Bye-Bye Timothy Lake South, PA

East Stroudsburg, PA  High: 85  Low: 70  Yes, my birthday has come and gone. Thanks for the birthday wishes! We've been doing so much the blog is about five days behind where we REALLY are. I took the weather widget out so that the actual weather and temps will be inside the blog and reflect the temps we experienced while we were there.

We really going to miss Timothy Lake South Campground in East Stroudsburg, PA. Sparky is going to put in a plug one more time for this great spot..kind of a hidden gem, because they aren't one of the more busy campgrounds in the area. This was one of the prettiest, forested campgrounds we have stayed in. We are Thousand Trails members, but anybody can stay here if they wanted to--travel travelers, fifth wheels...It's also a Passport America park so that helps non-Thousand Trails members, too.

site #66, most have grills, too!

It's a natural setting..a little off the beaten path, but the campground is clean, well taken care of, nice size pool, a little camp store, laundry, nice, friendly staff...fire pits and picnic tables at each site. Plenty of room for big rigs, and plenty of room between neighbors...

typical site

You could be out in the open on the perimeter of the grounds, or in the middle where the shade was...the atmosphere was just really really nice....This place is a wonderful place for families--great playground and pool deck with shade and with the free water park up at the north Timothy Lake Campground, it's just an added bonus. We had 50 amp hookups, no wi-fi provided by the campground, but our Verizon mi-fi worked decently with one to two bars, and cable, we really had everything we needed. The streets throughout the campground are paved, which made for some nice early morning and dusk campground rides.

another site in the middle of the campground

There's lots to see in the area as far as nature, with the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area nearby...whitewater rafting is available on the Upper Delaware, you can canoe and kayak on the Delware River, there's plenty of hiking in the recreational area...not much in the way of shopping, but hey, it's the Poconos! Nearest grocery store is about seven miles from the campground. There are some neat little towns in the Poconos to explore while you are staying in the area.

Papa and Cate exploring......

And the highlight was seeing the deer at dusk.....We'll definitely come back to stay here again....

Back to Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

East Stroudsburg, PA  High: 85  Low: 62
We decided to take Trevor and Cate back to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in the Pocono Mountains to see Pennsylvania's tallest waterfall--Raymondskills Falls, the one we couldn't find yesterday. The falls are only four feet shorter than Niagara Falls, and are 165 feet in a multi-tiered drop. This photo is just the upper tier. There's a middle tier, and a lower one as well.

We found it! It wasn't easy....The narrow road to turn onto off route 209, wasn't marked, and there were no signs for the falls but after talking to the ranger yesterday,  we got some better directions with landmarks to watch for, and managed to get there, finally! The waterfalls weren't the only things we managed to find.

We saw some kind of snake...Sparky doesn't know what in the world made her look up into the rafters at the entrance to the comfort station, but she did. Must have been her "snake radar" working 100%. Because there it was, sitting in the top of the rafters just watching all of us come and go. Yuck! All black except for the mouth....very sinister looking!

the easy part of the trail down to the falls

The path to the falls was short, but rocky and steep for the most part, we should have used our hiking sticks, but there's a heavy log railing all the way...There's an upper falls, a middle falls and a lower falls.

On to Smithfield Beach in the Delaware Water Gap...a more unusual beach setting than normal...it's a beach on the Delaware River, not so unusual, but it's a lifeguarded beach! You drive a long, winding road to get back to the beach, you think you are never going to get there! And finally, a clearing, lots of nice picnic benches, a really nice shower house and the beach itself....Lots of standup paddleboarders going by, kayaks, canoes...the river is way down, so it's perfect for canoeing, kayaking, and doing the paddleboarding. Lots of rental places nearby....

Here's another view down from the beach....It was a beautiful day today....We really enjoyed our picnic at the beach.....Tomorrow it's the grandkids' last day with us, we'll see what we are going to do!