Mountain Adventures: Lackawanna State Park, Dalton, PA

Lackawanna State Park is a lovely park with beautiful campgrounds and rolling hills... or are those mountains?  As a flat-lander it is always confusing to me.

The hill top campground
Yes, everything is down from here

The first morning at early dawn I rambled down the trail behind our campsite towards the bottom of the hill.  Just before the black top road crossing I was rewarded with an amazing stone fence.

Miles of stone walls

As we continued to hike the trails we found more walls.  A ranger explained that one-time the area had been farmland.  Well, these flat rocks were everywhere and you had to clear the fields, you needed dry stone walls.  Vola!

Another dry stone wall

The history of this park is fascinating, from the Native Americans to a 1900s race track! Lackawanna is a variation on Lenape, "a stream that forks".  Sometimes the fork results in a fishing pond.  Often, if the lake is too small for swimming or boating then man or a beaver steps in to create a dam.  The spill way at the park made a beautiful waterfall.

Waterfall from the spillway
hewn through the mountain side

Sights along the dam trail

The resulting lake and river are perfect for fishing and we observed several people with poles making a morning of fishing.  The best was the young man with his fish trap hidden in the rapids along the outflow river.

Yes, there is a good sized fish
in this young man's fish trap

Color abounds along the river and lake

As we returned to the campground this marvelous creature was keeping a ready eye on all passersby.

Do not touch
if you value your finger tips!