Glen Onoko Falls

A few days around July 4th Dave and I decided to take a mini vacation up to Jim Thorpe, PA. It's about a two hour drive from our house and it was the most relaxing, beautiful, fun, amazing trip. On the 4th we decided to hike the Glen Onoko Falls, which is in the Lehigh Valley Gorge. 

Dave and I found out about the falls two years ago when we went on a scavenger hunt that took us all over Eastern Pennsylvania. By the time we got to the falls, I was too sore, exhausted and beaten to get out of the car so Dave took to the trails without me to find the next clue. Along the way he took pictures of the falls and sent them back to me. Ever since then I've been bugging him to take me back, which we finally did. 

To start, let me just say I am in no way shape or form fit or even in the proper condition to be hiking. Not to mention, there are no marked trails or nice little paths for you to walk on. No, you are climbing over rocks, crossing over the falls by wet stone, and grabbing on to tree trunks, praying you don't start sliding down. But when I got to the first falls and looked up and saw that it led to even higher, more beautiful falls, I had to keep going. The amazing sights just kept pushing me to go. A few things that I loved, and will never forget?

- How incredibly cool it was standing next to the waterfalls. I'm not talking about "oh my gosh that's so cool", which it was, but I mean like better than air conditioner cool. 
- The feeling of the mist of the falls hitting my body. I didn't want to leave the mist, by the time I did step off the rocks, I was soaked. It felt like a mini, cold massage. 
- The feeling of being on top of the world when we hit the top of the falls. 

Ok enough talking, here are the amazing pictures!

If you can't read the fine print, I'm going to just emphasize one particular part:  "Hikers have been seriously injured and killed as a result of accidental falls from the trail and gorge overlooks"....ummmmm, I can barely walk on flat surface, I'm screwed.

The first mini waterfall you see when you hike a bit into the trail. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

This was up at the top, but not the highest point. At this point we had been hiking up the trail for about two hours. This is where I enjoyed mist heaven.

Dave right before he ran into the falls

"Top of the World". This is the spot directly above our heads in the previous pictures. So at this point we are waaaaay up there. Dave and I took a seat on a rock in the middle of this flat part and took in the scenery and enjoyed the sounds of the rushing waters.

The hardest part of the whole thing? Having to hike it all back down. Remember when I said there are no trails and you kinda have to rock climb your way up? Yeah, it's harder coming down. 

But it was totally worth it. I took a video of one of the mini waterfall on my Instagram, follow me to check it out!