Hiking Little Falls Trail in Promised Land State Park

Monday, December 7, 2020

Hi Blog!

It's been two weeks since we posted a blog. We had a wonderful, albeit small, Thanksgiving weekend. We managed to get a tiny Christmas tree. So far, Ruby hasn't knocked it down. The Christmas presents have mostly arrived and are now wrapped and ready for delivery. The weather has turned frigid with high temperature only reaching a high today of 27 degrees. Despite the cold, we felt the need to get out and stretch our legs. 

We picked a short hike in Promised Land State Park. It is hunting season and while portions of our trail are designated "no hunting zones," we were still close enough to the State Game Lands and State Forests that we felt the need to wear our orange. 

Our hike today was along the Little Falls Trail.

We parked at the west end of the Lower Lake. The lake is an approved trout waters and is stocked with brook, brown and rainbow trout. We may need to come back in the spring and try our luck

The dam at the west end of Lower Lake empties into the East Branch of Wallenpaupack Creek. The Little Falls Trail is a loop trail which travels down one side of the creek and back up the other. There are plenty of opportunities to extend the hike by following the numerous snowmobile trails than criss-cross the State Game Lands and Delaware State Forest. However, daylight is in short supply this time of year, so we decided to stick with the loop trail. 

As we started our hike, a sturdy bridge beckoned us to cross to the far side of the creek.

The land that became Promised Land State Park was once hunting grounds for the Minsi Tribe of the Wolf Clan of the Lenni Lenape American Indians (Delaware). The Shakers, a religious group, purchased land in the area. They tried to farm and build a life on the rocky land. Their attempt to build a partnership to log the land was unsuccessful. After finally contracting the forests out to be timbered, the Shakers left the area. According to legend, the Shakers sarcastically named the area “the Promised Land.”

As we hiked along the creek, we traversed a number of flat stone paths. We commented that it sure looked like CCC work. Turns out, The Civilian Conservation Corp had a camp at Promised Land from 1933 to 1941. They built campgrounds, roads, trail and planted over 1,000,000 trees.

The frosty temperatures created some beautiful ice sculptures.

Kathy just had to take a closer look.

We followed the creek as it tumbled over a series of small waterfalls. The main attraction of the Little Falls Trail is this section of the creek.

To see and hear what we saw, click the link below to experience the Little Falls.

Here is a video of Little Falls at the bridge at the far end of our loop hike. 

Here is our videographer:

Kathy got a little too close to this old Ent and it tried to trap her. She barely escaped! The woods can be a dangerous place.

We were hoping to follow the creek all the way to Lake Paupack, but we ran out of daylight, so we turned and crossed the creek and headed back upstream to the trailhead.

We stopped one last time to admire the Little Falls.

We will definitely be back to Promised Land State Park in the future. Until then, stay thirsty my friends!