Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania

Sometimes you get lucky when picking a campground on Google and other times you have to say "what the hell?"   

This was their ad 

 Welcome to Grassmere Park Campground, a family-fun destination for over 100 years. Offering activities for all ages, everything from roller-skating and pick-up games of softball, to relaxing next to the crisp cool fishing creek waters, or just enjoying a campfire next to your shaded campsite.

Our over 80 campsites include electric and water hook-ups and modern bathhouse. There is a camp store located in the heart of the campground, just in case you forget your toothbrush, sweatshirt, or simply wish you brought more snacks.

(We found none of this)

This is what we found after driving 1/2 miles down this low hanging tree lined dirt road.

Lots of permanent trailers.

This was our electrical post.  When we inquired about sewer we were told we that we could let our grey water out on the ground.  We really just wanted to turn around and run but we had driven all day and there were no other campgrounds in the area.  They had the nerve to charge $35.00 a night.  We had reservations for 2 nights but our plans changed.  We only stayed 1 night. 

This is nowhere close to being the highest mountain we have gone over but for the first time we had to get into first gear on this one.

Ricketts Glen State Park is on 13,050 acres. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth forest and 24 named waterfalls along Kitchen Creek. 

Ricketts Glen's land was once home to Native Americans. From 1822 to 1827, a turnpike was built along the course of PA 487 in what is now the park, where two squatters harvested cherry trees to make bed frames from about 1830 to 1860. The park's waterfalls were one of the main attractions for a hotel from 1873 to 1903; the park is named for the hotel's proprietor, R. Bruce Ricketts, who built the trail along the waterfalls. By the 1890s Ricketts owned or controlled over 80,000 acres and made his fortune clearcutting almost all of that land, including much of what is now the park; however he preserved about 2,000 acres of virgin forest in the creek's three glens. The sawmill was at the village of Ricketts, which was mostly north of the park. After his death in 1918, Ricketts' heirs began selling land to the state for Pennsylvania State Game Lands.

Plans to make Ricketts Glen a national park in the 1930s were ended by budget issues and the Second World War.  Pennsylvania began purchasing the land in 1942 and fully opened Ricketts Glen State Park in 1944. 

Mennonites on a field trip

Pick your path

The pathways are as impressive as the waterfalls

Down we go