Ricketts Glen State Park

On the Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend, a couple of colleagues and I went to Ricketts Glen State Park. We had to take a slightly longer route than what mapquest gave us, but ended up in the park by ~11:00 am. The plan was to hike the Falls Trail (starting clockwise at the Lake Rose parking area). The DCNR rec guide for Ricketts Glen warned that this trail was “very difficult”. I therefore asked the other group members to wear their hiking shoes on a sweltering day.

Apart from the Midway Crevasse, we also came across a huge fallen tree and some vistas on the Highland Trail that would be nicer in Fall. The Midway Crevasse was very interesting. The waterfalls were really amazing. I tried my hand at getting nicer pics of waterfalls by playing around with my camera’s shutter speed and aperture. The Falls Trail, was in my (and my friend who has hiked some challenging trails around Central PA with me) opinion not a very difficult hike, at least in summer, compared to the Colerain Park/Little Juniata/1000 steps hikes posted earlier. This is not to say that it is very easy too; there are steep drops to the bottom of the falls if you lose your footing. It does get busy on summer weekends, though. There are some bugs on the trail, so if you have insect repellant, it might be a good idea to pack it. When we arrived at the parking area (from State College), we still some parking spots available. On our return, we saw a sign saying that the Lake Rose parking area was full. So, the earlier you start your hike, the better.

We also went to see some very old hemlocks, pines and the equally nice Adams Falls. This part of the park is usually less crowded and but is equally magnificent. On the same trail, we came across this plant. It was nice to see how its leaves at different levels had different symmetries to allow the plant to capture the most amount of sunlight. I saw some awesome pictures of the falls in winter (when they freeze) – it looked simply superb.