kansas for course I need for my next job. Since everyone had to be tested for COVID, we had a couple of days on the front end to allow for testing. Well, mine came back about 9 am today, so I took a quick drive out into the prairie.

I found the Konza Prairie preserve, a joint venture between Kansas State University and The Nature Conservancy, about 90 miles away. Since the thought of hanging out in my hotel room all day wasn't appealing, I jumped into the rental and took a drive through the countryside.

It was a beautiful drive. A bit west of Topeka, I crested a hill and the wooded bottomlands gave way to the prairie of the flint hills. Some road construction added a solid 45 minutes to my drive on the front side of the trip, but it was still a pretty pleasant trip all things considered.

I took the 5 mile hiking loop. Good thing I brought sunscreen, since there wasn't much in the way of shade along the majority of the trail. A couple of other people were out there, but it was otherwise fairly desolate. Just what the doctor ordered.

Have a great week!

Marc