Ricketts Glenn State Park
Ricketts Glenn State Park; Good’s Campground – Site 10
Getting married brought out our inner yearnings for traveling and getting back to the basics, together. We have planned to go on a two week long honeymoon next year, but for our “mini-moon” we headed North-West to Rickett’s Glenn State Park.
We started our trip later than I wanted, and with much less preparation than I would have liked but that was kind of the point, I guess. I have to learn to accept that I can plan as much as I want, but it doesn’t mean things will pan out according to that plan.
I must say that on first look, the campground we found resembled the backdrop of a horror movie, more than a romantic getaway. But, Tom was persistent and kept waiting for the man in the office to return to ask about staying at one of the sites. This right here is what makes us the couple that we are. Tom went after what he wanted, a secluded site with no other campers around, and I stifled my irrational fears and trusted the spontaneity. Damn, was I glad he convinced me.
We ended up with a site that was close enough to the car to flee an attack from a toothless murderer – ok ok, close enough to store some of our extra belongings, but completely surrounded by dense woods. The site was conveniently nestled in a nook of a small stream that created a beautiful sound scape for the night.
One of the locals we met at the lower level of the campground told us that we were only a few miles from the spectacular waterfalls of Ricketts Glenn. This couldn’t have been more perfect. We set up camp and unloaded some gear from our packs and headed out on a short hike – with just under 3 hours until sunset we didn’t want to go too deep into the woods.
We warmed a meal of wedding left overs over the fire, and washed it down with some warm whiskey and a cold beer. The dark quickly consumed our campsite and the only thing to do was rest from an eventful day.
Early to bed, early to rise – we packed up and headed into Ricketts Glenn State Park around 7am. We hiked into the Falls Trail. Falls Trails is a 7.2 mile trail, that is designated as one of the parks most difficult trails. Along this trail are 21 spectacular waterfalls ranging in height from 11 feet to 94 feet tall. The trail tends to become quite busy with tourists and hikers on weekends. On this day, the trail was serene and undisturbed. One set of foot prints could be seen in only the muddiest of places and never once did we encounter another person.
Without sounding trite, the falls were absolutely beautiful. My favorite part was being able to experience them from various vantage points. There’s something about standing at the top of a 94 foot waterfall looking down over the edge that’s special in a totally different way than standing below it looking up at it. Both views are wonderful to take in, but very different.
I carried a full pack for this trip – And I will admit the rocky stairways throughout the trail were trying at times, and I was very happy to have sturdy hiking boots on as it was very slippery. We loved this short but active first trip into the woods as a married couple.
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