Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Road Trip! The Grand Canyon of PA

This past weekend, we took the kids camping at Leonard Harrison State Park, which is located on the east rim of the Grand Canyon of PA in Tioga County.  Our longtime friends, the Sullies, bravely joined us for a weekend of gourmet campfire meals, a 12-mile bike ride, and strenuous hiking.  With an inviting itinerary like that, who wouldn't want to join a family of three children for camping after a 4+ hour car ride?  Right??  Only the best of friends.

The Grand Canyon of PA did not disappoint.  The views are stunning.

Mist rolling through the canyon 

View looking upstream Pine Creek inside the canyon

Soaring Bald Eagle!

The kids really did complete a 12-mile bike ride along the Pine Creek Rails-to-Trails path inside the canyon. The mileage alone is impressive for 7- and 9-year olds, but the biking was made even more challenging after a mid-bike downpour.

On the Pine Creek Trail

Soaked

Smiling at the Finish Line


On the second day, we tackled the Turkey Path, which is a short but incredibly steep round trip into the canyon.  The trail zigzags down a forested set of narrow switchbacks on ledges.  It is a beautiful trail, but required some intense adult supervision.  It only took about 2 hours for the circulation to return to Ben's hand.  I loved fielding all the questions like, "Mom, what would happen if I fell here?"  


At the Trail head 
(before the switch backs)


Beautiful Waterfall near the bottom of the trail

Pine Creek felt DELIGHTFUL after the hike!





 We saw a lot of wildlife over the weekend, much to everyone's delight.  Aside from a 15-minute visit with a soaring bald eagle, we also saw woodpeckers, sapsuckers, kingfishers, and herons. We heard ravens and owls and warblers in the woods.  There were fish and toads and snakes too!

Toad 
(overly "loved" by Caroline)

Eastern garter snake

Overall it was a terrific trip -- totally worth the 42 loads of laundry I'm currently doing. I'm not sure what the kids enjoyed the most, but it was probably the spinning merry-go-round thing at the campground's playground.  I would be hard pressed to pick my favorite thing myself, but I was very tickled to learn that you really can make muffins in orange peels over a campfire.  Also, dark chocolate s'mores are really, really good.



Posted by CC at 8:20 AM

2 comments:

  1. ElizabethJuly 18, 2012 at 9:21 AM

    You know...I really love to camp and have yet to take our children...ever! Which means it has been 15+ years since we have actually gone camping. This looks like a GREAT place to go!! BUT did it have bathrooms? Did you sleep in tents?

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  2. CCJuly 18, 2012 at 10:59 AM

    You should go camping!! I'd recommend starting somewhere closer like French Creek State park. We did camp in tents -- two tents. One tent for boys and one tent for girls. We'd all fit in one of those new fangled large tents they sell at Target, but I'm too cheap to buy a new one, so we're still using the small tents from our pre-kid backpacking glory days. And, yes, the campsite does have clean and flushable toilets (and showers too)! If you have all the gear, camping is a cheap vacation.

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