If I had the job to name Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania,
I would call it Waterfall Park, for I have never seen so many beautiful
waterfalls in such close proximity to each other anywhere else.
The trails to go through the glen down to around nine waterfalls
is just over a mile, but if one is really fit and decides to do the full circle
to see the fifteen named waterfalls, you are looking at around eight miles.
This park is situated on 2000 acres of land but we never got
to do much more than visit the closer nine waterfalls in the beautiful gorge,
due to the difficult, steep, muddy, slippery paths one has to pick the
way on.
At the entrance is a moderately-appearing temperate forest
with well-marked hiking trails, which belies the terrain awaiting you as you head
downwards to the various falls, but it was worth every effort.
It took us almost and entire half day to visit nine falls
for we had to put our feet down gingerly so as not to become casualties. I
hate to think how we would have been brought back to civilization if any of us
had a serious fall! Besides, there were quite a number of other adventurers
there when we visited, and this included a number of children who just did not understand
the dangers they posed, not only to themselves, but to others, by racing
around.
Happy troopers stand behind their leader on the trail |
As a background from Wikipedia, “Ricketts Glen is a National
Natural Landmark known for its old-growth forest and 24 named waterfalls along
Kitchen Creek, which flows down the Allegheny Front escarpment from the
Allegheny Plateau to the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians.”
Naturally, it was originally home to Native Americans but
was taken away by the colonizing immigrants, and is now named in honor of a
Bruce Ricketts who made lots of money in the lumber industry and in 1860, built
a hotel there.
The park is now operated by the state which has modernized
the facilities and allows free use by all and sundry.
Each waterfall we saw had its own unique features but the
largest and most impressive was the huge Ganoga Falls a real beauty from every angle.
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