Many Pennsylvania residents think the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is only responsible for stocking our rivers, lakes and streams with trout. But the Commission provides us with services and information beyond trout fishing. For example, the Pennsylvania Water Trail Guides are guides of Pennsylvania’s most popular canoeing destinations, and several trails like the West Branch Susquehanna Water Trail are even recommeded by the American Canoe Association.

There are other guides available like the boat access ramp guide, approved trout water guide, baoting laws, safety tips for paddlers, Pennsylvania snakes guides and more.  

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/watertrails/trailindex.htm

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/promo/form/pubs_free.htm

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.  

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.

Once again it’s time for the Lehigh River Sojourn. The Lehigh River is a multi-day canoeing, kayaking and whitewater rafting trip on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania.  On the sojourn you’ll be provided with camping, meals, shuttle services, educational programs and entertainment.

From June 20 to the 25, the Wildlands Conservancy operates the Lehigh River Sojourn. You can paddle the Lehigh for all 5 days, or just one day, either way, it’s a guaranteed good time on one of Eastern Pennsylvania’s most popular rivers.

Go to the Wildlands Conservancy Website for more details.