waterfall dayhike (PA)

“thinking about doing the waterfall circuit in SGL 13, near ricketts glen, this weekend. lots of bushwhacking, difficult terrain, excellent collection of waterfalls and cascades. there are about 20 falls. no trail, must bushwhack and scramble through deep gorges and glens. the beauty is astounding. come along if you'd like.

we'll be meeting at the game lands parking lot near jamison city.”

“Saturday or Sunday?”

“either, depends on what's best for most people.

bobo- this is a place you MUST visit.”

“Yes, it was obvious when you mentioned that it's near Jamison City and Ricketts Glen. If the traillhead is in Jamison City, it can't be that close to Rickett's Glen, is it? IF I can get out, I could only do it on Sunday - Please don't plan around me, I'm very IFFY this weekend.”

“sunday should be fine, hope you can make it”

“cant, we are hiking near Harriman State park on Sunday.
have fun”

“What time frame do you think this will be in?

Start, Finish?

How many miles are you planning on?”

“I was planning on doing a backpack somewhere in NY this weekend and then meet Pathman and the Tree people Sunday somewhere near Harriman. I don't know if I can work out the logistics, so if it doesn't happen, I'd be available.

I definately need to backpack though. I slept the last 2 weekends at home so I gotta get out.”

“sorry, i can't make it...”

“Yeah, I'm with pennsy, if you sleep in the woods you don't have to make your bed at home!!! :-)”

“Ummmm Tea, when you live by yourself, you don't have to make your bed... EVER.”

“LOL”

“"I definately need to backpack though. I slept the last 2 weekends at home so I gotta get out."

Pennsy, are you ill??

>;p”

“roughly 8-9 mile loop, start around 9-10 am, end b/w 4-6 pm.”

“thanks”

“Is this hike still on?”

“Jeff, is this number 18 from your book; Twin, Lewis and Sullivan Falls?

Who is going? What time do you figure on hitting the trail? If I get up early enough, I might stop by Rickett's Glen for a bit.”

“There's a parking area on what I think is a dead end road just past Jamison city. Is that the parking area where you are meeting?”

“Pennsy, I'd like to go on this hike, but I'm not sure who is going. There wasn't many responses the last few days so that's why I asked if it was still on for Sunday. I checked the map and the parking area is called "Fords", I think.”

“I'd like to go also Rich. With the rain today, the falls should be great. Jeff's book says something about a 'ford' near a parking are so that may be it.

Oh Jefffff?”

“That must be the dead end just past Jamison city. I was just over at Topozone checking it out. I was mountain biking out there a few years ago and remember a parking area on the gamelands. The falls should be great. I was thinking the same thing about the rain.”

“Count me in.

Seems we all have jmitch's book with the hike description, so who needs him?! (just kiddin' jeff)

Weather looks nice... 60s and sunny. See you guys tomorrow morning.”

“Jeff,

Here's the plan...

If you're still coming, Pennsy, Rich B and I will meet you at the parking area where Grassy Hollow Road joins Jamison City Road. From there we can decide the itinerary. As per one of your posts above, we'll be there by about 9:30 AM.

I'll check this thread before I leave in the morning for any response from you ...or anyone else out there who might want to join us.”

“Ooops! No, wait... After a more careful check of the maps, I see that the best place to meet will be the parking area on Jamison City Road near Sullivan Falls ...NOT at the bottom of Grassy Hollow Road (there is in fact no junction there with Jamison City Road ...okay I'm an idiot).

One more time... WE WILL MEET AT THE PARKING AREA ON JAMISON CITY ROAD NEAR SULLIVAN FALLS.”

“Looks like a good plan. I think I remember a parking area there too.”

“After one inch of rainfall yesterday this waterfall hike at Heberly Run and Sullivan Branch was the place to be. I hitched a ride with Msilver and we met Pennsy Hiker at the Fords parking area on State gamelands 13. We waited for Jmitch for about a half hour, but concluded he wasn't going to make it so we started up Heberly run about 10:30. Most of the hike was a bushwhack with a few old railroad grades in the hollows. The waterfalls are great on both creeks but we were really impressed with them on Sullivan Branch. One after the other and as a bonus other waterfalls spilling into Sullivan branch from a few side hollows. The footing is steep and slippery on the majority of the hike near the waterfalls. Pennsy lost his footing on mossy rock and slid knee deep into the water one hour into the hike. He did a little dance trying to correct the slip, but it didn't work and off he went. At least he didn't fall into a deep pool or get hurt. We probably crossed the streams 10 times on this hike and while I chickened out and used waders most times, MSilver and Pennsy were fearless and jumped slippery rocks. There were lots of blowdowns to hike through on the trail across the mountain between the creeks, but someone blazed the trail with red paint or I think we'd still be up there wandering around. I managed to get my legs scraped up despite wearing longs pants, but the hike was a lot of fun with some great waterfalls. I definitely will go back and hike this area again. Great weather and excellent company. We had a superb hike today.”

“my apologies to everyone, my internet was down and i couldn't access this website. there didn't seem to be a lot of interest when i first posted, so i thought no one was going to show. sorry. hope you guys had a great time.

actually, i hiked up heberly run saturday after the rain, there is one beautiful falls where heberly and quinn run join with a nice pool.

richb, you're right, the falls along sullivan are very nice, did you see pigeon run falls?

sorry, once again.”

“Pictures, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?”

“Nice trip report, richb. Glad to hear you guys didn't become fish food! Did you guys get any good waterfall shots? Sorry I couldn't make this one, I'd really like to check this area out in the future (and stop in for a drink at Jamison City, Central, and Elk Grove!!!).”

“was the guide helpful? any mistakes? it's a difficult hike. wish i was there.”

“oh, a "ford" is another term for a stream crossing w/out a bridge; usually used when crossing larger streams/rivers. sorry for the confusion.”

“MSilver and Pennsy took lots of pictures and will post them soon.
We did stop at Pigeon Run falls and were trying to figure out where the picture was taken for the newspaper shot. It seemed like it was taken from the hillside.
Msilver and Pennsy were the navigators so they could tell you more about the map inside the book. I pretty much just followed them. A dangerous move, I know (just kidding). It looked pretty good from what I saw. Pennsy gave us all kinds of cool facts with his new GPS. It's amazing what GPS can do.
I didn't see any fish in the creeks and was wondering if they were there at all. Also there were no fisherman on a nice Sunday afternoon. I know one branch of Fishing creek had some problems in the past so maybe it effected the smaller creeks too.”

“the newspaper pic was taken of a series of falls above the one you saw, the run carves a cool, narrow glen in the bedrock.

as for trout, i don't remember seeing any either, i know there is no acid mine drainage, maybe it is affected by acid rain. the water is crystal clear, though. there are some great pools.

be careful hiking here in summer, there is stinging nettle.”

“This hike was filled with superlatives! Jeff, even though you didn't make it, we referred to your book so many times, it seemed as if you were right there with us!

Hope this hyperlink for some of my pics works...

Heberly Run/Sullivan Branch Bushwack-Hike”

“Thanks for posting the pictures and the link worked well. The pictures came out very nice and that Fuji takes good ones. The headnet picture looks insane, but what can I say? Sometimes practicality isn't too pretty.”

“Hey Mister M, your pics came out pretty good considering how bright the light was on the falls. Loved the "Things we saw on this hike" section.

I think Rich grossly underestimated the number of stream crossings. 10? Maybe in the first mile. Great stuff though. I got to see Rich's new homemade gear; head net with sunglasses installed, bug bivy and waders. Real quality stuff.

Jeff - we found our way around without you. Author? We don't need no stinkin author!! j/k Your book did come in handy though. It says 8 miles but my new GPS said 14 miles.

But then again, we zig zagged all day long trying to get to the base of every waterfall. And wow, there were many of them. A truly amazing place this is.”

“btw Jeff - your Keiper trip is on the same weekend as the awesome Devil's Path trip. Wouldn't ya rather go to the Catskills?”

“It seemed like more than 8 miles, at least the way we went. We tried to see everything and kept hiking down to every major waterfall on Sullivan Branch.”

“Rich I assume that was you crawl into the screen tent. Looks really cool, how much does it weigh?”

“Eight miles ...maybe. But as Pennsy so often qualified, "...as the crow flies!" On the gorund it was indeed more like 13-14 miles as the hikers zig, zag, crawl and scratch their way along. I think we added most of the extra mileage traversing the pink-and-red blazed ridge top between Shanty Run and Sullivan Branch... what a crazy section!”

“I was amazed how much I got scratched with long pants on through there. You guys with the shorts on must look like you got in a cat fight.”

“great pics, the place is incredible. i know parts of the trail is popular with horseback riders. i'm glad you enjoyed the hike.

it's tough to approximate length with a bushwhack, i really doubt it's 14 miles though.

pennsy- maybe i'll reschedule the chuck keiper trip, i'll see what the others want to do.

what were the rope climbers doing? never saw that before.”

“The climbers were just rappelling down to the bottom and using ascenders to climb back up the rope. It wasn't much distance, but looked like fun.”

“wow, looks like an incredible place to have spent such a beautiful weekend!
:o)”

“great pics...missed that trail when I lived back east...maybe in the future, the Chooches will hit it up.”

“Hey everyone...

I took a dayhike around Ricketts Glen the other week with a friend and I have some pictures if anyone would like to take a look.

Ricketts Glen Waterfall Pictures”

“Ahhhhhh.... I love Ricketts Glen! Nice shots.

btw - is that your alleged "study" partner?”

“yeah..that's her...”

“Nice pics!! Im due for a trip up there myself!!

http://members.aol.com/ayakus/index.html

You might already know about this site ,its called Als Hiking And Climbing Page.it has a section about rickets glen and other places in PA ETc Alot of nice pics too. Streamweaver”

“Thank you...yes I have seen that website.

If you are looking for a nice campground to stay at or another park to check out, World's End State Park is about a half hour away and is really nice.”