High Rocks Hike

A couple of Saturdays ago, Nick and I took advantage of the warmer winter weather and drove up to Ralph Stover State Park to hike along the High Rocks. The park is in Plumstead, PA, about 40 minutes north of our house. On the way there, we stopped at Luberto’s Bakery & Deli (on Durham Rd shortly before the turn onto Swamp Rd, which leads into the park) to pick up some lunch to eat during our hike. If you’re going to Ralph Stover I highly recommend stopping here to pick up a picnic lunch. We split a turkey and cheese hoagie and it was the best hoagie I’ve had in years. The bread was delicious and was equal parts soft and crunchy. It was pretty much perfect.

From the parking lots, you cross the red bridge, which looks deceivingly like a covered bridge from below, and then hike up the road a bit before you get to the trails. One of the houses that we passed along the road had a rooster that kept crowing, even though it was 11:00am at that point. It reminded me of the crazy roosters we heard in Guatemala that crowed throughout the entire day! They also had this handy sign that let us know we were going in the right direction.

 

Right before the trailhead, we came across this fallen tree that looks a lot like an animal skeleton. See what I'm talking about?

 

We took the trail marked with yellow paint blazes for most of the hike but veered off onto the white trail for a little bit. They run parallel for much of the hike anyway.

The hike is listed as moderate in our Philly hikes book, but other than a couple of steep hills, I’d say it was pretty easy. The white and yellow trails run along the High Rocks which are popular among rock climbers. No thanks for me. I like my time outdoors to be relaxing and for me there is nothing relaxing about hanging off the side of a cliff.

As all of the blogs that I have read about the High Rocks have said, pictures just don’t do them justice. It’s hard to get depth perspective, especially when an iron fence is obstructing your view. But if you’re in the area I highly recommend visiting for a hike or a climb if you’re into that kind of thing.