Delaware State Forest, Egypt Meadow Lake, Bruce Lake, Promised Land, 6 Miles RT, December 27, 2020

Beautiful day in the Delaware State Forest. We started the day by stopping off in Promised Land to check out the Little Falls trail along East Branch Wallenpaupack Creek. It was 18 degrees in the morning, and as I walked I could feel the ice underneath the frozen leaves cracking beneath my boots. The creek was moving fast and there were icicles clinging to the trees. I took a few photos and headed out to the trailhead for Egypt Meadow Lake off the 390. We started the trail heading east in a clockwise direction, but soon came upon an area where the water from the lake had breeched the trail making it impassable. There’s been so much rain over the past few days that it’s caused the snow to wash away and the rivers and creeks to swell. We backtracked and took the trail in the opposite direction. It was a beautiful walk through the forest with rock outcroppings lending spectacular views of frozen Egypt Meadow Lake. The trail undulated gently up and down over the typical rocky Pennsylvania terrain until we reached the junction for Bruce Lake. From here we continued eastward on a wide road with a lot of icy sections that were easy enough to navigate around. We arrived at Bruce Lake which was also frozen over. I tested the water with my boot and it felt solid. I could see footprints of a person and their dog who had ventured out onto the icy lake. We took a short break here to enjoy the scenery, but with the below freezing temperatures we didn’t stay too long before we needed to get moving again. On the way back we took the Panther Swamp trail to reconnect with the Egypt Meadow Trail and returned to the trailhead. The parking lot at the trailhead was still a sheet of ice. It didn’t go above freezing the whole day, but there were no winds which made it a perfect day for winter hiking.