Hike #1085; Totts Gap to Penn Estates

Hike #1085; Totts Gap to Penn Estates

10/29/17 Totts Gap to Penn Estates with Michele Valerio, Scott Helbing (Tea Biscuit), Amanda Lance, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Ellie Zabeth, Justin Gurbisz, Pete G. Wilcox, Kellie Kegan, Gina Zuvich, Karen Ezzo, Angelo Ezzo III, Agnese Drzymala, Maria ?, Serious Sean Dougherty, Cindy Browning, Anne ?, Denice Saraceti Pangborn, and Tinkerbell The Dog.

This next hike would be our annual southern Pocono trip to Michele’s house for her birthday. Always a popular and fun trip, we somehow continue to manage to find new places we’ve never explored to incorporate into this series.

Old Totts Gap Road

I put together a variation of a previous route we had done to Michele’s one of the earliest years that incorporates some of the fun places we’d gone in the past, but then adds a lot of new stuff as well. I think she was surprised when she found out we were going to the other side of the ridge at Totts Gap.
I’ve always loved that little area because there is an old mine test cave of sorts up on the ridge, and the road is barely used by hikers. The Appalachian Trail crosses, but no one ever ventures off of it.

Power line up Totts Gap

We shuttled only three cars to the starting point, which was the power line crossing at Totts Gap. The original Totts Gap Road comes out into someone's driveway. My grandfather used to be able to drive that road, and the first time he took me in the eighties it was a surprise to find it closed. We went into the guy's driveway and we were attacked by their German Shepherd. My grandfather picked me up really quickly and he got bit. When I was little I had a big fear of German Shepherds because I got attacked by one on Mine Hill Road in Washington and bit on the ass.

Totts Gap Cave

It was on that day we were told how to get there via the power line, and so every time we went up it was where we parked. We accidentally bypassed that point this time, and turned around using the same guy's driveway we did in probably 1985, and there was a German Shepherd in the yard! I wonder if the same guy is still alive and this is like the fourth Shepherd he's had.
We got to the power line and started walking up hill. I had a lot of pent up energy and powered ahead. I hit the abandoned and washed out Totts Gap Road and turned left. I weaved around a switchback and continued up hill across the power line again.

Totts Gap Cave

Lerch had said the last time he ws there, there were truck tire tracks, like someone had actually tried to drive that mess. One particular point on the road would be extremely difficult to traverse.
Lerch and I continued together to near the top and stopped at the old mine hole.
I've never quite gotten the full story about this place. When I was little the locals called it the Bear Cave. I read in a book once some local lore that had said someone loaded up a shotgun with gold dust and shot it into the rock so they could justify prospecting at the site.

Totts Gap Cave

I thought this story was cool, but overall pretty far fetched. The more likely story is the second one that I'd heard about it, that this was an Ingersoll-Rand dynamite test cave. Of course, this doesn't get around because it doesn't sound as interesting.
This hike was posted as the annual Halloween Costume hike, and so a lot of the group was dressed up in odd things. Gina had some sort of zombie look and makeup, Elizabeth was "any actress that's ever worked with Harvey Weinstein" and had hand prints put on her butt and boobs; Tea Biscuit was wearing green tights and flower cap as a giant sunflower, and both Amanda and Tinkerbell were dressed as bees.

Ruins in Totts Gap

Just like most holidays, I never really get into them. I post it more for everyone else. For me, it's more fun wearing something ridiculous on a day that no one is expecting it. So, I just wore one of my cat shirts and cat pajama bottoms.
Lerch had his suit and tie with a crazy mouthless mask, and when we got to the cave, he went in to scare whoever the first was to venture to the back. It didn’t take long for the first to show up.

Old Totts Gap Road

Aggie and Maria I believe were next to go in, but they didn't go all the way to the back. The cave turns hard left immediately after the entrance, and you can see the end before reaching it, so I guess they just didn't decide to go any further.
Of course, the first to venture all the way to the back of the mine was Karen. I'm sure Lerch would have a far more fun time scaring her than someone he knew, and even then he'd probably rather scare her anyway. I braced myself for the imminent scream that was to come when I saw her go in.

Bee, flower, and disgust!

We gave everyone the opportunity to check out the cave before we moved on. This was nearly the top of the ridge in Totts Gap anyway. We passed by a foundation of an old building and then crossed the Appalachian Trail at the crest of the ridge, then continued to descend the other side. The road was only rough and washed out for a short bit, then the access road to the towers nearby appeared on the right. We continued to descend until we came to the paved cul de sac at the end of the drivable section of road.

Power line view

From this point, I had a new route in mind that we'd not done before. We continued to walk Totts Gap Road to the north, to the intersection with Poplar Valley Road. We regrouped and I let everyone know that this was a section I had never done before. I want to be sure people are patient with me not knowing exactly where I'm going in case it gets sketchy. We started walking directly across almost from the intersection onto a power line that goes almost directly to the former Cherry Valley Golf Course, now public land.

Woods road

After a little ways down, we came to where there was a side path connecting from Cherry Canyon Drive to the west and heading through the woods to the east. The clear path along the power lines ended there, so we regrouped again, and turned into the woods on the abandoned woods road to the right for a bit.
Lerch decided that while everyone else was coming along, he was going to look ahead and see if we can save some time finding a good route. He spotted some kind of flagging on trees zigzagging down the mountain, and so he started to follow that.

Cherry Valley, former golf course

The goal was to reach the former golf course.
Just this year, the property became one of the most substantial pieces of the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, designated in 2008 to preserve the pristine valley.
I attended some talks and meetings devoted to the topic, but it seemed like it was going nowhere for a long time because I hadn’t heard about any properties being purchased except for the one behind the winery in Saylorsburg. Then, just before I passed through on the 911 Trail hike in the area (for which we used Poplar Valley Road), we heard of this.

Former golf paths

The new preserve was to fit into the 911 Memorial Trail, but when we passed through it was not yet closed on. Now, the property was public and I was ready to return and see what it was all about.
Golf courses are one of the fastest money losing things coming up in the next generation, and maybe we’ll be seeing more of this.
Recent polls are showing that less and less kids are picking up golf as a hobby than ever before, and these courses won’t be able to sustain their costly upkeep and general maintenance.
We headed down hill, kind of parallel with the power line, and crossed over a stream. We lost the flagging Lerch had started following, but it was easy enough to find our way.

Cherry Valley

We emerged at the height of land where the power line touches the old course. I stepped out of the woods into what appeared to have once been a sand trap. Those areas, when abandoned, grow a different kind of weeds than the other areas.
It's unclear exactly how they're going to go about managing this property because the grasses will inevitably grow much higher in season. We'll have to come back and see it on a warmer hike one day.
There were wooden steps down to the first bit of paved former golf cart paths we would follow. We reached it and turned to the left, and there was a great view to the northeast, toward the Godfrey Ridge.

Cherry Valley NWR

We weaved around the tail end of the property, then made our way gradually down hill to a small tributary, and crossed on a foot bridge. We then cut to the left, as we could see buildings, to stay away from them through a line of planted trees.
Another side path when we reached the next wood line to the left led us down hill to the Cherry Creek itself, which had a golf cart bridge in place over it. We stopped for a little break here, and I jumped into the creek to walk through rather than go over the bridge.

Cherry Valley

We took a little break here, and I got my group shot.
Tea Biscuit threw some kind of camera that takes three hundred sixty degree photos so I could also get a group shot, but I dropped it in the water. It’s splash proof, so hopefully that means waterproof also!
From this point, we crossed over and started heading to the west again, skirting the edge of the property. We could see back to the club house building to the east, which appeared to have been an old and historic building, but I don’t know the history.

Cherry Valley

The path took us to the west, then north along the northwestern most tree line, and then continued into a swath of woods. We were very close to Cherry Valley Road at this point, and I had wanted to cut out to it there, but everyone else was way too far ahead of me to do it.
We reconvened at the next open area of grass, and then decided it would be best to just continue on the path out to Croasdale Road, because it was pretty direct and near to the next intersection I had wanted to get to anyway.

Cherry Valley

I looked at the maps to see if I could figure out how we’d get to the next bit from here. I had the idea that we’d do a short road walk and end up on Godfrey Ridge, which has a large trail system used by mountain bikers and ATVs, but I’d never gotten in from this area.
I saw that there were a few power lines getting to the top of the ridge, and some I could see pathways along via the aerial images. By heading to Croasdale, we already missed the first possible one to get to the top, so I set my sights on the others.

Pleasant road walk

We went up Croasdale to Cherry Valley Road and then turned to the right. The road wasn’t very busy, so it was very pleasant walking.
We followed this as far as Greenbriar Road and made a left turn, heading somewhat up hill.
At the first major bend in the road, the next power line went up hill. There was no way we were following this. It went up to Foxtown Hill Road very steeply, had lots of briars on it, and no path whatsoever. We’d have to continue up the road and hope for the best with the last path.

Greenbriar Rd

The road went around another bend through a residential area, and we reached yet another utility line crossing, which was also not going to work for our purposes because it was too steep and had no path at all.
We ended up having to walk Greenbriar all the way to the end where it came out to Foxtown Hill Road.
From there, things started working out better for us, because my last resort power line was exactly what we needed it to be. This one actually must have been a gas line or something; no overhead poles. We turned from very near the intersection and ascended steeply.

View from Godfrey Ridge to Cherry Valley

The ascent was the toughest of the hike. It was just straight up really, and the path wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Lerch, Justin, and I got to the top first, and there was a nice view to the Cherry Valley to the south.
We had a nice break there at the top while everyone else made their way up.
From there, we turned on a ridge top trail we could have taken in either direction, but I was looking for a view I was certain was there just to the west of us. We followed the path along the ridge top to the power lines.

Godfrey Ridge view

Sure enough, there was a great view down into the valley of the Broadhead Creek. I could see the next slope on the power lines that we’d hiked and gotten views from on different hikes.

Historic view of the same point we had reached

I had been wanting to visit this site since the first time I saw it exploring the Godfrey Ridge several years before, but there was just never enough time to commit.

View on Godfrey Ridge

It was really a great little spot. I wish we could have spent more time there. There is definitely a lot more to see on the Godfrey Ridge than we could ever cover in a single day, that’s for sure. I’ll have to certainly do more hikes that include it.
From the top, we made our way shortly along the power line, which had a really weird base to it. It had only a tiny narrow pinch point holding the top of the hill towers in place. I suppose because of high winds, it would allow it to pivot somewhat rather than buckle under the pressure. It did make it look like it’d fall over though.

View on Godfrey Ridge

I looked around and found the route that looked appropriate to get us down the north side. The path was very narrow and steep, with lots of loose rocks. It’s surprising that mountain bikers use this so much, because it comes across as quite dangerous (Pete is an avid mountain biker, and he rode this same path shortly after this hike, citing that it was much easier going down it on the mountain bike than it was trying to hike down!).
We continued down hill until we got to a level grade going off in both directions.

On Godfrey Ridge

The grade was actually the old trolley right of way, one of the few abandoned rail grades in the area that I’ve just never gotten around to hiking in it’s entirety. There are just too many things to do, and some of these more local spots for me end up falling off of the table. This trolley line should really be higher on my “to do” list, but I always have something else that catches my fancy, and I run amok trying to hike all of it. But this one is pretty cool.

Trolley postcard

The Mountain View Trolley as it was named, offered rides between Delaware Water Gap and Stroudsburg skirting the edge of Godfrey Ridge for fifteen cents starting in July of 1907.

Mountain View Trolley right of way

The trolley, unlike other services that were similar, ran year round. It served not only the local tourism, but served as a school bus for the local children. Other trolley lines during the following years of “trolley fever” came to the Delaware Water Gap region, but it was all short lived. Buses soon arrived and eliminated the interests in this form of transport.

Justin and caterpillar

Under it’s last name, Stroudsburg Traction Company, the last trolley ran over the Godfrey Ridge in September of 1928.
I had wanted to hike some of this like on this hike, but I figured we’d get up to the ridge somewhat sooner than we did, and I didn’t find an access to it from the power lines where I thought we might, so we headed across and then down on another trail, which steeply continued the descent we had been on toward Broadhead Creek. Along the creek in this area was the former New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad.

Historic image of Mountain View Trolley above Broadhead Creek

On the way down, we found a dead caterpillar and for some reason Justin put it on his tongue for the photo opportunity. I don’t understand any of this sometimes.

Love

We reached the NYS&W Railroad grade at a point of a bad washout; there is a path that goes up the Godfrey Ridge slightly where the railroad bed is completely gone, and we turned left ot reach the right of way. Just down below the site is an old dam remnant from a power plant that used to be in the area.
I had first hiked this section of the old rail line in the glen back on a hike in May of 2004, one of the infamous ones where I was scaling with a ruler and ended up doing something like 24 miles into the dark.

NYS&W in the glen

The New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad was developed into this area in 1881. It crossed the Delaware River just above the water gap and made it's way into Stroudsburg where it for a time terminated, and had interchange with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western main line, which arrived here in the 1850s. It became a through route across New Jersey in 1856 upon the completion of the Warren Railroad, which was the subject of our first hike in 1997 and all subsequent anniversary hikes.
The right of way ahead was good and clear, with only a few washouts here and there. I was glad Pete was there for this one, because he's formed the same kind of obsession for the abandoned rail lines that I've gotten and we're constantly exchanging information about lines and history we've uncovered.
There was at one point another grade that joined in from the left, which I thought might have been the trolley, but upon further inspection the trolley should have come out on a street known as Clermont Ave, so I'm not sure what the other grade was.

NYS&W line

There were a few tents set up in the woods as we neared civilization; the area has always been one of tent cities for the local homeless, and this year has been so warn that they apparently haven't migrated south yet like so many of them do.
We followed the rail bed out to Glen Park where ball fields and such are, and then continued on the access road out to Collins Street in Stroudsburg. The NYS&W would have continued to the right, but is inaccessible along the Broadhead Creek because of the flood retention berm system installed after the Flood of 1955.

A junction? In Glen Park on NYS&W

We turned right when we got to Huston Avenue and joked about General Zod and "Planet Huston", then got to Colbert Street and pronounced it like Stephen Colbert does with the silent "r".
When we got to Broad Street, we turned right and headed down hill.
It made me remember my first time hiking through here and stopping at the first gas station, where we met one of the former guitarists from the band Bio Hazard.
At the crossing of the McMichael Creek, we crossed the right of way of the Wilkes Barre and Eastern Railroad. The grade was visible going to the left, which I’m pretty sure was it.

NYS&W Railroad shops in Stroudsburg, 1900

The Wilkes Barre and Eastern was a wholly owned susidiary of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western, completed in 1893 from it's parent railroad in Stroudsburg to Pittston and Wilkes Barre area.

March 1894 image of Wilkes Barre and Eastern in Stroudsburg

When the NYS&W was first completed to Stroudsburg in 1881, it interchanged with the Lackawanna because it did not have it's own route to get to coal country until creating the Wilkes Barre and Eastern.

1918 Erie locomotive in Stroudsburg

NYS&W used to have an interchange on the Lackawanna just to the north of Stroudsburg at a location known as Gravel Place, which my plan was to visit later.

NYSW freight station

When the Wilkes Barre and Eastern was completed, NYS&W had the most direct route between the valuable coal and eastern markets.

Dam on the McMichael

Monroe County Historical Society is active and has rehabilitated the Dreibe freight station of the NYS&W just to the west of our route on Ann Street.
We continued across the bridge and into Stroudsburg proper.
We took a break at the corner of Ann Street and headed down to a little park to view the arced dam on the McMichael Creek. I went down and walked across it, then climbed back over and up the dam on it's step section, which looked pretty cool. We then headed up hill and onto the main street in town.

Dam on the McMichael

Our next point of interest would be the Renegade Winery. There were actually to of them; the one they were talking about was called RAW, but that was too small to hold our entire group, so we went into Renegade, which ended up being a really great time.
I didn't recognize the place at first, but then realized for sure when Michele told me we had gone into the place before on one of these hikes, when it used to be an art gallery. It wasn't a winery at the time, but they were serving wine. I didn't want to go that time, but one of the hikers (and biggest pain in the ass in the history of the group) had a stupid five by seven picture of her feet on display and started balling and causing a disturbance, so we went in.

Historic trolley image

This time it was much more of a plan, and we'd talked about the place for some time.
We had a very nice table inside and were able to do the wine tasting, which was nice. It was a good opportunity for a break because there were lots of food places close by, and everyone else could run out and grab something, then reconvene inside.

Amanda went off to KFC and got fried chicken, and so I started getting pretty hungry, but I didn't feel like going anywhere just yet.

I think I had the tasting and two glasses of wine by the time everyone had come back in, and then more of the group wanted to try more, so we were there a bit longer than expected.
For a bit, Tea Biscuit and Lerch and I'm not sure who else left the place we were in and went to the RAW winery just a couple of doors down.
I enjoyed the time hanging out where we were because there was a really good acoustic guitarist singing some great old folk style songs, as well as a few of his own originals which sounded good. It was irresistable to sing along with the harmonies to some of the songs he was doing.

Live music!

When we were getting ready to head out, Tea Biscuit was dancing all ridiculous in his sunflower suit with whowever was around, and afterone was laughing and having fun.
We eventually made it out of the place, and started heading down the main street to the east. There was always something interesting happening, one after the other, and as we walked the road we came upon one of those cigarette butt disposal things made of cone shaped plastic. This one however was on fire!

The Tea Biscuit dance

We hurried into the bar next to the thing and let them know that it was smoldering down into the bottom of it, and it was really close to the edge of the building. I picked it up and moved it out away from the structure a bit, but it was burning hot to the touch.
The people inside said that they would take care of it, and we were on our way again.
I tried to get everyone to reconvene again when we got to the McDonalds, because I had some more history stuff to go over. While waiting for everyone to catch up, I went inside and got myself a McDouble and a McChicken.

I was kind of ready for things to calm down a bit at this point, and we all stood on the street corner, but noticed that far too many people were missing. I think it was Anne who came up to me and said "M'ke, your brother fell and cracked his head" or something to that effect.
This gave me a flash back to being in Port Colden when we were little and one of my neighbors told me that Tea Biscuit had been run over by a tractor (fortunately he went between the wheels that time) and I had to take off running. Again, I took off running up the street.

I found him huddled up against a lamp post with Lerch holding a wet rag on his bleeding head. A bewildered and befuddled police officer was leaning up against the post while Tea Biscuit mumbled all sorts of stuff with the loose subject matter of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
They apparently went to KFC after the tirade about Amanda not bringing him any, and while walking back toward the rest of the group, he tripped on a piece of sidewalk and hit his head on the lamp post, splitting the skin pretty badly.

Ambulance commeraderie

The cop was pretty cool. I could tell he was trying somewhat to hide his amusement with the entire situation. He smiled and said that this was probably the easiest job he was stuck with all day, so he was fine with it.
He told me he'd already called the ambulance, to which Tea Biscuit said "noooo, I don't need to go in there" and went on about finishing the hike. Even I had said that he really needed to go through. If in the same situation I'm sure I would have gotten up and ran away rather than leave the hike, but still, he needed to go.
He coudln't bring Tinkerbell in the ambulance, and so Angelo walked her the rest of the way.
When the ambulance showed up, Tea Biscuit said "Oh here they are! HEY! HEY YOU, FIX THIS!" as he pointed at his open head. I looked at the cop and he just shook his head.

Historic image of People's Coal Company

I felt better known that he was going to be alright, so I went back and let the others know what had happened, and then we went just off the main street to former People's Coal Company. It’s funny no one really knows what I’m doing until they see my posts.

People's Coal Company today

We passed by the area where the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad used to cross the main street, and there was a trestle in place there which went to the People's Coal Company. I understand it was still in service for many years, though the railroad there has been defunct since the '40s.

Historic trolley image at Broadhead Creek

We headed to the east and passed by the Dansbury cemetery, which is the earlier name for the town.
Stroudsburg has a great history, having first been settled by colonists in the mid 1700s where they constructed Fort Hamilton, later renamed Fort Penn for the royal governor. It was first garrisoned by provincial troops, and later served as refuge from attacks following the Battle of Wyoming in 1778.

1905 image of the Broadhead crossing in Stroudsburg

We headed to the east and passed by the Dansbury cemetery, which is the earlier name for the town.
Stroudsburg has a great history, having first been settled by colonists in the mid 1700s where they constructed Fort Hamilton, later renamed Fort Penn for the royal governor.

Levee Trail

It was first garrisoned by provincial troops, and later served as refuge from attacks following the Battle of Wyoming in 1778.
We crossed over the Broadhead Creek on the bridge connecting to East Stroudsburg, and then turned left on the Levee Trail on the other side.
The entire area here is far different than it was in the days before the Flood of '55. The flood washed out the through truss bridge that used to stand at this point, and the flood protection levees had to be created or the town would have flooded again in the more recent stores like Sandy and Irene, as well as other big ones like what we had in 2004.

View on Levee Trail

The trail took us in back of the Salvation Army in order to get around to the next bit of the levee, and then back up the other side. Just about when we got on the trail, I found a shopping cart discarded along the way.

Fight/Love/Cart

I always love to use shopping carts, so I opted to bring it with me. For a little bit of time, Justin got in and rode inside it.
That didn't last for too long, because Lerch kept trying to grab the cart from me and push Justin over the edge of the levee berm toward the Broadhead Creek. Justin got out and then we put our backpacks into it instead.
Somewhere along this route, and near the high school, was Gina's house. She was just in the final process of moving to eastern NJ again, and invited us all to stop by. I can't remember exactly where it was, but somewhere in that area.

That looks like a fun group...

We headed down off the berm for not very far at all and reached the house. I pushed the shopping cart into the yard, and we went in where she offered us drinks and snacks. It was a really nice house with cool decor that included a chess board that used DC Comics characters.

Even inebriated, a calculating mind is what it is

We crammed her house up with people, and Lerch and I proceeded to play a game of Chess. I had not played in a very long time, and I hurried to try to get through the game fast because a lot of the group remained outside waiting.
Lerch is extremely good at it, and I tried using techniques I hadn't used since on the chess team in High School; opening up the back row and making the immediate attack to finish the game in under ten moves. That clearly did not work on Lerch, as he'd obviously had a great deal more practice with the game than I'd expected.
I'd learned to play chess shortly after I broke my ankle and was laid up for a couple of months. My grandfather would come to my house with his chess board and teach me to play, which is what enticed me to join the chess team in school.

Broadhead

We did have to be on our way soon. A lot of the group moved on while Lerch and I were playing the game. Michele knew the route very very well, and many of the others had done this section as well.
Lerch, Justin, Gina, Aggie, Maria, Serious Sean, and I were the only ones left when we went out.
Sean was outside, and when we walked out the door he said "Oh wait oh waid here's what they said!" and he went into this hilarious malodromatic, generic impersonation of the group ahead, saying "Ohhh well if they're going to do that, we're gonna gooooo...they're in there playing chess and we wanna gooo...it’s getting laaaaate..."...

Leaving Gina's

I left the shopping cart in Gina's yard, and we headed back onto the Levee Trail. We continued north just a bit, and passed by where the former NYS&W Railroad would have crossed over. There's nothing left of the bridge that carried it across on the east side, but I understand a piece of the abutment is there on the west.
The levee system itself ended after the section where the trail skirts the high school. We came to the wooded spot where the former NYS&W used to cross. The trail turns left down here and passes through a frisbee golf course, while the railroad bed apparently continues along what is now a power line right of way. We continued ahead here closer to the creek.

1924 image at Gravel Place from Fred Heilich's collection

I could really do another entire hike focused on the NYS&W and follow it more closely between the water gap and Gravel Place, which was the terminus just ahead, but again, that's just another one of those things still on the "to do" list that I haven't gotten around to.
The trail took us north to Mill Creek Road and the bridge that had been closed the year before when we got to this point. I was planning on going to the convenience store to the right, as it was the last possible place for snacks and drinks before the end, but everyone said they were good without stopping.
Gravel Place was just off to the right where the M&S store is, and I'd like to look around there a bit more in the future as well. There’s not much left of where the Lackawanna interchanged.
We crossed the bridge, and then turned right on the trail on the other side, on the section that was developed somewhat more recently over the water authority property. We passed a lovely little dam and continued upstream.

East Stroudsburg on the old Lackawanna main line

The Broadhead Creek has a very wide flood plain in the section ahead, and we paused for a quick break when we got to a bench. Lerch announced that he was going to try to make it the remainder of the way to Michele's house in thirty minutes. He saw how much mileage was left, and just figured he'd get it done quickly I guess. He took off running fast, and he was gone. The rest of us continued at a slightly more leisurely pace along the creek.

Historic NYS&W postcard image

We soon passed through Broadhead Creek Park and continued past the little pond where in years past we bushwhacked along the creek directly. There are some really cool spots with rocky outcrops that I've always liked visiting, but now there was a trail that went up to Rt 191, and then descended back to the creek side after one private property. Rather than go through the tough stuff, I was fine with this trail route. We're really not missing much now that the good new route is in place.

Broadhead Creek above Gravel Place

The path led us down to a little bridge over a tributary and entered Pinebrook Park. We could have taken left or right, but I always prefer to stay along the river through this section. We headed north, crossed another tributary on a bridge, and then got to the parking lot for Pinebrook at Rt 191.
Pinebrook Park was the former site of a religious camp, known as Camp Davis, which during the Flood of '55 washedout and killed many of the kids.
The Flood of '55 was what we know as a 500 Year Flood. The area was pummeled by two hurricanes, one after the other, which sent a deluge of water down through our tributaries.

Pocono Record image of Camp Davis after Flood of '55

We exited the park and crossed to Hallet Road. Last year, we walked this and it was far more pleasant because it was closed to traffic. A lovely old stone arch bridge near the bottom of the road was collapsing, and so this time they had replaced it with an ugly new concrete bridge. I wished they'd saved the old one.

The bridge in 2016

We continued up the road, and I had considered where a nice off trail section would have taken us up through woods and to very near Michele and Scott's house without doing the long road walk, but unfortunately it was getting too dark to continue that way. We instead just stayed on the road, and didn't cut off until the power line near the top, where we could get back to where we were parked.
When we arrived at the parking area, everyone decided who was going to take who where, and I went back to Michele's with Lerch, who was driving I think Michele's car. Since it's private property, they don't have any police or anything, so he was still allowed to drive around.

Tea Biscuit was okay for his own birthday celebration later

Scott had prepared Gumbo for everyone for dinner. I don't know that I've ever had it before, but it was quite delicious. I hung out and ate quite a bit, and Lerch sat on my chest and nearly broke my ribs. Ken and Sarah Lidman showed up, and we had a nice time hanging out for a while.
Fortunately, Tea Biscuit was fine, and he showed up at some point later as well. He ended up having to get five stitches, but he was overall alright. He'll probably have a good scar from it, and has become fodder for Dan Lurie making him out to be a Terminator, but all's well that ends well.
Gina didn't come back to have dinner with everyone else after getting her car. She just went home and passed out, but in the morning she texted me that she found a shopping cart in her yard! LOL!! Still, more people attended this time than in previous times because we were able to have it on Saturday rather than Sunday, and people didn't have to worry about being to work in the morning.
It's really amazing that we can cram so much fun and craziness into a single day, and it was even greater that Michele was able to do her whole birthday hike despite her past walking problems. It was probably just the right mix of easy, level stuff and more strenuous mountainous stuff with breaks in between to make it more manageable.
Even though we covered so much more new stuff, I still have at least three more years of good new stuff to cover when we do this hike, so I'll have to just resist the urge to post them before then!