Fall is in the air and that means it’s time for a change in my paddling habits. This summer I mostly did canoe fishing trips on local lakes such as Nockamixon and Beltsville. And I really neglected my kayaking this year, but that’s alright because I generally do slow down on the kayaking throughout the dog days of summer, then pick it up again in the fall. And that time is here again.

One of my favorite fall kayak trips is through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. There are several sections on the river where you can paddle around the boat access and enjoy fall colors without having to paddle with the flow downriver. Poxono Boat Access is one of those areas. But if you are looking for a lengthy fall foliage kayak trip on the Delaware River then you might want to consider beginning at Dingmans Ferry Bridge and paddling to Smithfield Beach or beyond to the Kittatinny Point Visitor Center.

The Moshannon Falls blog has more information on this fall foliage trip through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.         

So I went canoe camping on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River over Memorial Weekend 2008, and I took along my new Sony DCR SR45 HandyCam for a test run. Below is one of my first videos taken with the Sony. It is a short clip taken from my canoe while floating through one of the calm sections of the West Branch called Miller’s Landing.  

I thought I was the only one who actually made peanut butter balls. I used to make them for mountain biking, but my recipe was much quicker containing only a mix of peanut butter, milk and powdered sugar. But I like the sound of the recipe at the Great Wild Outdoors blog link below.

I’ll definitely try it.  

http://www.greatwildoutdoors.com/2007/09/28/hiking-food-peanut-butter-balls/

One of my favorite places to spend a day in the Pennsylvania outdoors is at Ricketts Glen State Park located near Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The park is approximately 13,000 acres, and in my opinion, ranks as one of the most scenic state parks in Pennsylvania. At this park you really can get a great dose of nature.

I discovered Ricketts Glen a few years ago while visiting the park, but visiting only because the local kayak dealer was having a boat demonstration on the lake. While I could enjoy visiting any state park, it was during this visit, only for the boat demo, that I discovered Ricketts Glen had more to offer than just the 245 acre Lake Jean. The highlight of the park is actually a series of 22 natural flowing waterfalls ranging up to 94 feet in height, located within an old growth forest natural area. 

I’ve hiked this natural area in the spring, summer, autumn and winter months, each season offering very unique and memorable experiences. If you really want to capture a sense of the size and glory of the waterfalls you’ll need to visit during the early spring or right after very hard rains. It’s during these high water periods you might become enamored with the incredible presence of nature, but you also might develop the sense of how delicate it all is. And while thinking of this delicate balance of nature I occasionally found myself anchoring my footing from the powerful current clearly capable of sweeping me to my demise.

Hiking the trail during the summer months is actually my least favorite time of year because the water flow is dimished and all I really got out of it was a good workout with the many other visitors I encounted on the narrow, steep trail. 

And of course the fall season delivers a colorful hike through an old growth forest highlighted with waterfalls and colorful reflections that you just can’t experience anywhere that I know of in Pennsylvania. 

But my favorite hike was a few days after a snow storm on a late afternoon in January. The sound and sight of cascading waterfalls added to the sense of seclusion that is often experienced in nature during the late winter months. I hiked a portion of the trail through about 10 inches of snow, and I know for sure that I was the only person who dared to go down there in the past several days because I was breaking the trail for the first time since the snowfall. It was getting closer to dark when I decided to turn back which added to the intense feeling of vulnerability. I wouldn’t do it again by myself but it was one of my most notable outdoor experiences. Standing at the foot of a 90 foot waterfall on an icy cold evening, sliding on rocks unable to gain footing to ascend the trail, temporary out of reach from anything familiar, warding off the slight distant feeling of panic. Only howling coyotes could have intensified the experience.   

Some state parks are great for outdoor recreation, some are great for history and education, and others offer a great nature experience, and if you’re like me and you don’t mind travelling a few hours for a great nature experience then you really must visit Ricketts Glen. It offers the typical state park activities like cabin rental, tent camping, fishing, swimming, flatwater canoeing and kayaking, and hiking trails. But I really believe the natural area at Rickett Glen offers us a realistic sense of what Pennsylvania might have been like before civilization encroached throughout the forests. 

If you want to learn more about Ricketts Glen I found a great blog post from Marcia Bonta. Visit Ricketts Glen State Park because it’s a great place where a family can share a great weekend in Pennsylvania’s outdoors.     

Our List of State Parks offering paddling and fishing.

 I haven’t been posting on paddling lately because I haven’t been doing much serious paddling. But I have been canoe fishing from various Pennsylvania waters, Lake Nockamixon being one of my favorite canoe fishing locations.  

The Nockamixon State Park sits on approximately 5000 acres located in the scenic country of Bucks County. Lake Nockamixon is 1450 acres of fishing and boating pleasure, although it’s actually more like boating pleasure because the fishing is so often uneventful that the local fisherman named Lake Nockamixon the “dead sea”.

There is a tremendous amount of fishing and boating activity on the lake, and on just about any day throughout the summer you’ll encounter lines of boaters waiting to use the boat ramps or hell-bent racing across the water to hit as many secret spots on the lake as possible.  

Some fisherman do have fish catching success at Nockamixon using artificial bait, read about it here - http://www.paanglers.com/forum/index.php?topic=4390.0 While others, including myself, have more success at Nockamixon using live bait.