OMG.. Hillshire Farms is not, I repeat, not Polish food... heh heh... My mom makes a mean kielbasa served with homegrown and homemade horseradish that will eat away your sinus!

Yet we digress... I suppose I started this thread to see who else was from the area (or visited) and what recommendations they may have in some outdoor adventures?

I personally enjoy a nice hike in Ricketts Glenn State Park. I am also planning a 15 mile hike of the AT.

Sorry for the detour. That glen looks pretty cool on Google Earth.

What part of the AT do you have in mind? I've started at the NJ side of the Gap and hiked NE from there, but I'd like to start somewhere in PA and hike to the Gap some day.

I believe the group I was going to go with was metioning starting at the DE Water Gap. So, sounds like the same area. Wasn't sure if we were planning on heading NE or SW from there...

How is the NE section? Places to pitch a tent? Etc... etc...

Ricketts Glenn has some beautiful waterfalls to see along the hike. I highly recommend bringing a decent survival kit with you. Very very easy to wind up hurting yourself in a fall. If you hike in very late in the day, I can easily see rain washing down the trails making it hard to hike (I've hiked in the rain there and it is challenging). Definitely a place to be prepared!

I miss grandma's home made ones. My Aunt also made very good ones, but Mom never quite picked that knack up. They were from NJ, but..

Old time Jersey City, and the Union/Linden NJ area too. I'm 1/2 Ukrainian, and for most purposes, the food is interchangable. And yeah, Hillsire farms isn't 'real' , but sometimes it's the best you can get. I'm lucky, there are a few places around to get the good stuff

If you are going NE, I highly recommend the set of four Kittatinny Trails maps.

I'll get back to you with some more specifics when I check my maps, but there is parking area off rt. 80 in NJ just before the toll bridge where you can get dropped off. The AT goes up a gully but there is an alternate trail that goes up the knife edge of the ridge that has a nice view.

Then on to Sunfish pond. Yard's Creek Reservoir I think is off-limits due to security. There was a water spigot available to hikers at the camp at Catfish pond. There was an old-fashioned hand pump for water near the trail by Fairview Lake. Then there's Long Pine Pond. Crater lake is more crater than lake. There is supposed to be a spring near the Brink Road shelter. More later...

Note that Fairview Lake Rd. is blocked off at the bottom of "Fiddler's Elbow" (a distinct zigzag switchback) if someone is coming to pick you up there. I grew up about two miles from there.

Bucks County, PA. WAY at the top. I'm adjacent to state Game Lands # 57 not far from Lake Nockamixon

The Allegheny National Forest and Cooks Forest both have some excellent trails I have hiked both.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/recreation/hiking/

Tore my knee up pretty bad, I doubt I will be doing any long hikes anymore.

I've lived in Southern Chester County most of my life and have seen it morph from farm land to suburban sprawl over the past 50 years. There's still a lot of beautiful countryside to walk thru (the movie, The Village, was filmed nearby). But traffic is brutal, newcomers complain about the smells emanating from the mushroom houses, and my town is becoming a tourst destination.

However, I'm not ready to move to Alaska yet as I do love scrapple, TastyKakes and Herr's potato chips...