Hiking Bear Wallow Trail

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Hi Blog!

For our first full day in Promised Land State Park, we decided we needed a good hike to stretch our legs after the six hours of driving we did on Wednesday. We have hiked in Promised Land in the past. Many years ago, we did the Boundary Trail hike with the AMC Young Members Group. During our recent time in Tobyhanna in 2020, we drove up and did the Little Falls Trail. For our hike this time, we decided on the Bear Wallow Trail, because we could connect a number of different side trails to give us a good day of hiking.

On the way to the trailhead, we passed several unique cabins built by the CCC in the 1930's. No two cabins are alike. All of the cabins have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cool part is that they are all available for rent.

We usually start with a trailhead selfie, but when we saw this pin for the 9/11 Museum in New York attached to the sign for the trail, we decided a closer image was in order.

The trail starts on what is left of an old woods road. As the forest encroaches the old road bed, the trail becomes narrower and narrower.

At one point, we were warned there was a gate ahead. We found no remnants of a gate.

We were also warned that there was a bridge ahead.  However, it seemed the bridge would have been most useful right here:

We eventually found the bridge.

Bear Wallow Run is one of the many little streams that feed Lower Lake, which we later fished. Here, Kathy takes a closer look at the stream. We did not find any bears wallowing about.

Bear Wallow Trail leaves Promised Land State Park and enters the Delaware State Forest. We noticed that several tracks have been logged off allowing more sunlight to hit the trail.

As we approached the next intersection, we decided to take a loop on the Cross Cut Trail. Many of the trails in the park are designated as multi-use, but the first part of the Cross Cut Trail is for hikers only. As we started down the trail, we were engulfed in mountain laurel and rhododendron.

The narrow trail brought us up close and personal with a number of locals. Here Kathy examines a puff ball or "oak apple gall." These balls are commonly formed on oak trees and sometimes on plants in the willow and rose families. They are actually deformed leaves that have been modified by secretions from the larvae of a tiny, stingerless gall wasp species. In the spring, a female wasp injects an egg into an oak-leaf bud; after the larva hatches, the gall structure begins to develop, protecting and nurturing the immature wasp until it emerges as an adult in June or July. The gall is green and spongy at first during the insect’s larva and pupa stages; it becomes brown and papery after the adult emerges in summer, and eventually drops off the tree in fall or winter.

Our grandson would be disappointed if our blog didn't include at least one fun guy!

We had a lot of fun with the dappled sunlight in the forest. Here is a cool daisy photo.

We decided to hike down to Lower Lake Campground and check out the boat launch. Lower Lake is an approved trout water and they stock the lake with trout! 

We came out of the forest at the Equestrian Camping Area. At this time, there were no horse campers using this part of the campground, but a dramatic water tower watches over the entire campground complex:

After a short hike along the campground road, we reached the boat launch. A number of campers leave their boats and kayaks at the launch.

We found a convenient bench and enjoyed a picnic lunch. We were joined by a young family with little kids and littler fishing rods. It was fun to watch them try their luck.

After lunch, we followed the Lower Lake Trail back to Bear Wallow Trail and the trailhead. This part of the hike was very wet and mucky. There were vast wetlands filled with ferns. Can you see Kathy in the photo below?

 With all the different trails we connected, we hiked over 7 miles. It was a great outing and we were glad we had the opportunity to explore the two boat launches for Lower Lake. Tomorrow, we hope to go fishing on Lower Lake. Stay tuned to find out if we have any luck catching trout!