Our Ricketts Glen Adventure

This is from our October 2014 trip to Ricketts Glen in Pennsylvania to catch the beautiful autumn colors surrounding the waterfalls.

In mid-summer 2014 we visited this beautiful area in North Eastern Pennsylvania with 22 waterfalls along a beautiful (and a bit treacherous) trail.  We had seen about half of the falls an we made plans to go back and visit during the fall when the leaves would be at peak color – and so we did.

2 1/2 days visiting the waterfalls and a few other nearby spots – it was wonderful!

And this time we left the dog at home.  Taking him down and up Ganoga Glen was a bit much for him last time – he slept for 2 days!

Come along and join us on our adventure…

By the way, prints are available of many of the photos seen here – please get in touch with me if you’re interested.

The Falls Trail

We visited all but 2 of the waterfalls (Murray Reynolds and Onondoga) plus 2 other falls outside of the park.

Doug is the waterfall photography enthusiast.  I shoot ’em a bit but pretty much just love looking at them and listening to them.  Photographing waterfalls is best done with a tripod – something I avoid.

Adams Falls

Adams Falls (not seen on the map because it was across Rt. 118) was the first one we visited – and also the last.  We went back on the last day because the shooting conditions were better.  Truth be told, I was exhausted and napped in the car while Doug photographed Adams Falls on the last day.

Here is Doug setting up his Adam Falls shot on the first day:

While he was doing that, I was playing with my macro lens 🙂

Learning how to set the aperture (F Stop) so I get the focus on what I want. I initially had it set a little too low.

These two would have been neat shots IF I had realized my F Stop was too low (5.6)!  – whoops!  I find it very hard to see what my photo looks like on that little screen on the back of the camera.  Hence why I’m happy to be learning how to use my camera better!

This ended up being one of my favorites (f8).

Hobbit House:

There was a little bridge to cross to get to the other side.  To the right, the Evergreen Trail which we did not take.  That would’ve lead us away from the 20+ waterfalls we came to see 🙂

To the left was this interesting info about the old growth forest and the micro-climate that it creates…

With Adams Falls photographed, we walked back up the short trail and crossed the road to the other side 🙂

The Glens Natural Area

We hiked up the trail a bit towards “Waters Meet”. This sign explains what this area is:

Here is some of what we saw along the lower trail:

Here’s a shot I took of some moving water (I’m not sure exactly where along the trail this was).

 

A scared Birch Tree along the trail. Unfortunately, some folks feel the need to carve their initials everywhere they go – like how a dog pees everywhere.  Unfortunately, these markings leave lasting scars.

The next day we were up before sunrise and on the trail by 7:30am.  It was a bit gray and we didn’t see another human until mid-day.

We hiked down Ganoga Glen, past Waters Meet to 2 of the waterfalls, then back up Glen Leigh and took the “shortcut” through Midway Crevase back to the parking lot.

7+ hours on the trails with lots of stopping for pictures!

Like I said before, Doug is the waterfall photographer so here are some of his shots (I’ll add more here as he processes more of ’em).

In between I’ll post shots of things that caught my eye along the way.

Kitchen Creek

 

As we’re walking along the trails I was often looking up at the colorful leaves in the trees…

I had to remind myself, though, that when my eyes left the path, my feet needed to stop moving – lots of places to take a nasty tumble along this trail.

For instance, there were many parts with stairs like this:

Everything – EVERYTHING – along and on the trail is damp.  The walls of the canyon seep water, the waterfalls spray a fine mist.

Oneida Falls

 

 

Here is Doug setting up the waterfall shot that he took of Oneida Falls seen above.

Trees appearing to cling to the canyons edge were common – like this one just above one of the falls.

Ganoga Falls

I was SO SO SO nervous when Doug was taking this shot! I believe this is from the top of Ganoga Falls – 93 feet up!

And here is a shot of part of Ganoga Falls.  I believe this shows about 3/4 of it.  Doug was shooting from up on the top left by that orange tree.

Here is a shot at the base of Ganoga Falls.  Can you spot Doug?

Here is another stone staircase at Ricketts Glen:

There was always something neat to see when looking down.

Doug took it to the extreme when he stood along the edge of a 40′ drop to get a shot of the Gorge.

Glen Leigh Gorge

Here’s my ‘looking down’ shot, from safely near the ground 🙂 And a “nature scroll”.

 

And some more moving water somewhere along the trail 🙂

We spent a little time hangin’ out with this furry fella…a Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar

A scene within Glen Leigh…

 

There was a nice somewhat flat stretch to the trail as we headed towards the top of Glen Leigh.  It had a different feel to it.

And along this mellow portion of the creek folks built Zen Rock Piles or Cairn…

This stretch of trail is a spot that I could definitely hang out at for a while.  Next time I’m gettin’ all zen like and building me a nifty lookin’ pile o’ rocks 🙂 (really – I will!)

Post by Doug Venner.

Comments

comments