We took our annual camping trip to Hickory Run State Park last week, Labor Day weekend. Hickory Run State Park is probably our favorite Pennsylvania State Park. It is located about an hour from our house, in the Pocono Mountains.
Here is a picture of the boys posing last Saturday on our hike for the day the Shades of Death Trail.
We take a camping trip to Hickory Run State Park every year towards the end of August. Sometime we are there on Mr. Katie’s birthday. This year Mr. Katie’s birthday was a few days before our trip.
If you would like to read about our previous August Hickory Run camping trips, you can check out these blog entries from 2023, 2022, and 2021.
I believe that we have come to think of Hickory Run as our family’s park. In fact, this past July, I visited Ohiopyle State Park with H. Nugget, my sister Liz and her dog Marnie.
Ohiopyle is another park that I truly treasure. I also think of it as one of my parks because I love it so even though I don’t see it as much as I used to.
While we were there, Liz saw a poster at Ohiopyle that said something like ‘come and visit Ohiopyle during all of the seasons’. She thought it was funny because it takes a some doing to get to Ohiopyle because it isn’t near much of anything and it takes some driving on winding roads to get there. She feels lucky to get to Ohiopyle once a year. I told her that I know where the poster people are coming from because I like to visit Hickory Run during all the seasons.
We visit Hickory Run in the off-season for day-trips at least once a year besides our annual August camping trip. It is beautiful in the fall, winter, and spring. I have been there every season.
It’s is nice to have a place to go to that you can feel belongs to you.
When we go on this annual camping trip, there are certain things that we like to do every time. For example, we usual cook cheeseburgers for dinner at least one time. We also make one visit to the White Haven Family Diner for breakfast during our trip (you have to go early in the day because it closes at 3 pm).
On this trip we tried to take a different hike every day.
On Saturday, we took our traditional trip on the Shades of Death trail, which we also hike every year.
On Sunday we visited the Boulder Field. People travel from all around to see the Boulder Field. It is the largest natural boulder field of its kind in the Appalachian Mountains.
Driving out to the boulder field is exciting. It feels like an undertaking because you have to drive a 6.4 mile gravel out and back gravel road to get to it.
The road isn’t maintained during cold weather months. One time during March of 2023, before H. Nugget started school, I decided that we should visit it on a sunny Friday while everyone else was at work or school.
I thought that the road to the boulder field would be clear because the roads near our house were clear. I only got about halfway down the boulder field road before I had to turn back because it was too treacherous. There was a good deal of ice and snow covering the road and a lot of snow piled up around the road. While I was trying to make my way along the road, I drove very slowly but still I became scared that we would get stuck our there. Cell phone service is spotty at best in most of the park. I was white-knuckling my fingers on the steering wheel the entire way back to the main road through the park. Every time I had to pass another vehicle on the boulder field road (and there were a few crazy people like me) I said an audible prayer or swear. Not my best decision ever.
The boulder field is a National Natural Landmark. The United States Department of the Interior gave it that designation in 1967. I respond to special designations like that. I feel so much pride for the boulder field. Having that designation me feel validated for some reason. No joke.
While on a camping trip, we also had time to fish, play on the playground, and make new camp ground friends. Mr. Man also made up a fun ball game which is pictured below.
Mr. Man created a tetherball game out of a foam ball and the rain canopy that we put up over the picnic table.
I had time to read about Taylor Swift, which I wrote about on Wednesday.
H. Nugget spent a lot of time playing in the back of our trip while we were hanging our the campsite.
Mr. Katie and I also spent some time looking at the park map. On this trip we ended up exploring two trails that we have never taken before. We also came up with some ideas for different areas of the park that we might want to explore the next time that would be new to us.
One more thing. . .
I saw an interesting poster hanging on the bulletin board outside of the visitor center at Hickory Run that really caught my eye. It is an plea to help improve Pennsylvania State Parks and Forests by donating to Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation.
I didn’t use the QR code of the flyer because Wi-Fi is spotty at Hickory Run. However, I did search it when I got home. I found our that I can help Pennsylvania Parks and Forests by choosing a category that I wish to donate to. For example, if I wanted to donate to specific projects at specific parks, this link would give me information about how to do that. It is so exciting because there are so many parks that I care about and love that have specific projects that they are looking for help to accomplish. Maybe this is of interest to you too. Many parks that I know and care about have project that could use some funding. Interesting, right? I am going to look into this.
