Hike #887; Cresco to Penn Estates

Hike #887; Cresco to Penn Estates

10/18/15 Cresco to Penn Estates with Michele Valerio, Cory Salvesen, Linda Whiteford, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Serious Sean Dougherty, Justin Gurbisz, and James Quinn.

Our next hike would be another point to point, this time what has become another annual event, for our friend Michele Valerio's birthday. The tradition has become a hike to or near her house at Penn Estates from another location. This time, we had a hike planned that would end there, beginning in Cresco. It was sort of a variation of something else I had done utilizing the old railroad line, only this time we'd barely walk any of that and explore some of the somewhat new Pocono Land Trust properties I'd never explored. It ended up being a very interesting, natural hike through mostly pleasant woods. It really personified the Poconos well, in areas that no one I know of has ever tried to string together. I got the feeling that the only ones of us that really appreciated the beauty of the route to a great extent was Lerch and I. Lerch had plans of paddling the Broadhead Creek, so this served his scouting needs for a lot of that. There was an appreciation there that'd be lost on everyone else. But I really loved it.
We met in the morning at Penn Estates like we usually do. It was a smaller group than we'd had for this event in the past, that was fine. This one was probably a little tougher than what some of the larger groups might be ready for. We shuttled in a couple of cars north to Cresco Station.
I had been to Cresco Station on hikes several times before. This time, there was a guy putzing around the place, just waiting and looking. I asked if he was waiting for a train. He said he was, and that it was heading for the Delaware Water Gap. I didn't know they were running regular excursion trails to the gap at this time, but it's nice to hear.
We started walking right there from the station, heading down the tracks to the south. Not long after starting, two ladies wearing bright orange vests walked the opposite way. They warned us that when we heard or saw the train to run and hide because they would give us tickets. We thanked them, but wouldn't be on the tracks much at all. It wasn't long before we turned right, and headed down toward the Cranberry Creek.
This was in part some of the Upper Paradise Preserve. I had originally thought this was part of or a tributary to the Paradise Creek, but it actually is the Cranberry Creek. It flows into Paradise Creek much further down.
The creek was strangely dug out through the area where we started. It looked like a lot of disturbed rocks were piled on either side. I wonder if it was flood control or to do with the fill for the railroad. Whatever the case, we had to bushwhack along the creek for a time, which at first was not easy. It got a bit easier when we got to the concrete ruins of a former dam. Below the dam and to the left was some rough masonry that looked as though it probably predated the concrete dam.

Waterfall on Cranberry Creek

We then came across a lovely little waterfall on the creek. I wasn’t expecting to find anything this lovely so early on, but was happy to find it. The undergrowth and rockiness of the treadway got easier from this point. Not everyone even stopped to check out the falls, though Lerch, Jason, and I were right there at them pretty much immediately. We continued down stream, and soon a good woods road started up. It remained just below the railroad tracks, gaining and losing elevation a bit more than they would have.
I walked down one of the side paths early on to check out a strange rock pile, which was probably just like a stone row that never was made bigger, and then a second side road that went down and across Cranberry Creek. The others weren’t so amused with this exploratory stuff because it meant walking back up hill.
As we walked, a train soon came by. I noted that it had passenger cars from the Lackawanna, Central Railroad of NJ, and I think Pennsylvania Railroad. The engine was a diesel model with the Jersey Central lines Statue of Liberty signature profile on it. The train went b somewhat slowly, and blow an abnormal whistle.
We walked further on along the old woods road, and then I saw another side one down hill to the right. Looking at my GPS, I could tell this one should be a better route to follow than the previous, and so we headed down. This led to a beautiful area of rock outcroppings and a small waterfall, as well as a deep hole that would be great for swimming. It was just far too cold for that on this occasion. We had actually gotten frost that night, and it was the coldest day of the year so far.

Falls on the Cranberry Creek, Upper Paradise Preserve

After a few moments at the falls, we continued down stream. There was a good old woods road for a time, but then that sort of disappeared. We eventually made our way down to the creek and continued following it’s side down stream.
When it began getting a bit wet on the east side of the creek, we opted to switch sides. I simply jumped over, and some tried to do what I did. I think both Ken and Michele ended up with wet feet. It wasn’t too terrible, and we continued walking down stream. We really didn’t need to cross for sure yet, it just seemed like it’d be easier to walk the other side. Just to mess with everyone, Jason and I went out onto a log to cross again just a few hundred feet down the trail. Everyone else stayed on the side they were on, while I opportunistically switched.

Crossing Cranberry Creek

We came to an area where there were more logs going back and forth across the creek, which was wider at this point, and so it was time to cross. Looking at the map, we needed to be on the other side anyway, so I encouraged everyone to come back over so we could continue.
I just got down and walked in the stream. It wasn’t THAT cold out, and the water felt good on my feet. As long as the rest of me didn’t get wet, I’d be fine. I helped Ken across the log, and then began walking toward shore when I all of a sudden tripped.
I went totally into the water; soaking wet. I had gotten my phone and all of my stuff wet. My blazer was heavy and soaked, my jeans the same. The tee shirt I had under it was also completely soaked. I was alright, just annoyed. I dried my phone off, and even though it was completely under water, I didn’t even have to remove the battery for it to continue working. This phone seems immortal, still serving me well since early 2011.
I got very cold, very fast. I didn’t want to let on that this could be a huge problem, but I was getting concerned that I might get hypothermic. I had brought a USA sweat shirt, which I’d gotten from my mom when I was 22, then Happy Bagged to my brother later. I ended up getting it back some time after the fire in 2010 in another bag of clothing, but I was glad I had it. I put it on over my tee shirt but under my blazer, and it kept me warm until I dried off more.
We walked down stream a bit more and noted a woods road further to the east. It turned out to actually be an old mill race of sorts. We got up on the berm of this and began walking it parallel with the creek down stream.

View of the raceway

My camera had gotten quite soaked too, but fortunately it was waterproof. The photos came out blurry until I could get it dried off a bit, but no long term harm done. We continued following the old mill race down stream, and it widened out quite a bit. Then, there were concrete structures down in the raceway, which had openings where it looked like it could be shut. On the other side, locals were using the now dry raceway to dry out fire wood in piles.
The section we were in at this point, which we crossed the border to at some point, was the Northstein Preserve. I’m not exactly sure where it ended, but we must have gotten off of it.

Loopy

We headed along the slope, then skirted an open field area before descending to Cranberry Creek Road next to the bridge over it’s namesake. From here, we crossed at first and checked out an abandoned chimney as well as two out buildings that appeared to be out houses. I enjoyed a sale snickers bar I had purchased because I figured if I ate something I’d warm up faster. It did seem to work.
We turned onto Henry’s Crossing Road from here, heading up hill a short distance to Henry’s Crossing itself, where the road crosses the former Lackawanna Railroad. I think it was Jason who pointed out a culvert off to the right of the road that went under the railroad tracks. We all went down to have a look at it and decided it was something we could get through. I went in first, and got my feet a bit wet again, but it wasn’t bad. The fill for the railroad here was very very long, as the Lackawanna was double tracked all the way through. I came out on the other side, and Lerch was pretty close behind me, taking a bit more time because he’s got over a half a foot in height on me (and most everyone).

Culvert, probably dating back to the 1850s.

We climbed up beyond this point and ended up on the woods road that parallels the railroad tracks on the east side. I had hiked this a bit before back in Spring of 2009, but I don’t think it was a public preserve yet. It was now part of the Paradise Price Preserve according to the maps.
Not only that, we passed another hiker on it. I was not expecting to pass any hikers at all on this trip. There was a lady walking all by herself who told us it was all boring and there wasn’t really anything to see, and she recommended other area parks that we might like. I told her that I’d really liked the little waterfalls, and that the woods were pleasant anyway. I really did like the route honestly.
We headed further along the woods road, passing the first side road going to the left, but then taking the next one.
The second woods road led up through Pocono Mountains through Paradise Price Preserve.

The woods road took us very gradually up hill. There was not much challenge to the climb. We had started at a higher elevation already. ATVs had obviously kept this route open, but we didn’t see or hear any. We followed the route as it weaved through the woods, and then came to a split. I believe we took the left fork of the roads, which was sort of obscure, but was leading to where we wanted to be. It avoided a swampland I could see on the aerial images, and we took a little break at a spot with a deer stand. Sean got up on it while we waited for everyone to regroup.
Once together, the woods road continued down hill gradually toward the Broadhead Creek. It intersected with yet another woods road when we reached the bottom. The creek was just beyond, so we turned right to follow the woods road along the creek down stream.

Falls on the Broadhead Creek

The Broadhead was more of a river here, and honestly everywhere I’ve seen it, than just a creek. It was high volume and rushing over beautiful cascades. Some of the cascades seemed smaller because of their width and volume, but if we saw the same cascades on a narrower stream in the woods, they’d have been considered impressive waterfalls.
Lerch watched the different cascades closely as part of a plan to come back and paddle them. He had figured out where he’d need to portage and what he could go over.

Falls of the Broadhead Creek

The woods road along the creek didn’t last that long. When it petered out, we had to just continue to bushwhack along the creek. I really didn’t think it was very hard at all. It was beautiful, and I just enjoyed all of the scenery the entire time. There was a giant tree growing over a huge slab of rock, there were rock outcroppings touching the stream edge, and more cascades of heavy volume out on the water.

Broadhead Creek

I made my way out onto the areas of flat rocks along the shore and simply walked that through some of the areas where the slope on the hillside got too tough. We could hear the sound of traffic on Rt 447 at times, but I didn’t want to wade the group across only to walk a boring highway. This was too nice to miss out on here.
Everyone at one point started trying to climb up the steep cliffs to go further above the creek, but I just kept getting down closer to it and found the rock hops to be easy enough and enjoyable. Justin joined me on that area first, and soon enough Lerch was down there and following the creek too. The rest of the group seemed to stay up higher.
Everyone eventually had to come down lower to the creek, and we made our way out to Timber Hill Road. This would be only the second paved road crossing of the entire hike, and it was barely paved. The road had broken up pavement and a rough bridge over Broadhead Creek. Someone had driven over the edge of the paved bridge section and onto the walkway which had in part collapsed under the weight of whatever vehicle was on it. I tried standing on it briefly, and it was not going to hold me. There was a sign on the road saying that it was not maintained and to use it at your own risk.
James met up with us here. He parked his car along the side, and we all continued a short distance up the road, past a closed business and out of service ski slopes. When Timber Hill Road continued up hill, we continued straight through a gravel lot ahead, then into the woods at the end. Lerch checked out a tractor on our way through.

Falls on Broadhead Creek

There was a seasonal island below Timber Hill. A water way and wide flood plain kept us off to the right away from the creek for a bit of time, but it was pleasant and easy walking for the most part. At the end of the gravel lot, we did have an iffy area for a bit. We ended up fighting through multi flora rose and Japanese barberry for a while. No trail present meant we head to just push through whatever way we could pass. We made our way closer to the stream, then back inland before the undergrowth started to let up. We found it to be better where the grade of the slope changes from gradual and flat to very steep.
We got back to the shore of the Broadhead Creek where it was a long straight section on the maps. There was an old woods road remnant in this area along it, and a very flat area that almost looked like a railroad bed, but I have nothing saying that there was ever such a use in this area. We passed another lovely cascade waterfall on the creek and continued south.

Broadhead Creek

When the creek began to bend sharply again, we decided to regroup, and I saw an opportunity to cut a corner and add something of interest.
There was a ridge directly above the creek, which on google aerial images appeared would have a possible view. I wanted to see it. Furthermore, we had already covered good distance going back and forth along the creek for hours. If we cut up and over the hill, we could get to the tracks and take them south a bit toward Penn Estates.
We passed a giant tree with a crack in it that was big enough for a person to stand in, then cut directly up the mountain past some rocky outcrops. I suppose this is the southern end of Timber Hill.

View from Timber Hill

We reached a sort of level area as we neared the top. Some of the group continued to climb to the upper part of the hill, but I figured the view would be lower down based on the aerial images. I believe I was right, as we reached the sort of open area we could see farther down the valley of the Broadhead Creek, and where the confluence between it and the Paradise Creek would be.

View on Timber Hill

I really loved this little spot. It was only a seasonal view, but the leaves were down from the trees just enough to offer us the view we needed. From here, we continued along the open area, and there was a rough old woods road leading a long the slope to the west. We followed this to a bit more of a view across the Paradise Valley.

Descending

Aerials showed that there was a sort of open area below us to the southwest, and I wanted to find that to take the woods roads out of it and down to the railroad tracks. I could see somewhat of an opening below when we got to the west side of Timber Hill. We began to descend, and there was a steep rock face. We could have gone around and down it, but it was more fun edging our way down through the clefts in the rocks. The way we went down reminded me of Cornell Crack, on Cornell Mountain in the Catskills. Once down, we turned right through some rather open woods which abruptly turned into one of the woods roads I was looking for. The route from here was pretty obvious and easy, heading to the south on the hillside, gaining a little bit of elevation again, but then dipping down to within sight of the railroad tracks. The woods road continued south, and when it reached the point where it was very close to the tracks, we cut over to the right to follow them south.
The tracks soon went onto a high fill from where we got on them, which took us over both Paradise Creek and Rt 191 on top of a large culvert.

Original Lackawanna main line at Paradise Creek

The Lackawanna Railroad did not always have this crossing; the original crossing of Paradise Creek and the road was a large trestle, for which only one abutment still remains, visible from Rt 191. After crossing the culvert area, I could clearly see the fill on the other side. I had to walk that rather than the boring tracks that I’d already walked in the past. I climbed down from the active line and back up the abandonment for a nicer walk on the fill and then through a lovely rock cut.

Old Lackawanna Railroad cut

Only Serious Sean came with me to check out the original Lackawanna line.
This route was one of the many “cutoffs” made by the Lackawanna Railroad under the oversight of President William Truesdale, who took the reigns of the company around the turn of the century and made extensive improvements. Around this time, most old masonry structures on the line were replaced with concrete, and sharp corners were cut for speedier service.
We continued on the tracks to the south, and we passed an abandoned golf course that was now part of a municipal park. I wanted to go through it badly, but we were running low on daylight and we’d have a while still to get to Penn Estates the way I was planning to go: off trail.
We followed the tracks until they crossed over the Broadhead Creek at Clarke Falls.

Clarke Falls?

I had seen Clarke Falls countless times on maps, but never had seen it, or never figured out what it was. It’s on USGS maps, and it was in my PA Atlas and Gazetteer.
Where we turned off the tracks, right before the bridge, there was a small stream flowing down the mountain with a lovely cascade. This was about where these Clarke Falls were supposed to be, so I am assuming these are it. We crossed the stream off trail, then began to steeply head up hill.
It was a rather steep climb for a bit. Cory looked like he was hating it the most, but he handled it. We came to a rock outcropping, which we skirted, then headed slightly down hill on the other side to reach an old woods road. Fortunately, this woods road led directly south and toward Penn Estates directly. This was a very easy section.
We continued on the woods road and I watched closely on my phone as it led us closer to where we needed to be. Other woods roads forked off when we got close to what was probably an active hunting area, and we soon came within sight of the little creek, which I don’t know a name for.
We ended up a bit too far east on the creek, so we crossed and began following it up stream. This led us to a woods road and a foot bridge over it, and there was some sort of house or cabin I was not expecting to come by just to the left. When I didn’t see an obviously used car, we opted to go directly on the driveway to the power line right of way and follow that to where we were parked. We were after all parked directly under the same power line right of way.

Power line

We hurriedly took to the driveway on the power line, crossed over Hallet Road with no problem, and continued on the power line directly to the entrance to Penn Estates.
The hike seemed to go very fast for me, and we covered very close to exactly the route I was planning to take. The woods roads were all where they should have been, and even more of them were there to make what might have been tougher sections much easier.

Din Din

Unfortunately, Michele’s husband Scott got stuck working late, and couldn’t be there to laugh and holler with us, and make us more delicious food like he loves to do, but we did have taco materials ready to consume. Mr. Buckett came up to join us and it was a nice time, and Scott was able to show up before everyone left. We relaxed and also enjoyed Ken’s home brewed beer, which is quite good as well.
As is usual, I ended up falling asleep before everyone even left....
I had dried off almost completely and didn’t even bother to change my clothes.
It’s amazing there is still so much to see in the Poconos, even in the areas that are so close to everything I’ve already done. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of these new Pocono preserves we covered on this hike. It wasn’t the most incredible hike every, but I absolutely loved it and look forward to exploring the area more.