Spring 2025 Day Trips

 

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.

- Christopher McCandless

During the spring of 2025 we went on a couple of day trips close to our home. This blog entry highlights three of those adventures.

March 9, 2025: Birdsboro Waters Preserve - Berks County, Pennsylvania

If you're a regular follower of this blog, we posted an entry about the Birdsboro Water Preserve back in October of 2023. You can click here to read more about the Preserve.

On this day, we wanted to test our new GoPro, so we didn't take any still photos. But you can view the video on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

We hiked around the preserve on a couple of different trails. The weather was sunny and warm for early March, but we still found some ice clinging to the rock face at the old Dyers Quarry. It was a great day for a hike and it felt good to be outdoors again. Winter is always too long for our taste!

April 18, 2025: Kellys Run Nature Preserve - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

The 458-acre Kellys Run Nature Preserve is part of the Lancaster Conservancy. The trail that runs through it is a National Recreation Trail and also serves as a section of the Conestoga Trail, a 64-mile hiking trail in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The preserve includes a pollinator garden and is known for having an abundance of wildflowers in the spring, including wild azalea, rhododendron and mountain laurel. Amenities in the preserve include parking, a port-a-john, a pavilion, and a kiosk.

The Kellys Run Trail is a 3.8-mile loop that covers difficult and steep terrain with multiple stream crossings and scrambles across boulders. If you're looking for a workout - this is a great place to do it!

Kellys Run had been on our bucket list for a while. We had seen a few YouTube videos featuring the area and it looked like a great place to hike. We were happy to finally get a chance to go there in the middle of April.

After arriving at the sanctuary, we followed the loop trail in a counter-clockwise direction as it wound its way down into the deep ravine created by Kellys Run, which eventually flows into the Susquehanna River. The preserve features one of Lancaster County's few remaining old-growth forests. The trees towered above us as we descended the steep path from an elevation of 700 feet down to 400 feet.

Cutleaf Toothwort

We had to climb over and around some pretty big boulders as we made our way along the bottom of the ravine. About halfway we came to an abandoned bridge. After exploring it we followed the trail to the left of it and crossed the stream one last time.

Dwarf Ginseng

Rue Anemone   Fiddlehead Fern

The second half of the trail is along an old road that climbed quickly and steeply to a parking area at the top. From there we found the trail winding along through the woods and back to the main trailhead where we had started.

We really enjoyed our hike, although we were disappointed that there weren't many wildflowers yet in bloom along the trail. We'll just have to return another time to see them!

If you'd like to see a video of our hike in Kellys Run Preserve, please click here for the link to our YouTube Channel. And if you view it, please give it a thumbs up and leave a comment!

April 21, 2025: Dalton Tulip Farm - Swedesboro, New Jersey

Dalton Farms in Swedesboro, New Jersey, is well known for its Tulip Festival in April and its Sunflower & Pumpkin Festival in September & October. People come from miles around to enjoy the farm's seasonal offerings.

Our daughter invited me to go with her and her family to see the fields of colorful tulips and some daffodils. Jeff decided to sit this one out.

Dalton Farms is a 99-acre family owned and run farm located in southern New Jersey just a couple of miles from the Commodore Barry Bridge and 12 miles from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The farm has been tied to the same family since 1790. 

In addition to the seasonal offerings, visitors will find food trucks, play areas for children along with a hay bale slide, a lake with pedal boats, shaded paths to walk, an animal pen and chicken to feed.

It was a beautifully sunny day as we strolled through the grounds taking in all the colorful flowers. We just may have to return in the fall for the Sunflower and Pumpkin Festival, which also offers a corn maze to explore.

If you decided to go to Dalton Farm, keep in mind there is an admission fee.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *

Killens Pond State Park - Delaware

 Life is a journey, make the most of it.

- Unknown

November 2-4, 2024

We wanted to close out the 2024 camping season by looking for one more place to go camping that wasn't too far of a drive from our home. So we turned to the state of Delaware to see what we could find. We settled on Killens Pond State Park, south of the town of Felton, in Kent County.

Killens Pond State Park 59 water & electric campsites, and 17 primitive campsites. It also has ten cabins and 1 cottage available for rent. The cabins and cottages include heat, air conditioning, a kitchenette, and bathroom.

Cottage at Killens Pond State Park

We stayed in one of the park's campsites, which are all arranged in lollipop loops. There are 6 loops with about 9 sites on each loop. The campsites are very close together and completely shaded. 

Our campsite at Killens Pond

There was only one shower house for the entire campground. It was old and very much in need of updating. The shower stalls were very small and didn't have a private changing area.

Potable water was available at the dump station. It's recommended that you fill up your tanks before proceeding to your loop. The dump station is located on the right shortly after passing through the check-in station. The check-in station has a tiny little store inside with the bare necessities.

Although we didn't like the campground, the park itself was nice. It had a playground, a trail around the 66-acre millpond, and a nature center. Boating and fishing are permitted on the pond. 

Boardwalk at one end of the pond

Spillway at boardwalk end of the pond

Fisherman on the pond's dock

View of the boardwalk from the trail around the pond

There is also a waterpark located operated by the state park. It was closed for the season when we visited and we didn't stop by to check it out. But it seemed like it might be a good choice for families.

We probably will not return to Killens Pond. There wasn't enough to do there for the older set, and we didn't really like the campground. However, if you have kids and are in the area, it might be a good choice for a day trip.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *

Raccoon Creek & Hillman State Parks - Pennsylvania

 

The best trips are the ones where you don’t make any plans and just see where the wind takes you.

– Unknown

August 3-6, 2024

On our way home from a month-long camping trip to Ohio and Michigan in 2024, we stopped in western Pennsylvania to give ourselves a break from the long drive, and to explore a couple of Pennsylvania State Parks.

We camped at Raccoon Creek State Park for three nights. You can click here for the link to a previous blog post reviewing the campground.

Raccoon Creek State Park is one of Pennsylvania's largest and most visited state parks. The 7,572-acre park features the 101-acre Raccoon Lake, a wildflower reserve, and Frankfort Mineral Springs.

The Wildflower Reserve is said to contain one of the most diverse stands of wildflowers in western Pennsylvania. More than 700 species of plants can be found in the reserve that has a variety of habitats including pine plantations, meadows and forest. The reserve has 4.5 miles of trails to explore. We followed the Jennings and Audubon trails for a total of 2 miles. Unfortunately, the biggest wildflower bloom is in the spring, but we did see some wildflowers along the trail, just not as many as we would have liked.

View from the trail

The Jennings Trail also took us past the Hungerford Cabin, the former get-away for Cy Hungerford, a famous political cartoonist. During the second World War he also drew posters for the Ministry of Defense. After his death in 1983 the cabin was turned over to the state park service.

Hungerford Cabin

Hungerford Cabin

Frankfort Mineral Springs are located along a 1.25 mile loop trail of the same name. The springs can be found in a lovely ravine with a sandstone grotto carved into the rock by a waterfall spilling over the rim of the ravine. The waterfall wasn't running while we were there due to the low rainfall in the area prior to our visit. The stream feeding is comes from surface drainage, which explains why it was dry.

The waterfall would normally spill from the above the stairs in the photo.

The springs are located next to the falls, dripping out of the rock face and into a small pool worn over time in a large rock. The water for the spring comes from underground, keeping it running year round. The minerals in the spring's water were once said to "heal ailments" and there was a health spa and resort in the area catering to those who came for the "healing waters." Remnants of the resort can be found along the trail above the waterfall and springs.

Frankfort Mineral Springs

View from the trail

Resort ruins

View form the trail

We also spent an hour and a half enjoying a relaxing float in our kayaks on Raccoon Lake. The Park rents canoes, kayaks, rowboats and hydro bikes for use on the lake. There's swimming (at your own risk) on a sand beach where you can find a bathhouse and a concession stand. To see a video of our visit to the sites at Racoon Creek State Park and our float on the lake, click here.

View from our float on the lake

Hillman State Park is located a short drive away from Raccoon Creek State Park. The park is managed by the state Game Commission. It doesn't have a campground and is primarily used for hunting, fishing on its many streams and ponds, hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The park also has a model airplane flying field, and a covered bridge.

The Lyle Covered Bridge was built in 1887. It's only 38 feet long, but is open to vehicles wishing to cross over Brush Run at the eastern border of the park. The bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lyle Covered Bridge

Lyle Covered Bridge

That brings to a close our epic month-long camping trip to Ohio, Michigan and western Pennsylvania. We covered a lot of miles during our journey, and collected a ton of memories to bring back with us!

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *