Twenty five years! Yes, this year is the twenty-fifth annual Death Hike outing. This event has been a consistent feature for more than half of my life now, through all kinds of weather from snow to 39° deluges to 100° thunderstorm days, trail closures, hiking onto prison property, jury duty, house moves, marriages and divorces, a multi-year global pandemic … basically all of the things that make up our lives. No matter how much or how little of each other we see during the rest of the year, it is a given that Ken, Gina, some students, and I will gather in May to celebrate whatever life has given us over the past year.
One original tradition of the Death Hike was for the participants to meet at Ken’s house early in the morning, where his wife Gina would provide a breakfast of donuts, English muffins, and bagels for us before we headed off to Glen Onoko at the Lehigh Gorge. This changed in 2015, when Ken and Gina moved to a new home in a different town. Fortunately, the breakfast invitation continued for me (although not for the other participants).
In years past, it made logistical sense for me to stop at Ken and Gina’s home for breakfast (and, traditionally, leave my vehicle there while Ken drove us to the hike location). But this year, Ken suggested hiking at Ricketts Glen, which is much more accessible to me via a back route that, sadly, goes nowhere near Ken’s house.
Taking the back route was very appealing to me, but it would be the first time in the history of the Death Hike (with the exception of the two virtual Death Hikes in 2020 and 2021) that I wouldn’t be traveling on I-81.
While I hate that highway as much as anyone else in this area, I admit there was a sense of excitement that built every Death Hike morning as I drove south along the highway, which I had nearly to myself so early in the morning. And then the drive home down the long grade past Mountain Top, looking into the valley ahead, in early evening … the weather was always beautiful at that time of day, regardless of what kind of weather we’d had during the hike—somehow this signified a shift into the summer season.
There was one more treat that I would be missing out on this year. The Death Hike breakfast invitation means arriving at Ken and Gina’s home extra-early, but it also means fabulously delicious scrambled eggs made with mushrooms, spinach, and romano cheese. Gina loads up the plate with a huge portion of the scramble, and serves it with buttered English muffins.
Nevertheless, I decided that this year I would take the back route from home and search for a few benchmarks along the way.
As it turned out, I wasn’t missing anything. Ken emailed me the night before the hike to say that Gina was ill and would not be joining us for the hike. This was a real shame, because until now, the three of us had participated in every Death Hike! I felt really bad that she had to miss the day’s activities. However, it also meant that I wouldn’t be missing out on Gina’s scrambled eggs, because there were no eggs to be had that day. (She was too sick even to make them for Ken before he left the house.)
I woke up early and left home before 7:00am, as planned. It was a calm, clear, chilly (37°F) morning, the type of day that warms up quickly in the strong May sunshine.
I had about 2½ hours to search for benchmarks along my route before I was expected to arrive at the Ricketts Glen parking lot. This sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn’t. I only had time to search briefly for seven of the marks on my list, and I didn’t find any of them. (I found a few marks, but they were resets or otherwise different from the marks I had targeted.)
In one case (44 CH), I found a very high, prominent ledge that looked like a perfect spot for a bench mark, and it fit the description well. But the ledge was covered with a thick layer of accumulated soil, moss,and other debris. Clearing this ledge is probably an impossible task without a lot of time and a metal detector. But sometime we may come back with both, and try again!
One real bummer was a mark that had been set in an old schoolhouse yard (45 CH). While I had no expectation that the schoolhouse would still be there (it wasn’t), I was hoping that the mark would be present. The area was open and easy enough to walk around in, but I could find no sign of the mark or even the rock ledge that it had been set into.
Another hour to search for survey marks would have been great, but it was after 9:00am already and I wanted to arrive early at the parking area. It was the first nice-weather Saturday we’ve had all year, and I was afraid the lot would already be full!
Not to worry … it’s not a National Park, and it is kinda in the middle of nowhere, I realize. The lot was still nearly empty when I arrived at 9:15. One of our die-hards from previous years—Alan—was already there and waiting, having driven three hours from southern New Jersey for the hike. (I thought I was dedicated!)
Alan and I chatted for a few minutes and snacked on some brownies I had brought (my favorite “better than box mix recipe,” in case you were wondering). Within ten minutes, Ken appeared. With both “leaders” present, the day’s activities were officially under way!
It took only a few more minutes for another vehicle to arrive. This group of four students—Mike, Shaaf, Jacob, and Anthony—were the only others who joined us today. There is no cell service in this area, so we waited until just after 10:00am just in case someone was running late. But apparently no one else was up for the challenge today.
There is no “death sign” at Ricketts Glen, but the kiosk at the end of the parking lot made for a decent group photo spot. And in looking closely at the posted signs, I spotted a few that were at least somewhat reminiscent of the Glen Onoko death sign. A tripod and a camera with a self-timer made it easy to set up the group shot. Soon, we were done and heading north into the woods.
The first mile or so follows Kitchen Creek quite closely along an old roadbed. It is mostly level and winds gently through hardwood trees. I spotted a few wildflowers here, mostly yellow violets, and I also spotted the first fractal fern of our journey (but it doesn’t count because I’m one of the hike organizers!).
The trail passes over a few small wooden plank bridges as it crosses the creek, and it is still quite level and easily accessible at this point. This is precisely the easy woodland walk that we hoped would provide great anticipation as we drew nearer to the falls, and I think it served that purpose for at least some of us. Others may have been talking too much to really notice, but that socialization is also part of the hike.
After about a mile, though, the trail begins to climb, and the waterfalls come into view! We hiked slowly (slowly for a Death Hike, anyway) so everyone could enjoy the sights along the way.
Once we reached Mohawk Falls near the top of the climb, we had a decision to make: go back entirely the way we’d come, or try something a little different. In order to create somewhat of a loop hike, we decided to take the Old Beaver Dam Road Trail, which has a spur that rejoins the Falls Trail at Ganoga Falls. This was a quiet (because no one seems to use it), relatively subdued walk through the woods just west of the spectacle of the falls—such a different environment just a few hundred yards away from the main attraction of Ricketts Glen.
By the time we joined the main trail again, it was midafternoon and things were getting crazy-busy. Loud toddlers and unruly Boy Scouts were just a few of the treasures we had to contend with along the way, but we made it through, getting another look at each waterfall from above. Once we reached level ground again, we enjoyed another peaceful walk through the woods along Kitchen Creek while we discussed our pizza options.
We had decided to return to our post-hike pizza spot from last year, King’s Pizza in Mountain Top. This is a nice option because they have good food and drinks and plenty of room for our group. It’s quite a drive from Rickett’s Glen, though; it took about 40 minutes to drive out to the highway and circle up and around on Route 309. But we all made it there in good time and without getting lost.
The staff at King’s were kind enough to give us a reception room that was technically closed, so we had not just the whole table but actually the whole room to ourselves. Figuring out what to order is the most challenging part of the day! 
But we settled on the grandma-style pizza as recommended by someone Ken knew; a margherita pizza; and one more pizza topped half with sausage, and half as a Monks special (sausage, mushrooms, and onions). I ordered a cheese calzone to bring home for Rich, too. Many raspberry iced teas helped us rehydrate after all the climbing! Fabulous fellowship as always, and it was over far too soon.
I decided to take the back route home, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive through Luzerne and Wyoming Counties this evening. Listening to The Cranberries’ album “Stars,” as I was on all my travels today, was a perfect complement to the sunshine lighting up the delicate new foliage of spring.