Day Trip - Nockamixon State Park

 May 21, 2023

The weather for Sunday, May 21st was predicted to be fairly warm and sunny, giving us the first chance of the year to finally go out in our kayaks. So we loaded them up and headed for Nockamixon State Park near Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

Nockamixon State Park encompasses 5,289 acres of rolling hills in Bucks County. The Tohickon Creek, Three Mile Run and Haycock Run feed Lake Nockamixon which at 1,450 acres is a haven for wildlife, boaters and anglers.

Although there isn't a campground at the park, there is a cabin available for rent. Other activities include a swimming pool ($), picnicking, and hiking, biking and equestrian trails.

This would be our fourth trip to Nockamixon and our third time kayaking on the lake. Boats up to 20 hp are permitted on the lake, so we tend to focus our adventures on the southwest end of the lake around Three Mile Run and Tohickon Creek, although we have also kayaked the northeastern section of the lake at Haycock Run. The middle section of the lake is often busy with motor and sailboats, especially in the area around the Marina.

Sentinel Rock
October 2021

On past trips, we also hiked the trail around the spillway and over to Sentinel Rock. 

On this day, we focused again on the area around Three Mile Run. It's much more peaceful there, with acres of water lilies to paddle through along with abundant wildlife. We were a little early for the water lilies on this visit, but we enjoyed seeing the birds, turtles and fish jumping as we paddled the lower end before heading up the channel toward the Tockickon Creek. There we watched some teenagers jumping off the cliffs into the water and swinging from a vine next to the rocks. Although there is no swimming in the lake, we always find kids jumping from the rocks here.

We took our time paddling around and enjoying the day on the water. It was a good choice for our first kayak trip of the year.

The first of many turtles	Heron
Three Mile Run empties into the lake on the other side of the bridge Kayaking on the lake Sailboats on the lake	Turtle Yellow irises Turtles, turtles everywhere!

Heron and turtles

* All Photos and videos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *