Hike #574; Pocono Rim, Adams Creek and Conashaugh Loop
Adams Creek. Note the look of horror and woe on Tom's face as he just dropped his cell phone in!
7/31/11 Pocono Rim; Adams Creek and Conashaugh Creek area loop with "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Corrin Dylnicki, Rich Pace, Jill ?, Paula Scheyer, Jack Lowry, Joe Tag, and Jillane Becker.
My next hike would be yet another in the series of the Pocono Rim. This has been a really special one for me since the first one we did many years before, starting right at the Delaware Water Gap. The Pocono Rim, being the geographical area on the slope of the Pocono Mountains dropping off into the Delaware, had already been the subject of over 12 of my big hikes (there have been more on the Pocono Rim, but not that really fit into the "series" of hikes).
There were two newcomers, Jill, who came through Rich, and Paula who I had met when I was doing open mic nights with Ervin Dejesus in the Grist Mill Cafe in Andover NJ back in 2005! Strangely, we reconnected because she was on the Stokes State Forest maintenance crew and I was sent to assist them one day.
Adams Creek Trail near Rt 209.
Adams Creek foot bridge
Adams Creek
This time, we would start off around where we turned back on the previous hike, at Adams Creek. There was a small parking area here I chose for the meeting point for this hike. Jack ran a little behind, but he'd soon catch up.
We began the walk by following the Adams Creek Trail in to the woods and to the left. It went a short distance and then crossed a good foot bridge over the creek. We had followed this route previously, and we weren't going to do the same thing again. I gave everyone the option of either staying on the trail or walking up the creek with me. I'd said the previous time here that on the next visit I'd walk up the creek. No one chose the trail, we all made our way directly up the brook, and it was fantastic.
Small falls on Adams Creek
Adams Creek
As we travelled, the creek became more and more narrow in a deep gully below any trail route. It was to the point where it was nearly impossible to get up either side. We made our way up small cascades as we continued along the creek carefully.
Along Adams Creek
As the gorge became narrower, the walking became more difficult. We would have to rely on a lot of hand holds, and try to move along slippery rocks. Tom must have fallen in at least three times. One time in particular, he went totally in and was quite lucky not to bust his head on anything, and not damage anything in his pack.
Cascades along Adams Creek
Adams Ceek
Along Adams Creek
We came to one particularly bad spot where we had to make our way up a cascade, but it seemed inevitable that someone would take the plunge, so Tom and I passed backpacks along to get everything safely to the top. Furtunately, no one fell in here.
At one of the next spots, while trying to take a picture, Tom slipped and dropped his phone into he water. He searched and couldn't find it in the rough water below the falls. When he got out, I went over and put my face up to the water and waited for it to calm a bit. When it did, I made our what I thought was some sort of light. Either way, the phone was a nice black, while the rocks were a greenish brown. I had barely enough reach to pull it out, and surprisingly it was still on. I told Tom to take the battery out and let it dry immediately. He put it in some rice or something and within a couple of days it worked perfectly with no problems!
We eventually came to where the gorge widened. Jack appeared on the hillside above us to the north, where there wasn't supposed to be a trail, but he found one with numbers on it or something. Together, we all continued up the stream to where the main trail did come back in. It crossed the creek a few times, and then we came to the first larger waterfall. This was a beautiful spot, and we all took a break. There was a nice deep swimming hole at it's base. A young kid who was there with his parents did a running jump off the rock above the falls, and so I really wanted to do it. I walked over and climbed directly up the falls into a narrow corridor of rocks, up the second falls in there, and then came to where the kid had jumped. I got my running start and cleared the rocks, and it was quite awesome. Rich got it on video.
Climbing along Adams Creek
The next section of "trail" if you want to call it that was incredibly steep and required some hand hold climbing.
We continued up over a steep area with big slopes to the left and then reached the largest falls on the creek. We had only just gotten out of the water at the previous one, but had to get back in at this one because it's incredible. There was a high rock above this falls, probably forty or so feet high, with a strap hanging from it. Someone on my previous trip told me you could jump from it, but I didn't try. The kid this time was right behind us, and he'd never done it but figured it looked okay. He went up and jumped it, and said it was fine. I probably should have tried it, but I didn't this time.
Adams Falls
We continued from this point along a rough section of "trail" that was pretty washed out. It went very close to some insanely steep cliffs where a fall would certainly mean our deaths. Once everyone was up we took a nice relaxing break and had some tilt beverage.
From here, the pathway got much easier. We had a pleasant walk through hemlocks on to the former Sproul estate, the upper Adams Falls, and the old water wheel we had visited previously.
Upper Adams Falls and the Sproul water wheel.
Sproul water wheel
Falls along Adams Creek
Adams Creek at the Sproul Estate
Most everyone went off to the right across the creek to check out the structure that housed the water wheel, but I stayed on the opposite side. I really liked this side the best because of the views of the mill and the rocks including the large rock bridge type of thing over the small gully spot. We also found a spot where it would most likely be safe to jump also, but I really just didn't feel like trying it at this point.
We continued to another small falls just above the water wheel, and then made our way up stream slightly, beyond where the old Sproul Lane used to come through, and checked out an abandoned building on the south side of the creek. Only Corrin and I went over. There wasn't much to see, and it was mostly collapsed.
A cascade on Adams Creek at Sproul estate
From there, we continued along a small path back toward the water wheel and the old Sproul Lane again.
Abandoned and ruined building at former Sproul estate.
We began following the old Sproul Lane up hill. As we walked, Jack was making up more funny songs, and this time the big one was about "Traveller's Vodka", something cheap I had bought that was the subject of many jokes. The old road made it's way up hill rather gradually.
Part of Conashaugh View Equestrian Trail
Eventually, a small lake appeared to our right, down hill from us. Soon, we intersected the Conashaugh View Equestrian Trail and turned right. This trail just followed similar woods roads to what we were on heading down hill gradually. Along the way, we passed near to the edge of the pond we had seen earlier, and what looked like a dilapidated dock from above was actually an entire building almost complely submerged. Though I saw very little sign of beaver activity I would assume they enlarged the lake.
Pond along Conashaugh View Trail
We continued on the trail from here heading slightly down hill. It followed a very nice old woods road sometimes lined by stone walls from the days when farming this land, which today seems insane, was necessary.
The trail began to switchback a bit, and then came to a corner where there was a nice view over the Delaware and the secondary ridges in NJ.
View along the Canashough system
View along Conashaugh Trail system, just south of Dry Run.
Viewpoint along Conashaugh View Trail.
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
The trail continued to descend, and we were soon in much more dense woods. The trail reached a more manicured dirt road where the carsonite posts instructed us the trail went left, but to the right there were abandoned buildings, so of course a side trip was in order.
I knew from maps and a little reading that this was the old Zimmerman Farm. The first thing we saw before us was a beautiful old stone barn to the right. To the left, there were other dwellings. One appeared to have been a caretaker's house, and beyond there were more barns and even a sort of chicken coop type of place. There was an old gas pump, and the sheds and barns we could get in still had some antique nick knacks in them. Both Tom and Rich walked through buildings making chicken sounds.
While much of this farm was very old, dating back to the 1870s and an early farming family, much of it was a bit newer and had a much more interesting history than I had thought.
I had recently acquired some of the "Magic Maps" as they were often called that showed all dwellings on National Park Service property, and it marked this as the Marie Zimmerman Farm. The first thing that struck me was that it was a woman's name posted and not some old dutch sounding farm man like what is consistent with everything else up there( I should have known after finding out that the Sproul Estate was a former governor's retreat hidden on the Pocono Rim that I should look into things more).
As it turns out, Marie Zimmerman was an accomplished artist famous for work in the early 20th century.
Around 1912, John Zimmerman, a manufacturer from Brooklyn bought the property and built a house in Richardson Romanesque and other styles (we didn't see the house itself), and lived there with his daughters. His daughter Marie, who eventually took over the property was considered one of the most versatile artists of her time; she was a sculptress, painter, gold and silversmith, cabinet maker, wood carver, jeweler and blacksmith who reportedly worked between ten and twelve hours a day! Her products were so well crafted they were sometimes mistaken to be heirlooms of the Renaissance. She managed a sort of art studio at the site and had employees reportedly. She also lived off the land, hunting and fishing for her food after taking sole possession of the property in 1936.
It's a shame all of the buildings are abandoned, because they're actually in quite good condition.
After our visit to Marie Zimmerman's Farm, we continued back to the trail route, which took us up hill on another dirt road. When we reached a fork, where we could continue ahead on the dirt road or go left on a smaller foot or bridle path, we turned. The trail took us slightly more steeply up onto the Pocono Rim, and then leveled off. We passed through some open field areas as we moved on. During this section, with Jack on guitar, we sang about half of the songs from the Beatles album "Abbey Road".
Field section on the Conashaugh View Trail system
Open area atop the Pocono Rim, Conashaugh Shale Pit.
There seemed to be some former use in this cleared area for quarrying or something. I'm not sure. I would imagine some municipal road department probably operated out of here at some point. After a little break in a shady spot, we continued on the trail which would emerge on Zimmerman Road, another dirt road that descended the Pocono Rim to the right. We turned right to head down hill slightly along it, and then the trail turned off to the left onto another narrow bridle path. This was an obscure turn because it had none of the carsonite posts the rest of the trail route had.
Between Abbey Road stuff and other songs like "Breakfast At Tiffany's" and "Across the Universe", Jack would get back into singing about "Travellers Vodka". Paula was getting pretty good at improvising with the lyric which was quite entertaining.
Jack treats us to varied tunes with his Martin Backpacker...and it's been penetrated! Oh my!
We turned left off of the trail route somehow, and made our way down a dirt road which led us to the paved Conashaugh Road, the first such road of our hike. We followed the road right for a little ways, and down hill until we got to where it crossed over the upper end of the Conashaugh Creek. The next leg of our trip was to bushwhack along the Conashaugh Creek heading down the Pocono Rim. I was hoping we'd find some waterfalls, but there wasn't more than a small cascade, which was surprising.
Still, the route had it's great qualities. It was a more relaxing route compared to some of the tough stuff from earlier. We walked through lovely hay ferns as well as in the stream which was easy enough to do. As we continued down, the water of the creek disappeared under ground. All that remained was the dry wash bed from when water was at high run off. The water table wasn't particularly low at this time, so it must be pretty normal for the creek to disappear here.
The dry bed of Conashaugh Creek
We walked down the dry bed of the creek, which was pretty interesting, as it leveled off into a wider valley. We continued on this until it took us back to Zimmerman Road. Along the way, Jack was playing "American Woman" by the Guess Who, but Tom was singing "American Chestnut" because I thought I spotted one of this elusive and threatened species. Even when Jack got further behind, Tom kept singing songs by Foreigner which was pretty funny.
Old Zimmerman Road at Conashaugh Creek crossing
We took a nice long break along Zimmerman Road at the piped culvert for Conashaugh Creek, which was nice. From here, we followed Zimmerman Road down hill to an intersection, where that same road split both left and right, probably the earlier alignment of Rt 209 as it connected in both ways. We turned left here because it was most direct to 209, and I wanted not to miss a section of the McDade Trail.
After reaching 209, we had to turn right along it for a short while, until we saw a trail down hill to the left. I thought it couldn't have been McDade Trail, because all other sections were either crushed stone or under development as such. However, this was indeed the trail. As it turns out, certain sections would be foot trail only, which I thought was really neat. We took the foot path down along the Delaware using wooden steps and such. It was much nicer than I had anticipated.
Conashaugh Creek underpass below Rt 209
We soon came to the underpass of Conashaugh Creek below Rt 209. I could hear Jillane yelling to me from the edge of the Delaware. She would meet up and join us for the last three or so miles.
We all went down to the shore of the Delaware at the creek confluence, and many of us stopped to swim. The water felt great, and there was a nice pool to lay in, but when I got out into the river a bit more, the current was insanely strong and began sweeping me down. Tom tried and the same happened. It was actually hard to stand to get back out as well.
McDade Trail somewhere near Mile 16 I think
Rich, Jill, Joe, and Paula continued on without the rest of us, since it was getting later. We soon got out of the water as well and continued along the nice foot path above the Delaware. It remained a foot path until we reached a spot where the Delaware turned away a bit. Jillane had parked her car at a small lot here. Beyond, the trail became a gravel path again. The trail stayed somewhat close to Rt 209 for a bit, and skirted the edge of cultivated corn fields. Raw sweet corn is actually pretty good, but a lot of these ones had small cobs.
Raw corn on the cob along McDade Trail near mile 16
We continued on the trail, which soon came close to the Delaware and therefore a foot path once again, with wooden steps and diversion bars and such. I really enjoyed these less "improved" sections quite a lot.
McDade Trail somewhere near Dry Brook.
The trail became a quarry stone path once again when we got closer to the Adams Creek trail head.
This was another great hike, and the Pocono Rim series retains it's reputation of being some of the most enjoyable hikes we do.
Adams Creek. Note the look of horror and woe on Tom's face as he just dropped his cell phone in!
Adams Creek Trail near Rt 209.
Adams Creek foot bridge
Adams Creek
Small falls on Adams Creek
Adams Creek
Along Adams Creek
Cascades along Adams Creek
Adams Ceek
Along Adams Creek
Climbing along Adams Creek
Adams Falls
Upper Adams Falls and the Sproul water wheel.
Sproul water wheel
Falls along Adams Creek
Adams Creek at the Sproul Estate
A cascade on Adams Creek at Sproul estate
Abandoned and ruined building at former Sproul estate.
Part of Conashaugh View Equestrian Trail
Pond along Conashaugh View Trail
View along the Canashough system
View along Conashaugh Trail system, just south of Dry Run.
Viewpoint along Conashaugh View Trail.
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Zimmerman Farm
Field section on the Conashaugh View Trail system
Open area atop the Pocono Rim, Conashaugh Shale Pit.
Jack treats us to varied tunes with his Martin Backpacker...and it's been penetrated! Oh my!
The dry bed of Conashaugh Creek
Old Zimmerman Road at Conashaugh Creek crossing
Conashaugh Creek underpass below Rt 209
McDade Trail somewhere near Mile 16 I think
Raw corn on the cob along McDade Trail near mile 16
McDade Trail somewhere near Dry Brook.
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