Today we are going to do a little exploring around the Pocono Mountains. I have always heard about places like the Pocono's. Remember Dirty Dancing? That was set in the Catskill Mountains and the Pocono's are a similar area. There are a number of "camps" or hotels and casinos. Any activities are pretty much what the place you are staying in does. We are in a campground and while there will be kid activities this weekend there really aren't any adult activities. The scenery is green and pretty but does involve a lot of driving. My map showed a place called the Pocono Knob view point so that was stop number one. This place is difficult to find as there are no real signs telling you where to turn. I located it only because I had read some reviews and knew what road to look for. You can see for a long way while there but there really isn't much else.
Before we got to our next stop we had lunch at Friendly's. It is a chain similar to Coco's and Carrow's. They also do their own ice cream. The food was good and we split a sundae that came with Bill's lunch. It was really good ice cream.
Our next stop is a private park called Bushkill Falls. This means you have to pay an entrance fee to see the falls. We were able to use the senior discount so it was $10 per person. Normally I don't pay for this type of activity but the price was right and the reviews said it was worth it.
Once inside you have a choice of 4 routes to follow. The green trail says there is no climbing required but there are steps, it should take about 15 minutes. The yellow trail is the most used trail and allows both top and bottom views of the falls and takes about 45 minutes. The blue trail takes you to another calls and takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The red trail is the hardest and longest. It is recommended for avid hikers and covers everything the other trails cover plus Bridal Veil falls. This trail is about 2 miles long and take about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Notice that only one trail mentions steps? Just wait.
We decided to take the yellow trail. It starts out following the blue route and soon you see this -
Oh, those steps you have? Here is a sample -
The actually is very little trail, it is all stairs. We did enjoy the tour and the owners have done an excellent job of hiding everything and having it blend with nature.
There are a lot of people on the trails but you really don't see them unless you are in the exact same area. It was a cooler day and very shady so the walk was nice. It did take us about a hour instead of 45 minutes but we did stop to enjoy the area a few times.
I had another place I planned on going to but after reading the reviews I learned the road to the falls was closed due to last years rains. Since it was later in the afternoon we headed back to the campground. We were both still full from lunch so we decided not to have dinner. We did have some snacks.
Soon it was time to hit the hay. Here are all the pictures I took at Bushkill falls. I hope you enjoy them.
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