Cathedral #10566

The Story

This waterfall is deep in the woods at Ricketts Glen state park in northeastern Pennsylvania. It is forty five feet high and empties into a wide round pool before flowing onward. Not surprisingly, hot hikers often swim in that broad pool at the bottom in summer.

If you look carefully, the twisting woods trail goes across the upper left of the frame on the way down to the camera view. Those thin footpaths are all that tie the string of 26 named falls at Ricketts Glen.

Ricketts has been called the crown jewel of the Pennsylvania state park system, and those 26 named waterfalls along with old-growth timber areas give a good reason why. There are also numerous smaller unnamed falls there too because it’s an entire mountainside of nothing but forest and running water. It is a long and scenic hike and very steep in places, but the trails are very good. Be forewarned, you should be in reasonable shape and have good hiking shoes to go there.

Here’s another waterfall picture taken at Ricketts Glen further down the mountain titled Hidden #10564. It’s a narrow stream of water threading through large boulders and tall trees on its way down.

Location: Ricketts Glenn Park near Benton, Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties, Pennsylvania.