Waterfalls of Ricketts Glen

Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania

Here are 28 photos of waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania.

This park boasts a remarkable 22 named waterfalls, 21 of which are accessible on the 7.2-mile (11.6-kilometer) Falls Trail. Most of the waterfalls can be seen from a 3.2-mile (5.1-kilometer) loop beginning at the Lake Rose trailhead, instead of the main parking area on Route 118.

Plans to make this area a national park were approved in the 1930s but scrapped with the onset of World War II.

Most of the photos were taken on September 11, 2018, after several inches of rain. Those photo captions say "high flow." A few of the photos were taken on June 14, 2011, and those captions say "moderate flow."

More water doesn't always make waterfalls more attractive. Some look better with high flow, but others do not. Increased flow can make a waterfall larger and more impressive, but it can also eliminate interesting cascades over stair-stepped rock. For example, Ganoga Falls, which is shown with both moderate and high flows, looks better with moderate flow. With high flow, many of the small cascades are lost. Also, excessive spray makes a long-exposure photo impossible, since the spray would coat the camera lens.

The brown coloring of the water is tannin from trees and other plants; it is not pollution.

The waterfalls are presented in the order in which I viewed them while hiking the Falls Trail from the Lake Rose trailhead. The last two photos show Adams Falls, which is accessble from the main parking area on Route 118.

Somehow I missed Conestoga Falls, in between Mohican Falls and Tuscarora Falls. However, the book Pennsylvania Waterfalls says: "Conestoga Falls ... is a 17-foot slide that is not particularly photogenic. The stream's tight configuraton makes it difficult to shoot anyway, so it's best to bypass this small chute ..."

Mohawk Falls