When I stumbled across Lakota Wolf Preserve as an interesting outing for my animal-loving kids, I wanted to find another activity in the area to make the 2+ hour trip from my parents’ house worthwhile. There isn’t much else nearby in NJ but just across the border in Pennsylvania are the Pocono Mountains. Some quick research on Trip Advisor and I zeroed in on Bushkill Falls as a great option.
Bushkill Falls calls itself “The Niagara of Pennsylvania”. While that may be a bit of a stretch, it is home to a series of 8 scenic waterfalls, including a beautiful 100 foot waterfall. But the park has so much more to offer beyond its trails and waterfalls – from gem mining to playgrounds, there were tons of activities to entertain the kids.
The park is privately owned and admission fees are $16.50 for adults and $8.50 for kids 4-10. (Adult tickets are $2 off during the week.) There are additional charges (ranging from $5 to $10 each) for some of the activities, including gem mining, paddleboats, mini golf, and the maze.
Both the mini golf course and the paddleboats have seen better days. And both appeared to be closed while we were there, although they should have been open according to their posted hours. It’s too bad they weren’t in better condition (and open) because these have the potential to be great add-on activities for families visiting the park.
Across the street from the mini golf and paddleboats is a playground. The playground is newer and in great condition. It is shady and there is a picnic area in the woods right next to it, giving parents a place to eat and rest while the kids play. The playground structure has features for both younger and older kids.
But the gem mining was the biggest hit with my kids. The sluice is attractively designed and worked well. You purchase the bags inside the Nature Nook ($10 each) and bring them outside to mine them. The boys had so much fun sifting for their gemstones. As with most gem mining places, the bags were well stocked and the boys found a lot of really cool gems. Each bag comes with an identification card so the kids can figure out what sorts of treasures they have found.
Right behind the gem mining sluice is Bushkill Falls’ newest attraction, the Bushkill Falls Mining Company Maze. In this timed activity, participants have to run through the maze and locate the four checkpoints. At each checkpoint, they stamp their cards with a letter. Once they have all four stamps and spell out G-O-L-D, they race to the exit. We did not try out the maze since we had already spent a fair amount of time and money on additional activities, food, and souvenirs, but it looked fun.
The park also has 3 exhibits to explore: the Pennsylvania Wildlife Exhibit, the Native American Exhibit, and the “Story of Bushkill Falls” Exhibit. We walked through all 3. They were small but interesting and worth a few minutes of your time. There are no fees for any of the exhibits. The wildlife exhibit is just past the ticket booth for the falls, but tickets are collected at the end of the exhibit so you can check out the displays even if you don’t buy a ticket to the falls.
We really enjoyed exploring the many activities at Bushkill Falls, but the main attraction is definitely the waterfalls. There are four trails of varying length and difficulty – the green, yellow, blue and red trails (listed in order of increasing difficulty). We opted for the yellow trail, which took about 45 minutes. I would have liked to have gone on the longer blue hike, but it was an extremely hot day and we had already spent a good bit of time on the other activities so we settled for the shorter hike.
The yellow trail affords views from both the top and the bottom of the Main Falls, as well as the Lower Gorge Falls. I have to admit that the trail markers were somewhat confusing and I’m not entirely certain that we stayed on the yellow path the whole time.
We were rewarded almost immediately with a beautiful view of the main falls. The proximity of the falls to the trailhead make this a really accessible site for families with smaller kids and for mobility challenged visitors. It is a short and easy walk to get to the first lookout.
One of the first things my kids noticed was the color of the water. It looks brownish as it goes over the falls, but the water is not actually muddy or polluted. It is brown as a result of the tannins from the nearby oaks, hemlocks, and white pines. It is a natural phenomenon resulting from the water flowing over the trees’ roots and branches, as well as fallen trees crossing the stream.
From the primary observation deck, we continued along the yellow trail. The path is a combination of natural trails, raised wooden walkways, and steps. Lots of steps. The majority of the trail is actually a fairly intricate walkway built into the side of the gorge and across the streams. It is not for the faint of heart (or weak of knees). Though the pictures may look otherwise due to the “natural design” of the handrails and fencing, it was extremely sturdy and felt completely safe at all times.
We got to see the main waterfall from several different vantage points. My youngest was a little leery of the part of the path that went across the top of the waterfall. We got a little too close to the rushing water for his taste. He much preferred the calmer view at the bottom.
All in all, I felt like the hike was a big bang for your buck. There were definitely a lot of stairs which made it challenging, but we got to see so much in a relatively short distance and short amount of time. The different views of the waterfall were fantastic and the scenery all around us was gorgeous. It is definitely well worth your time, even on a hot day. Kids elementary age and up should be able to handle it with no problem, and kids even younger can make it easily to the main observation deck.
Bushkill Falls was such an unexpected surprise for us. The primary purpose of our trip had been to go to Lakota Wolf Preserve but the boys ended up enjoying Bushkill Falls much more. There were so many different things to do there – the boys got a great mix of nature, exercise, and fun kids activities.
