Books & Trails

Tag: Travel

  • Discover Raymondskill Falls: Hiking and Nature Escapes

    Discover Raymondskill Falls: Hiking and Nature Escapes

    Raymondskill Falls at 178 feet is the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania. Located in the state’s north-east corner where the Delaware River separates the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania from the Catskill Mountains in New York and the Kittatinny Mountains in New Jersey, Raymondskill Falls is in a mountainous region not far from the picturesque town of Milford which, because of its charming main street lined with quaint shops, restaurants, and historical buildings, is frequently cited as one the best small towns in America.

    Brief Hike

    The hike to the falls is brief. Completing the half mile, 16-minute loop takes the visitor to the top and bottom of the falls along a well-defined and well-maintained path complete with wooden guardrails that keep the visitor away from the steep drops below.

    There’s brick-and-mortar restroom, too, at the amply-appropriated parking lot.

    All for free.

    Expect Crowds

    If all this sounds inviting that you want to visit, then it’s going to be likely that so would many others, too. Indeed, the trail can be busy, especially on weekends. And, when compared to other waterfalls where the trails are largely undisturbed except for the paths formed by the footsteps of hikers past, a visit to Raymondskill Falls could have the feel of a crowded theme park instead of the quiet trip in Nature you were expecting.

    An Escape

    Fortunately, there is an escape from all this. An optional out-and-back at just under one mile total takes you down to Raymondskill Creek for some peace and quiet, with two additional waterfalls along the way, away from the crowds at Raymondskill Falls for some time alone communing with Mother Nature.

  • Challenging Hikes: My Search for Graham Mountain’s Waterfall

    Challenging Hikes: My Search for Graham Mountain’s Waterfall

    This was meant to be a waterfall hike but as determined as I was – I tried 3 different times – I failed to find the waterfall.

    Graham Mountain State Forest is located in the Port Jervis area where hiking trails abound because it is in a section of the Shawangunk Ridge, a ridge of bedrock that spans three counties in New York State (Ulster, Sullivan, and my Orange county), which is itself in a section of the much longer and much larger Appalachian Mountains that spans thirteen states and that form a barrier to western travel for east coasters in the United States.

    I’ve been in nearby Huckleberry Ridge which I consider my most difficult hike. The hike wasn’t long but reaching the waterfall required a 600-foot descent (which meant a 600-foot climb on the way back) in just 0.7 mile. (Or about a 180-meter climb in 1 km.) I had to stop several times on the way back less to catch my breath than to give my heart rest.

    So when I learned there was a waterfall in nearby Graham Mountain State Forest, I delayed going there until I knew more. But information online was scant. So, devising a strategy to make the hike more manageable (while keeping in mind my Huckleberry Ridge experience), I went.

    The region’s, um, notoriety, in my mind anyway, delivered. The challenge this time was not the steep-descent-in-short-distance like it was at Huckleberry Ridge, but rather the rocky ravine that poised as a danger every step of the way. One misstep and I could hurt myself in a trail that is not exactly teeming with fellow hikers to come to my aid.

    So, apologies if you see no waterfall in my video. I am hoping instead it will at least give a more balanced and more accurate picture of what hiking might involve. Things will not always go according to plan. Some say, the more you do something, the better you become at it. I would like to now add, the more you do something, too, the more you open yourself up to the potential pitfalls that go along with the activity. Minimizing them, which I think I was successful at in my, um, failure at Graham Mountain State Forest, is key.