Ricketts Glen



Ricketts Glenn, Rickett's Glen State Park (4/8/2014)

This was the third hike we did during our five-day stay in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was overcast when we woke up, but the weather forecast had only a 20% chance of rain during the morning, with no chance in the afternoon. After yesterday's soaking we decided to hike after lunch. Our plan was to do the famous falls hike in Rickett's Glenn (hike #22 in the book Hiking the Endless Mountains by Jeff Mitchell), the hike that passes by 20 waterfalls in the same relatively small area. After more than 24 hours of constant rain it was sure to be magnificent. But when we pulled into the lot there were signs all over that the Falls trail was closed. All entrances were taped with police tape. Only registered ice climbers were allowed, or hikers with crampons, ice axes and rope! We only had crampons. So on to plan B. We decided to do the smaller Evergreen Trail (hike #24 in Mitchell's book). That trail was open! But when we got to Adams Falls, we saw the completely ice-covered stone stairs leading down to a completely ice-covered cliff to the far-off wooden bridge across Kitchen Creek. We decided, without discussion, that we weren't going to risk death with our crampons and decided to head back to the car and regroup.

With Plan A and Plan B out the window, we noticed that the Old Bulldozer Road Trail began in the same parking lot. So, we decided to do part of Hike #25 ("Old Bulldozer Road Trail") in the book. The book describes this as an 8-mile out and back. We decided to do the steep 1-mile up Rickett's Glenn (at least an 800 foot climb), continue a bit further and then turn around and retrace our steps. As our luck would have it, it began raining as we were about half-way up. At the viewpoint it was raining hard and strong wet winds were (just like yesterday) blowing directly at me from the viewpoint. I found myself repeatedly wiping my camera lens again. But things got better. On the return, the sun was popping out and I was able to get a few nice shots. But it rained off and on for the rest of the descent.

Total distance hike today was 3 miles in 2 hours.

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