Welcome to the second in the "Our State Parks" series, profiling our state park systems and individual parks within them. This is a collaborative series - park of the Park Avenue group - and we are looking for volunteers to write future diaries. If you would like to write about your state park system - or one that you're familiar with - please send me a message and I will add you to the schedule.
Last week, for the first diary in the series I profiled Colorado's Golden Gate Canyon State Park.
This week we're heading out east to the park system currently recognized as Best In The Nation - Pennsylvania, and the gorges of Ricketts Glen.
Pennsylvania's Award-winning State Park System
Pennsylvania started its state park system in 1893 with the purchase of Valley Forge, preserving the historic Revolutionary War site for future generations. In 1976, for our country's bicentennial, that park was transferred to the custody of the National Park Service, but Pennsylvania now maintains 117 state park areas - almost a full 1% of the state's land, and the third most state park land in the country behind Alaska and California.
The state recognizes that Pennsylvania's state parks are an important economic driver; with more than 34 million visitors per year, the state reports that park visitors spent $818 million on their trips, supporting more than 10,000 jobs in the state. It estimates that for every dollar spent on the state park system, $7.40 was returned to the state's economy. Knowing that, the commonwealth invests strongly in its park system. There are no entrance fees to any of Pennsylvania's state parks, though there are fees for camping, cabin rentals, and equipment rental. The park has also set up a program to encourage new visitors; in co-operation with the Gander Mountain company, they offer a $20 first-time camper experience: for your $20, you get a night in one of the participating parks, plus use of a 4-person tent and most of your camping supplies... just bring a sleeping bag, food, and yourselves.
Aside from Ricketts Glen, which I'll profile shortly, I'd like to mention a few of the state's most renowned state parks. The state suggests 20 top parks, of which I'll mention a few:
- Presque Isle - the state's most visited park, situated on Lake Erie and known for its beaches and its bird watching.
- Delaware Canal - a 60-mile stretch along the Delaware river preserves an intact towpath canal and many historic sites. A National Historic Landmark.
- Black Moshannon - a large bog and wetland on the Alleghany Plateau, home to many rare plants including 4 species of carnivorous plants and at least 17 varieties of orchid.
- World's End - marvelous views of the Appalachian mountains and valleys of northeast Pennsylvania. Also, visit the not-too-distant Leonard Harrison and Colton Point state parks, overlooking the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.
- Ohiopyle - one of the most popular whitewater stretches on the East Coast
- Greenwood Furnace - the most notable of Pennsylvania's eight state parks preserving old iron furnaces.
Ricketts Glen State Park
West of Scranton and north of Bloomberg is one of the most spectacular gorge parks in the Northeast. Within its borders, creeks tumble down two small gorges before uniting and continuing to carve their way downhill. In these rugged sandstone and shale canyons no fewer than 22 named waterfalls vie for visitor's attention, tumbling through old growth forest that hosts a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.
In Pennsylvania's lumber heyday, the Ricketts brothers built a hotel catering to the fishing and sightseeing crowd, and people came to see the beauty of the waterfalls on their property. Ricketts had money troubles throughout his life, at one time owning great timber land but without any way to transport the lumber, then partnering to cut the timber and depriving his hotel of some of the scenic value it once had, and finally investing in a dam for hydroelectric power only to succumb to bad construction. He eventually sold the land to the state, beginning the creation of the state park. In the 1930's, there was talk of making Ricketts Glen a National Park, so great was its beauty, but World War II interrupted that process and it became a state park instead.
In addition to the gorges, the park offers a lake with fishing and boating and 120 camping sites.
I won't say much more about the park - it is best described in pictures - except to re-iterate the warning posted on big (no, huge) signs at the start of the gorge trails. The park trails within the gorges can be very slippery. The trails are often wet and muddy, and within the gorges they are barely improved, narrow, and sometimes with steep drop-offs. People are injured there every year from falls and slips - including me, and I'm usually cautious.
And now, with that warning, please enjoy a bit of a photo tour of the park.
The first falls along the trail
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A section of Ganoga Falls
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Upper Ganoga Falls
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Sheldon Reynolds Falls
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Harrison Wright Falls
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Oneida Falls
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A Leafy Cascade
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Updated by Phoenix Rising at Sat May 07, 2011 at 10:19 AM MDT
Here is a link to the park's map page, where you can get large and small versions of the park map, a map for directions to the park, campsite maps, and the recreation guide for the park.