Pennsylvania Waterfalls

[hobkyl]

Yeah I'd love to get there, dont know if we want to make that side journey though. I think I found some in Tioga Co. on pawaterfalls.com but not much info given on them.

[pawaterfalls]

Yeah I'd love to get there, dont know if we want to make that side journey though. I think I found some in Tioga Co. on pawaterfalls.com but not much info given on them.

Kyle,

I just got the email that you sent. I'll look through my books and maps tonight and let you know. From what Letcher (Waterfalls of the Mid-Atlantic States) says is there are about 14 streams through the gorge that have waterfalls. Keep in mind, the gorge is, I believe, about 50 miles in length. The only two that I can think of that are right there are the aforementioned Little Four Mile Run on the Turkey Path down to the bottom of the canyon and across the canyon, between the houses, I have heard there is one about 40 feet high, although I have never been there.

There is Fallbrook Falls in Tioga County, but until I find any of my books, I really can't even post a description. here's the basic coords for it off of Geology.com

Fallbrook Falls - Tioga - 41.677500 N 76.988333 W - Gleason

Tioga/Potter Counties are two of the counties in the state I would love to spend several days hiking. Susquehannock State Forest and Tioga State Forest look prime for waterfalls that aren't written about in books.

When exactly are you coming in to Pa?

-Raymond

[pawaterfalls]

Kyle,

The only stream that gets more than 2 stars for any area in the gorge is Little Fourmile Run at 3 stars. Most of the streams are low/intermittent. The waterfall across the creek is Bear Run, which Letcher rates at a 1. We just had a lot of rain, so some of the low streams were raging. Dry Run in Sullivan County, normally an easy target due to the moderate flow, had a spray coming off the front for 50-75 feet, making it impossible to take a shot head on. If you're still interested in the falls in the gorge, let me know, I'm off this weekend and can type out the directions. Keep in mind, some of the falls are not really close to each other. One could be 2 miles in, the other 9 miles away.

There's a place in Tioga County I wanted to visit called "Waterfalls Hollow", but could not find parking wthout blocking the gate the last time I was there. It could be just a big disappointment like the town of "Waterfall, Pennsylvania" was. No waterfalls!

-Raymond

[hobkyl]

Raymond,

Thanks for the info, looks like we wont be making down there this weekend though

[spec]

Ben and I hit Ricketts Glen on Saturday 6-26-10. This place is freakin' incredible. We did the full loop, starting at the Rte 118 parking area. We saw all 21 falls along the Falls Trail as well as Adam's Falls on the other side of Rte 118. The Falls Trail loop is 7.2 miles long via the trail. Ben and I added some distance to that by walking in the creekbed for a fair portion of the journey. We also climbed a couple of falls multiples times, and explored a little bit around "Midway Crevasse" -- a large outcropping of rocks above Glen Leigh, the highest point along the Falls Trail. Midway Crevasse is interesting. Large boulders with interwoven cracks, notches, passages, wedges, and ledges adorn the hilltop, inviting exploration and investigation. Ben called this "a climber's playground."

We started out by checking out Adam's Falls, and watched a few daring souls jump from the gorge wall into the deep pool at the bottom. After that we headed out from the Rte 118 parking lot towards the glen and hiked past 3 falls up to Waters Meet, where the two branches of Kitchen Creek and their respective glens converge. We then went up through Ganoga Glen to the Lake Rose trailhead, passing the 94 ft Ganoga Falls and 9 others. From there we took the Highland Tail across the ridge between the upper glens, through the Midway Crevasse, and to the top of Glen Leigh. Coming down Glen Leigh, we followed the trail for the most part, passing the remaining 8 falls in the glens, back to Waters Meet. The hike back to the parking lot from there took us past the three falls we saw on the way up. The air temps were well into the 80's and the humidity was quite high, so of course we took a few well needed dunks under some of the falls to cool off.

The character of the glens themselves is much like those in the Finger Lakes - layers of soft shales and sandstones interspersed with layers of harder dolomites and siltstones. The biggest difference is the presence of red shales, siltstones, and sandstones in the rock strata, which gives the glens a slightly "rusty" look. The one thing that stuck out to both Ben and I was how deep the plunge pools are at most of the falls. Some of the smaller falls have much deeper pools than the larger falls!

Some of these falls are directly climbable, some are not. Spectacular views of all the falls are offered by the trails as they ascend and descend the gorge walls. Signs at the trailheads warn visitors of the dangers that these trails present, and advise the use of proper footwear. They mean it. The trails are fairly steep in some places, and the nature of their location can make them very slippery. There are also several long flights of stairs made from large rocks -- some of these rocks are slighly wobbly, and of course they also get slippery when they are wet. The signs also suggest that visitors be in good physical condition for these trails. This is also a good idea. Ben and I are both in fairly good shape, and we were absolutely exhausted after the hike. It taxed us pretty heavily, and we still had about two hours of driving to do. Needless to say we were zombies by the time we got home.

Was it worth it? Yer damn skippy it was. I want to go back, perhaps camp overnight, and take my time viewing the falls... spend more time exploring and photographing the falls, and spread it out over a couple of days. I was able to get some good shots, but as we were running out of daylight we didn't hang around too long. Nonetheless, this was a hell of a trip, and an accomplishment for us.

Hike Stats: (including Adam's Falls)
Total Distance : ~8 miles
Lowest Elevation : 1200 ft ASL (+/-10 ft)
Highest Elevation : 2200 ft ASL (+/-10 ft)
Elevation Delta/Deviation : +1000 ft (+/-10 ft)
No. of Falls Seen : 22
Combined Height of Falls Ascended* : 469 ft
Combined Height of Falls Descended* : 390 ft
Total Hike Time : 5.5 - 6hrs

(*) not counting multiple ascents/descents

On to the pics:

Adam's Falls




Murray Reynolds Falls


Ben climbing at Ganoga Falls


Ben at Midway Crevasse


Me chillin' at Shawnee Falls


R.B. Ricketts Falls

[Bill_K]

[hobkyl]

Great photos and TR Andy!

[Matt]

very nice