Location: Frances Slocum State Park, PA
Today we began our migration West. I guess this officially marks the half-way point of the trip. After a week of the big cities, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and NYC, we are once again headed into the more "off the beaten path" places. Our big outing today was biking the Lehigh Gorge Rail Trail.
I had read about this trail about a year ago. It was highlighted as a trail not to be missed. Okay, sounds good to me! If you ride the entire length of the trail from White Haven to Jim Thorpe, (26 miles) you can then take a train back. We opted to just do a 20 mile round trip.
We rode along the Lehigh Gorge River occasionally hearing shouts and squeals from the river. Turns out this area is also known for their whitewater rafting.
We saw several white water kayakers too. What surprised me the most was we also spotted someone paddle boarding down the rapids. What the heck! I couldn't get a good picture, but I would have love to see her navigating over some of those rapids.
The trail had some beautiful waterfalls too.
These falls are particularly graceful because of the way the water alternates paths down the rock wall. Herons, beavers, snakes, blue-tailed lizards, and black bears are often seen along this trail...
The only wild life we spotted was a very cool looking blue tailed lizard.
We stopped along the way to do some exploring on foot as well. (Here's Mr. Ned powering down towards the river. You think after all the walking we've done the last couple of days he'd be at least a little tired.)
I have no idea where these rafters were, we just saw their boat stowed on one of the rocks.
I hear the trail is most spectacular in the fall season. Okay I'll plan a trip back!
After our bike ride we headed to the west side of Wilkes-Barre. This is definitely coal country, or should I say "once upon a time coal country." We are camped at a beautiful state park deep in the Poconos Mountains. It feels SO good to be back to nature.
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