There are a few wild places around the Lehigh Valley that are spoken of with a degree of reverence whenever a story is told involving visiting them. The two big ones are Bake Oven Knob and Glen Onoko falls in Jim Thorpe. Until recently, I had never been to Glen Onoko but thanks to the folks in EnACT at Muhlenberg, I have made my first visit. I drove up the turnpike in a car with two girls from Jersey (Hi Larissa and Amanda) and a girl from Long Island (Hi Leron). In other words, I was not the only noob heading to Lehigh Gorge State Park to see the legendary Glen Onoko run.
I don’t know what it is about the Appalachian but you get off the turnpike and begin to head into Jim Thorpe there is no other word for them but breathtaking. 
These ancient mountains are missing the epic peaks of the Rockies but they are just as beautiful regardless of height. As you make your way into the State Park you drive through the middle of the Lehigh Gorge and again, just looking around is straight up incredible.
What I find so wonderful about places like Lehigh Gorge State Park is the manner in which they are statements of reclamation but more on that later on.
Today, we begin the hike up the mountain. 
With visions of my summertime Tammany climb dancing through my head, the climb began. We quickly met the water cascading down the hillside to the baby Lehigh. 
This kind of scenery is just ridiculous. This is genuine Nature porn folks. 
Despite the beauty, the real work was just about to begin as was the noise and the living embodiment of the preservation versus conservation movement and the whole I almost died on the waterfall story.
The Glen Onoko tale continues tomorrow.
#1 by LVCI on November 6, 2010 - 12:36 pm
Just to make you aware.. the last time we were up there.. on the way to the falls on the path leading from the two track trail we came across a kid who was using a stick to toss a rattlesnake off the narrow path that goes to the top of the falls!
Also if you continue on past where the trail leads to the falls (past where the creek goes through the two track Eastward) for a couple 100 yards and to the right is a very short trail that leads to a lookout rock looking down sheer drop of about 1,000 feet over the Lehigh Gorge. Always hawks and sometimes an Eagle.
#2 by Jacy on November 7, 2010 - 4:27 pm
Unquestionably the best porn I’ve ever seen. Very excited for part 2. That part of the state always surprises me, because somehow I always forget how incredible it is. I haven’t been to Glen Onoko Falls…yet. But one year I spent most of a Parents’ Weekend in Jim Thorpe riding the train through the gorge which was beyond fantastic.