Our estimated time of arrival was set for opening hour, 9 am. Our actual time of arrival: 1:30. Early birds are for suckers. Fran had to return some moccasins purchased on a pass-by a week earlier and then we checked out the Native American exhibit.
I could totally live in a longhouse.
They also had an old sifter from the mining days. I took a picture of that.
We hurried on to the falls. Lots of trails and we wanted to see them all. We're training for a big hike. Seeing the Main Falls first is kind of unavoidable since they're right there when you come down the first trail. Lots of great vantage points spiraling thru steep staircases and winding paths. Very cool. I would build a longhouse here.
We headed down the river to check the Lower Gorge Falls, crossed some bridges, some bridges with strangely low weight restrictions for their size, and climbed a few rock formations. The paths were getting more rugged.
The next part of the trail was for hikers only, and that is us. I mean we had our new hiking shoes on and even had backpacks with water bottle pockets and carabiners attached. We were hikers. We stuck close to the river as to not get lost, and climbed ourselves thru the rocky terrain while we ate blowpops.
We were happy to see the man-made trail reappear, and knew we were close to the duet of Bridal Veils & Bridesmaids Falls. These were small but aesthetically pleasing sights nestled into the corners of rock formations. We liked them. We scouted places to build a longhouse.
We came to a fork called Peter's Corner. We could go south back to base camp or head east thru Pine Grove Forest and see some more falls. We chose more falls. And apparently were the only ones who did because we didn't see a soul between there and Pennel Falls. A good size falls, more flat ripples than straight drop, that flows just below a footbridge. Nice.
A tight path wove between two tall mountains and a running stream created quite a nice shady hike before we entered the heart of Pine Grove, where pine trees grew far as the eye could see, hence the name...
We arrived at the Upper Canyon, home to my favorite of the day, Laurel Glen falls. A system of bridges and walkways along the sides of the mountains make for a nice finale to these wonderous works of nature. Water flowed quickly towards the Main Falls from here and we stopped to take more than photos.
We were back at the beginning, but one more climb up the center of the falls would bring us to the Delaware Valley lookout, so how could we resist.
From atop the mountain we ate lunch and made another trip around thru Pennell Falls, thru the Pine Grove and across Laurel Glen. Another good day. We're 2 for 2.
click any photo for full album
No comments:
Post a Comment