Ricketts Glen Falls Trail

I am hooking up with  Sunday Bridges    and  Mosaic Monday   and  Our World Tuesday

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend!

On Saturday hubby and I hiked the Falls trail at Ricketts Glen State Park. Ricketts Glen State Park is located 30 miles north of Bloomsburg, Pa. The falls trail is a 3.2 mile loop passing by 21 waterfalls. The other waterfalls are located off other trails. It is a very steep and sometimes difficult trail. We took our time stopping to enjoy the waterfalls and I was listening for the birds and taking photos. We did spook a turkey off the trail. And I saw a few Chickadees and turkey vultures soaring above us. It is a little early for the warblers though I do think I heard one off the trail. Ricketts Glen is noted for 23 varieties of warblers and the Bald Eagle. The park is also included in the Susquehanna River Birding trail.

The sign shows the Falls Trail and list the names of each waterfall that we saw, they range from 11ft to 94ft being the tallest.

Ricketts Glen has a total 23 waterfalls, beautiful hemlock trees, lots of pretty ferns and moss and bridges that cross the rivers.

The steps were steep and uneven and now my legs are feeling like I used muscles that I did not even know I had. LOL!

We crossed several different bridges along the way criss-crossing back and forth over the river.

After spending about 4 hours hiking on the Falls trail and at the park we headed to Wilkes Barre, Pa to spend the night at a Best Western hotel. After checking into to our room we headed to the Mohegan Sun casino at Pocono Downs. We had dinner at their Timber buffet, lots of good seafood and dinner choices. They also had other restaurants like a Ruth Chris and a Johnny Rockets, a great variety. The casino was very crowded, also included a long line of people waiting to see and get autographs of an actress on  the show Jerseylicious? After dinner we were ready to head back to our room for the night.


To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit Sunday Bridges   and  Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday.  

Thanks to all the great host, Louis of Sunday Bridges, Mary of Mosaic Monday and the gang at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sandy and Sylvia.  I hope you enjoyed my post, thanks for stopping by.

I wish everyone a safe and happy week ahead.

Shenandoah

These are some shots and sights we saw during our Saturday visit to Shenandoah Nat'l Park. Along the Skyline Drive there are these beautiful yellow wildflowers. They remind me of the Black Eyed Susan but the center is not black.

We hiked two different trails,  first was the Limberlost trail and is my favorite trail 1.3 mile loop. We were able to watch several deer and fawns on the trail as we walked. The deer did not seem to mind us at all and stood next to the trail as we walked by. The trail was very birdy, with warblers bouncing all the the trees. The warblers are quick movers and hard to focus on to get a good shot. I did manage to get this bird, it stayed still long enough for my photo. It has a yellow color along the side of its wings.

After the Limberlost trail we made our way down the Skyline Drive to the Big Meadows campstore to get lunch. Across from the campstore we saw this cool looking buck. The deer at Shenandoah do not seem to mind people and do not spook easily.

After lunch, we decided to hike the trail called Dark Hollows, this is a nice trail heading downhill to the waterfalls, but it is a steep hike coming back up to the parking lot. Dark Hollow is 1.5 miles and has a nice cascading waterfall.

I am linking up with



Mary's Mosaic Monday


and



Drowsey Monkey's  Mellow Yellow Monday



and


That's My World




Thanks to the host of these fun sites and thanks for stopping by my post. Have a great week!

Ricketts Glen State Park...they have a lot of water..no I mean waterfalls!

That's my World Tuesday and Watery Wednesday. I thought my post fits both categories.


If you like you can click on my flickr link and then click slide show for all the Ricketts Glen waterfalls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eileeninmd/

I feel like I have been enjoying the outdoor world and nature all my life and even more so all my married life. My hubby loves hiking, especially to the highest mountain top if he can and all the waterfalls he can see. So I guess this is our world.





Ricketts Glen State Park is located in Pennslyvania. The closest BIG town I know is Wilkes Barre.

This park is the only park I have been to that has a loop trail that passes 22 named waterfalls. Now that is a lot of water, especially after a rainy season.
I actually think we saw more than 22 if you go off the loop trail for a little bit.
The highest water fall named Ganoga Falls is 94 ft. This info from the PA DCNR "to see most of the waterfalls, a 3.2-mile loop can be taken by going on Highland Trail and the Glen Leigh and Ganoga Glen sides of the trail". I felt like I did 5 miles roundtrip which included the separate side trail to the last waterfall.





The loop trail consists of a lot of steps and they are uneven steps. Sometimes they can be wet steps, most of the waterfalls are close to the steps. So I would say it is some what of a difficult trail. Maybe not for the experience hiker. The rock walls, moss and ferns are out of this world beautiful. You got to go there and see them for yourself and while you are there check out the waterfalls.

I can not go anywhere without checking out the birds. On this hike I heard some Vireo's and I believe there were some Scarlet Tanagers. Being a birder, I have to stop and listen to every bird I hear. So I have to say it takes me awhile to do this whole loop trail. What’s the hurry, anyway! I have been twice with my family and most likely will go back again.


To see more of the That's My World photos and on Wednesday visit the Watery Wednesday photos please click on my links. Thanks for visiting my blog and pictures.
And a big thanks to all the guys and girls who put these memes together.