Sunday Pocono Rim Hike!

Selected By: Michael Helbing

Hey everybody!

Our next hike will be the next in the series along the Pocono Rim! We've been doing this series for years, and we have finally reached Milford PA! There will be a few re-visits and such to the areas we haven't covered between at later dates, but this should be a great one including Raymondskill Falls and much more!
We will be meeting at 9 am in the town of Milford PA, at the Grand Union store which is on the right side of Hartford Street. The address is 501 West Hartford Street, Milford PA. GPS coordinates are as follows:
Lattitude: 41°19'35.40"N
Longitude: 74°48'33.23"W
This hike is also an important one because we will finally finish the McDade Trail. We have hiked every section of it thus far, and this covers the last section. The hike will begin with that.
Also along the hike, we will visit Raymondskill Falls and an outstanding overlook known as "The Knob".
Other than that I am keeping the details of the hike under wraps somewhat. This will be an awesome hike with a lot of great stuff to see.
Because some of the terrain has some more serious elevation, be forewarned that it might take a little longer than some of the past ones. There won't be much bushwhacking, so compared to a lot of recent ones it may actually be easier.
There may be a couple wet crossings, so be prepared with some dry socks, etc. Just in case!
I have scaled off a total of sixteen miles, and so we shouldn't run much over that. There are opportunities to cut corners as well. The McDade Trail is mostly flat, so we'll make good time on that. The Knob, after the climb, has a long flat section as well.
For those looking for early outs, this one will be a bit tougher to do. I do have options for that though, which we can discuss at the time of meeting. It will involve taking a different trail at one point.
Beyond this week's hike, I have a brief run down of what you can expect of the hikes come June.
Because I will be moving to a new home by no later than June 20th, the remaining hikes other than this next one will be focusing around the Blairstown NJ area, near my current house.
The next regular hike after this one will be on an odd day, Tuesday May 29th. I have to work a full weekend for Memorial Day, and so the hike must be Tuesday. As planned, that will be another Ridge and Valley hike variation. It will again involve the Mohican Outdoors Center, and a brief road walk from it to pleasant back roads of Blairstown Township. We will then pick up the Maple Hill Farm preserve and follow a fantastic little known section of the Ridge and Valley Trail.
From there, we follow some back roads into Blairstown and wander right through the town's center, which is quite lovely. We then go through Footbridge Park to Paulins Kill Valley Trail. Beyond Paulina, we'll walk an abandoned road that was washed out by the flood and end up at White Lake. As planned, we may do a loop there that will involve an out and back on an all new trail in the area.
June 3rd there will be another trip in the area, and it will likely be the Ridge and Valley Trail section from Blair Creek and the AT south to White Lake, including new acquisitions, and a beautiful limestone forest preserve also finishing at White Lake, but using almost no trails that we have covered in the past few (yes, there are more!)
June 10th weekend, I may not be leading a hike. Stay tuned and I will post more.
June 17th will be the last Ridge and Valley area hike near my house. The route we use on this date may switch with the June 10th one depending on availability of historians. I am looking to have tours of historic sites included in one or two of these trips.
The route will be a different variation on the last hike we did, starting at Jenny Jump, and then heading north through Presbyterian Camp property that was just preserved. We would then pick up more of Johnsonburg Swamp, and follow a similar route through, but also revisit the overlook of Mud Pond (no one gets tired of that one). We'll again walk to Frelinghuysen Forest Preserve but head out a different way, then through Gnome Hollow a different way than we did it this past time. This one too will end at White Lake. I'm still working out the routes for both of these.
June 24 we will likely head back south, for a hike yet to be determined.
Following hike dates will be June 29th, and after July 4 weekend, there will be another weekday one.
Also, stay tuned for more weeknight hikes starting soon!
I'll be in touch with more details as they develop~

M'ke