Tuesday, June 21
Lehigh Gorge Campground
Lehigh Gorge Family Campground is near White Haven, PA, and the scenic Lehigh River is at the doorstep of Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. We drove I-81 most of the way and then I-80 for most of the last 15 miles. As we turned off I-80 to enter White Haven, we saw a truck alert sign stating that their trailers needed an under-clearance of 15 inches. We were unsure what that meant until we drove through White Haven and discovered that the roads had several deep dips where cars and trailers could scrape the front or rear ends. Luckily, our trailer safely made it through town, but we saw plenty of grooves in the road, which suggested many others were not so fortunate.
We arrived at the campground around 1:30 pm and quickly set up. It was a nicely wooded campground. Most sites were permanent or seasonal, but the “transitional sites” were spacious and scattered among trees. We had a nice semi-private and level site paved with pea gravel.
Hickory Run State Park — Boulder Field
After we set up the camper, we headed over to see a boulder field in Hickory Run State Park. Located in the northeastern part of the park at the end of a fairly rough three-mile dirt road is a 16-acre boulder field spanning 1,800 feet at its widest point. These boulders covered a large flat area and were estimated to be 10-12 feet deep. About a dozen people were crawling all over the rocks of varying sizes and shapes, and not all of them were steady, as I found out when I walked a hundred yards into the field.
Hickory Run State Park — Hawk Falls
We then drove to the southeastern section of the park to see the 25-foot Hawk Falls. It was only about a half-mile hike along Hawk Run Creek to get to the falls. The trail went through a beautiful forest with towering trees, interesting rock formations, washed-out roots, and tunnels of rhododendrons.
Breaker Brewing Company
Around 5 pm, we headed to Breaker Brewing Company in the historic coal town of Wilkes-Barre for dinner. The brewery was named for the coal breakers once commonplace in the area.
The road to Wilkes-Barre was very curvy but scenic. When we got to the city, we had to drive up several steep streets to get to the brewery. It was located in a former school, and some rooms still had blackboards or other remnants of its previous life.
We got a nice patio table overlooking the city, where we ordered a flight of beers: Santa Fe Pils, Illusion Imperial IPA, Whistle Wheat Ale with Mango, and a Boomtown Brown Ale. For dinner, we decided to try their popular Chicken and Waffle Pizza. Though trying it was fun, we probably would not get it again.
We got back to the camper around 9:30 that evening.
Wednesday, June 22
Hickory Run State Park – Shades of Death
Rain was forecasted for later today, so we decided to hike at least some of the nearby Shades of Death Trail in Hickory Run State Park that morning while it was still cool and dry. The trail’s name was not due to its difficulty but because the first colonists named the area “Shades of Death” due to its dark forests, numerous swamps, and rocky, unfarmable soil.
We got to the trailhead around 9:30 am. The trail had a lot of roots and some steep slopes, but we could walk it somewhat easily. It followed a beautiful creek, although we often could not see it because of the thick vegetation. We briefly stopped at a man-made retention pond and spillway, which made for a pretty waterfall. Unfortunately, this was not a loop trail, so we just hiked it for about a mile before returning. We both enjoyed the hike.
Nearby, we spotted another waterfall from the road, so we drove to that trailhead to check it out. After a short quarter-mile hike, we discovered that it was only a retention pond and spillway formed by a nearby spring.
No 9 Mine & Museum
We then drove to the No. 9 Coal Mine Museum near Landsford, PA. The No. 9 Coal Mine was first opened in 1855 by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. A large vein of Anthracite coal, known as the Mammoth Vein, was the main focus of mining operations. The No. 9 Mine operated from 1855 until 1972, making it the longest continuously operated deep Anthracite coal mine worldwide. To combat groundwater that seeped into the mines, it was built at a 1% grade so that water would flow out of the mines. When they built lower levels, they pumped groundwater to the top, where it flowed out.
We got there about 20 minutes before the next tour, which began at noon, so we could walk around their small museum with various mining artifacts, including tools, blasting equipment, household goods, and belonging to the miners who worked the No. 9 Mine. There was a documentary film playing, but it was hard to hear because of the noise of children from another group running around the museum. The museum was housed in the No.9 Mine’s original “Wash Shanty” constructed before the First World War. Outside, there were several pieces of mining equipment, including a building where the explosives were held. It had a nice Miners Poem mural on it.
When the tour began, we were taken to a small “train” that took us 1600 feet into the mine. We were guided around the mine, where we saw the original 700-foot deep mine shaft, the “mule-way” (where young men guided the mules between the different mine levels), and the miner’s hospital cut into solid rock. Everything was very damp with groundwater, and it was a cold 50 degrees. The guide did a great job describing everything, and we were fortunate as we saw our tour group was much smaller than the groups before and after us.
After the tour, we ate lunch outside in their nice picnic area.
Yeungling Brewery
We then headed toward Yeungling Brewery in Pottsville. This is the oldest, continuously running, family-owned brewery in the United States. Established in 1829, it is the largest craft brewery, sixth largest overall brewery, and largest wholly American-owned brewery in the United States. They have three locations, but the one in Pottsville is the original.
We got there around 2:30 and signed up for their last tour of the day at 3:00. After checking out the fun items in the gift shop, we joined our guide at 3:00 and were taken across the street to the original brewery building. We started in the basement, where they filled and stored the barrels in hand-made caves. They had not been used since refrigeration was invented, but it was amazing to see them. We were brought up the stairs to see the brewing operations, which were quite warm after being in the 50-degree caves. And then, we went to a bar area where the workers used to take their breaks. The guide pointed out a bricked-in window in the bar area that adjoined the next-door church. It is a mystery why the window was there or if it was not bricked in.
We were then returned across the street to the gift shop area for tastings. We each got to try two samples. Yeungling beer is available in 23 states but not in Kansas or Missouri. They had no seasonal beers, so I could not get the Hershey Chocolate Porter, but I tried their Dark Brewed Porter and Lord Chesterfield Ale, their hoppiest beer. Lisa had their Traditional Lager and their Flight. All were good.
We then visited the small museum and gift shop, where I bought a hat before we took off again.
Country Junction
We then headed to the Country Junction, the self-declared World’s Largest General Store, about 45 minutes away in Lehighton, PA. While driving down one of those narrow, twisting country roads toward the store, a car flashed us with its headlights as they passed. We immediately slowed down, and suddenly, a large pig crossed the road before us. It was lost. We watched it awhile as it walked down the road squealing. Since it was getting close to dusk, I was worried about deer (we saw several along the way), but I was not expecting a pig!
It was about 5:30 when we arrived at the store, about 30 minutes before closing. The parking lot was mostly empty. When we got inside, we saw yellow bricks painted on their floor that led us around the store. Along the way, various animatronics were activated by a button or motion. Most were Wizard of Oz-themed, but there were some bears and other animals. They also had a kennel with puppies and kittens, which they enjoyed watching even though most were asleep. I think Lisa pushed every button she could find. We were going to buy some food, but after seeing expiration dates that were over two years old, we put everything back on the shelves. The store had various General Store items, but we did not find anything we needed, so we left empty-handed.
Evening
It was raining a little harder the rest of the way home, but only in small pockets, so it was not too bad.
It was raining when we got back to the campground around 6:30. We were planning to visit Valley Forge the next day, but after watching some clips about the park on YouTube, we decided against it.
Thursday, June 23
It rained all night, and it still rained when we got up. The weather map showed a solid wall of rain from north to south, and we were in the middle of it. It looked like the rain had stopped about two hours west of us, so we decided to take a long drive in that direction.
We took off around 9:30 and set our Google Maps to avoid highways. We drove through some narrow and steep streets in Wilkes-Barre and then through some beautiful countryside on winding and steep roads. The weather cooperated, and it only drizzled most of the time.
Worlds End State Park
Despite the rain, it was a beautiful drive, and we reached Worlds End State Park around noon.
There were many theories about the area’s name, but the most accepted park was from an 1872 map that used the name Worlds End for the area around the S-shaped serpentine bend in Loyalsock Creek. Because seven mountain ranges converge at this point, the cliffs cause one to have the sensation of being at the ultimate ends of the earth.
We first stopped at the Visitor Center, saw the very small museum,. Then, we walked along Loyalsock Creek, which has high cliffs. At one end of the picnic area, we found a roped-off swimming area in the creek, but it was empty, probably because of the weather.
Forksville Covered Bridge
We had no cell phone coverage, so we drove around the park. One road took us outside the park to the 1850 Forksville Covered Bridge that spanned 152 feet across Loyalsock Creek. We pulled over, took some pictures, and then drove across it into Forksville. It was a very small town, so after driving four blocks and reaching the end of the city, we drove back across the bridge and headed back into the park.
Loyalsock Canyon Vista
We then found a sign for the Loyalsock Canyon Vista. I knew that this was one of the overlooks in the park that I wanted to visit, so we turned at the sign that took us to Cold Run Road. Cold Run Road was a narrow gravel road that hugged the mountain for two miles, with a cliff on one side and a deep drainage ditch along the steep mountain on the other. It was not wide enough for two cars and was not marked as a one-way road, so I am not sure what would have happened if I had met a car coming the other way. We saw only about a dozen spots on the route where two cars might have passed. Since it was a winding road, you would not have been able to see the oncoming car until one of you had to back down the treacherous road to one of these spots. Luckily, we did not have to find out. If you overlooked the dangers, it was a beautiful drive with a creek flowing in the deep ravine on your left and thick trees all around. We finally got to the overlook with a parking lot off the road. The overlook had an incredible view of the mountain ranges converging.
Across the street from the overlook was a Rock Garden with large boulders you could easily crawl on. Though mossy and wet, I carefully enjoyed climbing on them.
We decided to continue around the loop instead of going back the way we came. It also looked like it would be less traveled, so there was less chance of meeting another car, and it also looked like it might have fewer steep sides. The route had us go about four miles farther back into the woods before finally looping back to the entrance. The road got narrower and less developed, but it was in good condition and only about a half-mile of driving along a steep slope. Near the end of the loop, we even found the beautiful Mineral Springs Falls.
Ricketts Glen State Park
Happy that we had survived the drive, we headed back toward our camper but decided to stop at Rickett’s Glen State Park on the way. We stopped at the visitor center, which was closed, but we did use their open bathroom. The park is known for its numerous waterfalls, but the only way you could access them was along a 7-mile trail. We decided to continue since it was 3 pm and we were far from the camper.
Wright’s View
We pulled over at an overlook called Wright’s View along the way. The high bushes blocked most of the view, but we could see some beautiful canyons.
Walmart
We decided to stop at Walmart in Wilkes-Barre to get some food and supplies. Though it was about 25 minutes from the camper, it was about the closest large grocery store to our campsite.
Seven Tubs Recreational Area
Just outside Wilkes-Barre, we stopped briefly at the Seven Tubs Recreational Area even though we had groceries to return to the camper. Normally, it is too crowded to get in, but the park was almost empty because of the cold, wet weather and it being 5:30. This park had a great waterfall a short distance down a paved path from the parking lot. A small bridge spanned a creek that had cut through the gritty sandstone to form seven tubs as it cascaded down the small slope. It was very beautiful and looked like a great place to play.
Evening
It was about 7 pm when we got home. Lisa put away the groceries while I cleaned up some bird poop off the truck and topped off the radiator fluid on the truck. We then settled down to dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Friday, June 24
Eckley Miner’s Village
Today, we expected a nice day with a high of around 80 degrees. Since the following days were expected to get hotter, we decided to visit the Eckley Miner’s Village, an old anthracite coal mining patch town.
The mining town was built to support the Council Ridge Colliery, which mined anthracite coal there from 1854 to 1964. In 1969, Paramount used the site to film the movie “The Molly Maguires.” The wooden “coal breaker,” a company store, and several other buildings were added as movie props. After the movie, Eckley was bought by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and opened as a museum.
Today, Eckley consists of a museum of more than 50 major structures and over 100 outbuildings around a mile-long main street. Walking through the village was free, but admission to the museum was free. Because I was a Retired Veteran, Lisa and I received complimentary tickets. There was a 15-minute film at the beginning that told us the history of Eckley, and then the museum did a great job of explaining the mining operations and the daily life of the miners.
Though you could drive through the village, we chose to walk. None of the buildings were open, but we listened to an audio tour that described the various buildings we saw. It was interesting seeing the various sizes and types of homes provided to the laborers, then the miners, then the bosses, and then finally the owner.
Several houses were also being lived in and marked with mailboxes out front. Though all the homes were the property of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, some were rented to the descendants of the miners who lived in the house or to people who currently worked at the village. They were allowed to modernize the inside of the homes, but the outside had to remain historically authentic. However, some homes had obvious modifications, such as combining a duplex into a single-family home.
Walking down the main street and seeing the various buildings representing life in a mining town was very interesting. Intermixed among the restored buildings were several buildings falling apart, some empty lots, and some building foundations where houses once stood. The coal breaker was impressive, but it was in very bad shape, and it looked like they would let it get overgrown and rot away. Later, we learned that since it was a movie prop and not historical, there were no funds or interest in keeping it in good shape.
Before we left the museum, we ate lunch at a picnic table with some nice shade.
Old Jail in Jim Thorpe
After lunch, we took off to the city of Jim Thorpe to see the Old Jail Museum which was recommended to us by the guide at the No. 9 Coal Mine tour.
Jim Thorpe lies on a hillside in a deep, narrow gorge along the Lehigh River. The high mountains on either side squeezed the town, making it long and narrow. The only public parking was in a large city lot near the Lehigh River, about a mile from the Old Jail. After parking, we had to walk about a mile uphill to get to the Old Jail. The street was lined with beautifully restored turn-of-the-century homes and buildings that had been turned into shops and restaurants.
The Old Jail was built in 1871 and was occupied as a jail until 1995. The jail was famous for being the place where members of the Molly Macguire gang were hung. The Molly Macquires was an Irish 19th-century secret society best known for activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a series of often violent conflicts against the coal mines, twenty suspected members of the Molly Maguires were convicted of murder and other crimes. They were executed by hanging in 1877 and 1878—four of them at this jail.
We got there just as a tour was beginning. A young boy announced himself as our tour guide and took us into a room to watch a film about the plight of the Irish in Europe, their migration, and the hard life of the coal miners. One couple had a young child that yelled during the entire movie so we were unable to hear most of it though.
The boy then escorted us into the main cell block area, where they had erected some replica gallows. The guide told us a little about the jail’s history before letting us wander through the cells independently. We were not allowed to enter Cell #17, which had Alexander Campbell’s mysterious handprint. Legend had it that he left a muddy handprint on the prison cell wall, declaring the mark would remain forever as a sign of his innocence. Despite many attempts to remove it, including building a new wall, the mark remains today. We were not allowed to take pictures of it; we only looked at it from a distance through the cell doors.
We were then escorted into the basement, which was used for solitary confinement until the 1990s. These cells were very dark and damp. We were then escorted back to the cells, where we were released to explore the rest of the jail, including the kitchen and the upstairs area that held the warden’s office and women’s cells.
Molly Macguire’s Restaurant
We then walked back down the hill and had a Mauch Chunk Lager out on the Molly Macguire’s Restaurant deck. We then briefly checked out the train station and walked down to the fast-flowing river before we returned to our truck.
Lehigh Gorge State Park
We then started back home but stopped at the Lehigh Gorge State Park – Rockport Access to see a couple of waterfalls. The Lehigh River is famous for whitewater rafting, especially when they release water from a dam about once a week. Rockport Access is one of the three major river access points.
Two waterfalls, the Buttermilk Falls and the Luke’s Falls, are within a mile of the launch. I walked to each of them, but the Buttermilk Falls was the prettiest.
Evening
We then came home, ate dinner, and watched the Molly Macquires on Amazon Prime before heading to bed. The movie was not very good, but we were able to see bits of the village of Eckley and apply some of the historical knowledge about mining to what we saw, which was fun.
Saturday, June 25
Delaware River Canoeing
Today, we booked a 6-mile canoe trip on the Delaware River through the Water Gap National Recreation Area. We had a 10:30 float, so we had to leave the camper around 8:45. I took the back roads and arrived at the Edge of the Woods livery very early. After checking in, though, we were able to join a group that left around 10:00 to the launch point.
The Delaware Water Gap is on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and sits at a point where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge in the Appalachian Mountains. Our route map showed us paralleling the Appalachian Trail on the ridge line along the river. This was the widest river we had canoed.
The river was chocolatey brown and cold, so it was not very inviting for a swim. It had a nice current, so we did not have to paddle very much, and due to its width, we did not have to maneuver around any obstacles. The shores only had a couple of houses and a golf course at one point but were most heavily covered with trees. The Appalachian mountains were on our left for most of the trip and were quite high. Near the end of the float, there was some whitewater they called Class I rapids, but we kept our canoe pointing straight and near the calmer parts of the rapids and had no problems. Since we spent our time in the middle of the large river, there was no shade, so we were fortunate that we had chosen an early departure. Just when we were several hundred yards from the landing, we had a duck that started begging for food by following the canoe very closely. For several moments, I thought he was about to jump into the canoe.
The float lasted almost 3 hours, and it was nice and relaxing. It is also fun to see an area from the perspective of the water rather than the road. We had to wait for about 20 minutes for a ride back. A park ranger under a small awning had some maps and information about the area, so I started conversing with him. He informed me that the Recreational Area had initially intended to be a reservoir. Still, after the government had dislocated most people, they discovered that the land would not support a dam. So they instead turned it into a National Recreation Area. Most of the area’s historical significance had been destroyed during the moves, so there were not many attractions other than recreation.
Old Mine Road
We ate lunch on a picnic table at the livery when we returned to the truck. It was getting to be in the upper 80s and very humid.
We decided to follow Old Mine Road along the Delaware River. We found that “Old” was the correct word because it ended up being a cratered road with giant potholes. Once we were on it, though, there were no exits for over 10 miles. We traveled about 15 miles an hour down the road and did find it scenic, but whenever I took my eyes off the road, we were guaranteed to fall into another deep pothole. The shadows of the trees did a great job camouflaging some of the worst ones. We stopped a couple of times. We checked out a primitive campground area with some nice spots, but many were in a hot open field. We also stopped at a beach area where I picked up an Annual Park Pass, but the parking lot was set back from the beach to protect a wetland, so we decided not to walk over. Did I mention it was hot and sticky? We also stopped at Millbrook Village, a re-created community of the 1800s. Though most of the buildings were replications, a few of the old structures have survived the ravages of Mother Nature and escaped condemnation to make way for the ill-fated Tocks Island Dam project in the 1960s. All the buildings were locked up, so we could only walk around the grounds.
Wallenpaupack Brewing Company
Around mid-afternoon, we decided to head over to a brewery. I found a brewery called Wallenpaupack Brewing Company on a route back toward our campsite. It was located along Lake Wallenpaupack, one of Pennsylvania’s largest reservoirs and a popular destination for those vacationing in the Poconos. The Brewery was in a modern structure along the state highway. One side was open to an outside patio area, and though that was our first choice, the hostess said the only table available was inside. They gave us menus and informed us that it was counter service and we had to order our food and beer at the bar. We did not find enough good beers to order a flight, so we ordered a hamburger and a 16 oz Helles-style beer. The place was crowded, but I did not have to wait too long. The burgers and beers were good.
After finishing our meal, we returned to the camper and arrived after 7 pm.
Sunday, June 26
Around 10 am, we headed north toward Scranton for the day.
Nay Aug Park
Nay Aug Park was supposed to be a beautiful and popular park in Scranton, but we were very disappointed. Their zoo was closed, the swimming pool was buried under asphalt, most of the lawns needed mowing, their paths were overgrown and in disrepair, the Memorial Garden was closed, and Christmas decorations were still hanging everywhere.
We visited a small coal mine display with a “demonstration” mine. It was an interesting idea, but there wasn’t much to look at. They had a gravity train car behind a cage with Christmas wreaths hanging on it.
We drove a little farther to find the waterfall and gorge in the park. After parking, we saw the pool had been filled and covered with asphalt. The pool slides, changing rooms, and snack stands surrounded the area where the pool used to sit. We also found a random monument to Lincoln without explaining why it was there.
We finally found a path that would take us to the gorge and the waterfall. The rough path took us to a boardwalk that I would assume was built to give you a look at the gorge and the waterfall, but the vegetation in front of it was too thick. I continued down the steep steps that went further into the gorge and finally came to the waterfall. You could not get very close to the falls, and there were threatening signs everywhere stating that I needed to stay on the path. It was pretty to see, though. The gorge was impossible to see except for the area around the falls because of the thick vegetation. I could barely see a train going into a tunnel farther down the gorge.
They had a “treehouse” platform near the parking lot, which did not give you much of a view except from the back of the falls and the tops of the vegetation in the gorge. I met a lawyer from Texas who was there for the day and expressed his dismay about the condition of the park.
Scranton Iron Furnaces State Historic Site
We then drove over to the Scranton Iron Furnaces State Historic Site. The site preserves the heritage of iron-making by protecting the remains of four stone blast furnaces built between 1848 and 1857. It was used for iron and steel production until 1902.
We were able to view down into the blast furnaces from a platform and view into the base from the base of the cliff. There were dozens of informational signs discussing Scranton, the iron and steel production, and the region’s history. It was a nice display, and the size of the furnaces was awe-inspiring.
Tunkhannock Viaduct
After leaving the furnaces, we stopped for gas and headed farther north to see the Tunkhannock Viaduct. This viaduct (the Nicholson Bridge) is a 2,375-foot-long concrete arch railroad bridge. Its construction was finished in 1915 and stands 240 feet at its highest point. It is the largest concrete bridge in America. The bridge is owned today by Norfolk Southern Railway and is used daily for regular freight service.
Martin’s Creek Viaduct
About 9 miles up the highway was the Martin’s Creek Viaduct (Kingsley Bridge.) Considered the little brother to the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct, it is also a very large bridge but is overshadowed by its incredible record-breaking size. Google Maps took us down a dirt road to the base of several of the pillars, so we got a great view from the base. We then drove further away but had trouble getting a good look at the entire bridge because of the vegetation.
Martin’s Dairy Farm
After seeing the viaducts, we decided to go to Martin’s Dairy Farm near Scranton for some ice cream since it was getting hot and humid outside. When we arrived, the smell of cow poop was very strong. We could not see any cows in the parking lot, though. The small store had dozens of flavors of ice cream. Their regular-sized cups held almost four scoops of ice cream. They had a sitting area with many picnic tables and shade across the road, but we decided to eat it inside the truck with the windows rolled up and the air conditioning on. This helped with the smell a little. The ice cream was very good. When we were finished, we drove down the road a little further and discovered the cow barn adjoined the store, and there were piles of poop around it which accounted for the smell. It doesn’t get fresher than that!
Archibald Pothole State Park
We then headed to Archibald Pothole State Park, about 15 minutes away. The park’s main attraction is a 38-foot deep and 42-foot wide pothole formed by glaciers. Though it was not anything other than a big hole, it was worth a quick look. When we got there, we found the park gate closed and a sign stating that heavy rain damage had forced them to close the park. Of course, there was nothing on the website about this.
Evening
Having exhausted my list of things to do, we returned and arrived at the camper around 4:30. We took the highway back, which got us home faster. Still, the highway was very crowded, and the drivers were very rude, especially compared to the courteous drivers we met on the back roads.
That evening, we looked through the itinerary for the next two stops, had dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. The rain came in around 7 pm and was expected to stay with us the next day.
Monday, June 27
It was raining when we woke up but there were enough pauses that we were able to pack up without getting too wet. We left Lehigh Gorge Campground just after 11 am and headed east toward Connecticut.