Lehigh Gorge State Park

Mama Nomad was reading about different things to do in the area. Any of you who have followed us and our exploits for any length of time knows that we really enjoy National and State Parks. We have been to quite a few and plan on visiting many, many more. She found one that was not too far from home base called Lehigh Gorge State Park that had a river, steep gorges and a few waterfalls. That’s more than enough to pique our interest. We packed our hiking bags, grabbed some water and we were out the door.

The Lehigh Gorge State Park runs from the Francis E Walter Dam on the northern end all the way to the town of Jim Thorpe on the southern end. Every weekend water is released from the dam and people like to go whitewater rafting or tubing. The trails along the river are well maintained and are popular for bicyclists. There are three main parking areas: White Haven, Rockport and Glen Onoko entrances. We wanted to see the waterfalls, so we went to the Rockport parking area.

We plugged the address into the GPS. It was about 30 minutes or so. We were on our way. Our GPS got us close. But it definitely did not deliver us to the Rockport Entrance. It led us to the edge of a Christmas Tree Farm. We were pulled over trying to get our bearings and a local lady stopped next to us. We explained where we wanted to go and, within a few minutes, we were underway. We were only about 2 miles from our destination.

On the way to the Rockport Entrance, we passed through this area with a clump of houses. It was a very quaint collection of homes around an old church that looked like it was not in use. I walked up to the door and it had times posted for service. So, I guess it is still active. Don’t need something fancy to worship. Just down the road was the Rockport Entrance.

As we drove to the parking lot, we went down some winding turns on steep grades. As we went down, we passed a cave. No where to park right there. Have to come back. So we made our way to the bottom, parked Ebony, hit the bathroom and we backtracked back up to that cave. The cave entrance was probably 13 feet wide by 8 feet tall.

The boys and I explored it. At some points I had to squat down and water dripped on our heads. It came out to a rock outcropping with trees all around.

We came. We saw. We explored. Cave exploration for the day was done. We returned back to Mama Nomad.

On the way back to the parking lot, there was a river next to the road. Of course, we had to go off road and check it out. After a quick jaunt of rock hopping, we got back to the parking lot where we took a moment to look at a park map. They have one displayed as well as some you can take with you. There were smaller waterfalls with gradual drops. However, according to the map, the higher waterfalls were in opposite directions; one south and one north. We headed south first.

The fall that you will encounter is called Luke’s Falls. It is a smaller waterfall. One thing we noticed is that when we were near, it was about 10 degrees cooler. So, it was a nice natural air conditioner on such a hot day. After Luke’s Falls, we decided to trek a little further south. I saw a place on the map where it looked like train tracks went through the mountain. We continued on until I found a path that led to the river approximately where this landmark was supposed to be. I found it. But it was on the other side of the river and about 50 feet straight up to get to it. Needless to say, we did not scale the rock cliff to see the tunnel. We did however amuse ourselves with skipping rocks, hitting rocks against each other and a bunch of other cave man /neanderthal type behavior. Mama Nomad just observed as we grunted and yelled.

After a bit we decided to head back to the parking lot and trek northward to the other fall. It is called Buttermilk Falls. This fall was much higher and bigger than Like’s Falls. It does not compare to the ones we saw in DuPont State Forest in North Carolina. But it was still a beautiful waterfall. (Had to grab a few seconds of just waterfall ambient sounds.)

We all played and posed around the upper base of it. There was a bridge across the waterway that led from the upper base to the river. Of course, we all had to hike down from the bridge, follow the waterway and go down to the river. It was an interesting hike down and back up.

After we came back to the trail, we decided to head back to the parking lot. We were all getting hungry and we were out of our regular trail snack (carrots). So we decided to pack up and head back to home base. If you ever decide to try and explore the length of Lehigh Gorge State Park you can float the river part or ride the trail on a bicycle in one day. If you do it on foot, you really need to allow yourself a couple of days. We plan on visiting the Dam at the north end in the future. So, stay tuned. Safe Travels.