Hickory Run & Boulder Field: PA State Parks in the Poconos
Explore Hickory Run State Park, home to the geological marvel Boulder Field and 40 miles of trails.
We are here at the Hickory Run State Park Visitor Center and Office. This is a pretty new facility and right here this map outlines all the great features of Hickory Run State Park including Shades of Death Trail, over there's Boulder Field, we'll get to those in just a little bit, and the Lehigh River, as well as Lehigh Gorge State Park. We're going to get to that state park later in our eight-part series of exploring state parks in the Poconos on Pocono Television Network. But first, let's go check out these exhibits in this one-of-a-kind visitor center here at Hickory Run.
All that's outside at Hickory Run State Park is inside the center, but with a lesson for visitors of any age. Diane Madl is the Environmental Education Specialist here.
“This takes you out into the park without actually having to go out into the park. Here we have Boulder Field,” said Jim.
“Yeah, so a lot of our visitors might not be able to get out actually onto the boulders,” said Madl. “So we do have a little, a wobble board for people to kind of get a feel for what it's like if they wanted to go out and experience Boulder Field without actually doing it. “
Each exhibit is rich with info, close-ups of delicate ecosystems out there in the 16,000-acre park in Carbon County near Jim Thorpe and Lake Harmony, and a popular place for outdoor recreation amid the natural wonders like Hawk Falls.
“We definitely want to make the connection of how important water, we are connected to water, and water is to us. And wanted to feature Hawk Falls, one of our most popular areas in the park. And of course, it's a beautiful trout stream down there at Mud Run and how important the hemlocks are in keeping the water quality really pristine. You can see Hawk Falls throughout the seasons here. For folks, again, who might not be able to get down there in the winter, they might want to see what it looks like during the different times of the year,” said Madl.
Hickory Run has places to cool off in the heat of summer. Sand Spring Lake is right near family camping areas and Shades of Death Trail, which sounds ominous but is often right where Amanda Eager finds herself.
“This is my happy place. I've only taken a few people here with me. One being my mom,” said Eager.
This winter hike provided some real wonder along the trail at the century-old dam from the Great Depression era, frozen in the cold. When warmer months arrive, the Shades of Death Trail has a cooling effect from rhododendron and hemlocks all around.
“The main reason it's called Shades of Death, as far as I'm concerned, is because of the plants. Because in different sections, you're literally walking right under the darkness of the plants,” she added.
You get a similar experience on the way to Hawk Falls. The winding trail takes hikers to the foot of the 25-foot falls.
Park rangers want to remind everyone this and other areas of Hickory Run or any other state park are special and should stay that way.
“So there's no swimming, there's no picnicking in this area. You can take all the pictures you want, but don't stack rocks, leave no trace, those sort of things people want to abide by, right?” questioned Jim.
“That's correct, yeah. And you can picnic in parts of our park, just not here,” said Matt Eckle.
Check out how special this place is for so many. From a birthday hike for Carmen and her family or the Axenroth family celebrating Father’s Day, and even furry friends joining Kiera Nguyen and her family on the trails and at Boulder Field.
Hickory Run is where Park Manager Stacie Hall grew up.
“It's great to be back. I am thrilled after twenty years with DCNR to be managing the resource that I grew up using,” said Hall.
“If folks can hear that right now, we have a very picturesque waterfall just beside what a lot of people remark as being this beautiful natural setting,” said Jim. “This chapel here, can you tell us a little bit of the significance of what this chapel means to the greater park at Hickory Run?”
“There was the former town of Hickory Run in the mid-1800s, the chapel being one of the buildings that remains from that along with the cemetery and the manor house up on the hill. So as visitors come, they get to hike on the trails, they're seeing the remnant dams from that old settlement village. So it's a nice combination of the cultural and the natural resources,” added Hall.
The history of Hickory Run runs deep. The 1800s saw timbering and mills. A century later, a wealthy general owned all this land until his death when the National Park Service took it over, running Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps. Those remnants remain, and the park has been in the PA state parks system since 1945.
But predating everything is perhaps the most unique feature of Hickory Run State Park: Boulder Field.
“What makes this unique is just how large and expansive and uncovered. It's exposed. You see, there's no vegetation. It's just a field, like a carpet of rocks and boulders,” said Al Guiseppe with the PA Geological Survey.
Boulders of all shapes and sizes stretch for the length of six football fields, looking much the same as they have for hundreds of thousands of years since the last Ice Age. Designated as a National Natural Landmark, Boulder Field is a truly unique geological wonder.
"We highly recommend you get out into the middle, and that's when the truly large aspect of it—how expansive it is—really comes in. You really feel it because you're just in the middle of this gigantic Boulder Field,” added Guiseppe.
We did just that—not just on this visit— but I did years ago with the family too, making memories just like countless others who have visited Hickory Run State Park over the years.
"There's so much to see throughout the entire park. And not only here, but through the complex. If you come here during our summer season or in October, we get extremely busy,” added Stacie Hall. “If you can't get to one parking lot, just go to the next, switch up your activities for the day. I really suggest visiting here in all seasons—come in the winter, come in the spring, come in the fall. It is a different experience every time, in what you're seeing throughout the park."
Thanks for exploring state parks in the Poconos with Pocono Television Network. Next month (April) we will visit Tobyhanna State Park.