Home » 2011 Cross Country Road Trip

Hickory Run State Park, PA

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 2:45pm by Herb
457 miles and 9 hours from our last stop - 1 night stay

Travelogue

Hickory Run was one of those state parks that I always wanted to try out, but never really had a good chance. It's the closest park to the Lehigh River Gorge, which is a popular white water rafting river. The thought was that it might be a suitable base-camp for a future rafting trip. However, it's location is just far enough from NJ to make camping necessary for any activity, but close enough to home that we usually just bypass it in an effort to get back home a day early.

Anyhow, this time I decided to check it out. While the park was nice, I wasn't really in the best state of mind to appreciate it. It took me far too long to select a site,, return with the number,,, collect my pass,, and then set up camp at the sloping site adjacent to the site I reserved. When I figured out my mistake I had to move the rig over 50'. Trip fatique was definitely setting in, and solo travel wasn't as appealing when there weren't the distractions of the big sky, mountains, canyons, and rivers of the west. This felt like camping in my backyard, and I was missing Lolo.

I called it an night without even exploring the park and got ready for an early departure.

Description

This 15,990-acre park lies in the western foothills of the Pocono Mountains, just off Route 80 in the town of Kidder, PA. This large park has a sandy beach for swimming, excellent fishing for brook and brown trout, a 19-hole disc golfing course, two permanent orienteering courses, and 43 miles of hiking trails.

One of the more unique features of the park is a huge 16-acre boulder field, which seems to appear out of nowhere in the park’s dense woodlands. This unique geological landscape has been recognized as a National Natural Landmark.

There is also a 381-site campground with both a forested section and a grassy, more open section.

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Hickory Run State Park location map in "high definition"

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