The day started cold and damp. The kind of dampness that chills to the bone. It had rained the night before and sections of the trail were mud which is mostly to be expected this time of year. But we continued our hike, hoping to see the sun eventually. We hiked through hardwood forest until we descended to the creek. We crossed the bridge and hiked through rhododendron tunnels, hemlock, and white pine. The bridge to return that crosses over Shades Creek further south of where we started was washed away. But I remembered there was another bridge further up the trail and luckily that one was intact. Once on the other side, we hiked to my favorite rocks on the creek's edge and sat down. We got lucky and the sun broke through the clouds. We spent a while there lounging around and soaking it in before heading back in a loop to complete the day.
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February of 2021 brought the Lehigh Valley 38.8 inches of snow, the highest amount for the month to date. The days have been dark and gloomy, but today the sun made a glorious appearance. It was bound to be an amazing day, so we gathered our gear and headed out on the road into the Pocono Mountains. Our destination was Natural Lands Bear Creek Preserve. The early morning temperature was 19 degrees and the parking turnout at the trailhead off White Haven Road was still frozen. We suited up and hit the trail. We started out by following the purple trail south which took us through a hardwood forest scattered with mountain laurel and moss covered boulder formations. The beech trees still holding onto their autumn leaves glistened with a warm orange hue. We passed by a ravine with a waterfall now frozen into a striking 10 foot flow of ice. Sunlight danced on the frosty boughs of hemlock that still hung heavy with snow. As we meandered along the winding trail we began to descend closer to Shades Creek. We then connected to the gray trail as we reached the swinging bridge and crossed over the rapids. The winter landscape looked so amazing as we followed along the snow covered banks. We made our way in and out of rhododendron tunnels stopping every few feet to admire the fast flowing cascades. Sparkles of snow glistened in the sunlight as they fell from the trees like fairy dust. Before we knew it it was already getting to be late afternoon. As much as we wanted to stay, we knew we should start heading back. When we reconnected with the purple trail, we decided to make a quick side trip and follow it south. It crossed over Bear Creek on a primitive bridge and from here we went off trail to continue a little further along its edge. It was a beautiful section of trail, but we didn’t go too far since it was too late in the day to explore. We turned around making note to save that adventure for another time. We ascended steeply back up the hill, back into the hardwood forest and past the frozen waterfall. By this time, the sun had shifted lower on the horizon illuminating the landscape with its radiant afternoon light. When we arrived back at the trailhead, the frozen parking lot was a swimming pool of melted ice. We loaded up the car and headed home after another amazing winter’s day.
We had a perfect day of winter hiking around Bear Creek Preserve. This time we accessed the trail from White Haven Road on the west side of the preserve. It was a chilly morning (somewhere in the low 20s), but we warmed up as soon as we got moving. The lighting today was lovely. My husband had just gotten a GoPro camera, and he wanted to test it out. I couldn’t think of a better place to be on this fine winter morning. We started the hike following the purple trail which met up with the red trail and then the gray trail. This would take us right to swinging bridge and the beautiful waterfalls and cascades of Shades Creek. Before we arrived at the swinging bridge, we hiked along a path at the top of a beautiful frozen 10 foot waterfall I stopped here for a moment to enjoy the scenery before continuing along the trail. We spent most of the day experimenting with cameras and video, but we ended up hiking about 6 miles before returning home. Some day when we aren’t on a camera test mission, I’d like to hike the whole purple trail loop. It was such an amazing day. Both of us got a lot of great pictures and video.
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Beautiful creekside hiking at Bear Creek Preserve this weekend! This has been my favorite hike in NEPA thus far. We started from the trailhead at Rabbit Run Lane on the red trail and connected to the gray tail heading south along Shades Creek. This section of trail was just beautiful with many cascades flowing into deep, clear pools, waterfalls and undulating trail through rhododendron jungles, in and out of hemlock forest and mossy wetland. Before reconnecting to the red trail and heading back north, we crossed over Shades Creek on a really cool suspension bridge. The terrain for most of this hike was rocky and slippery with wet leaves, but I'm getting used to my feet taking a beating on these east coast trails and learning to slow down a bit and take my time. East coast hiking is very different from out west. There may not be much elevation to gain, but I’m starting to find some locations that feel a little more remote where we can track some decent mileage. We followed the red trail back to the trailhead and closed the loop at about 7 miles RT. Absolutely beautiful place to explore.
