Hickory Run State Park (Allentown, PA)
This is the tale of a hike that was supposed to be a hike but then wasn’t.
I was up in the Allentown area last week. I needed to be up there sometime in the mid-afternoon. If you’ve ever dealt with Philadelphia traffic, you know you don’t play games during that time (like any city really). So I left early and ended up having 5 hours of free time. I like to see various areas and had the day off, so I thought why not? The drive could either be 90 minutes earlier or 2.5 later in the day.
There are a few hikes I’ve wanted to do in the general area, so I decided to kill some time and went up to Hickory Run State Park. While driving up, the weather was beautiful. There wasn’t any rain, and it wasn’t forecasted to rain. It was sunny, but cooler for the summer (around 80). I thought it would be an ideal day to hike at Hickory Run State Park. There are miles of hiking trails at Hickory Run State Park. I know a lot of runners and trail runners come to explore.
Hickory Run State Park is about an hour drive from Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City. Located at the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, it’s also an hour drive from Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, and Wilkes Barre.
Starting out at Hickory Run State Park didn’t go as planned either. I like Nuun when hiking and prefer the caffeinated Ginger. I would prefer noncaffeinated ginger, but to my knowledge, they don’t make them. (I’m not a Nuun ambassador and prefer something with more substance while running.). With Nuun, I also eat food while hiking, so I don’t really eat gels.
Anyway, before beginning my hike at Hickory Run State Park I accidentally dumped an entire canister of the Nuun into my pack. So I didn’t see stars from that much caffeine, I diluted, but at that point, I knew the hike would be “one of those hikes”.
At Hickory Run State Park, I started on Blue Trail. It’s a thin trail that winds through the forest. It connects both the Pine Hill and Sand Spring trails.
The path at Hickory Run State Park went along a stream crossing, and while trying to cross, I fell in. I do have a pair of Goretex Brooks Cascadia which are fantastic but when you fall into a stream, there is only so much that will protect you. As I continued along the trail at Hickory Run State Park, the skies opened up, and it started downpouring anyway.
I wasn’t expecting rain at Hickory Run State Park, so I didn’t have anything I would usually have like a jacket or hat. I kept trecking along. The trail at Hickory Run State Park was overgrown and the further I got, the deeper the water was.
Around an hour at Hickory Run State Park, and probably only going 1.5 miles, I ended up turning around. It was a trail I know I could have covered hiking 3 miles per hour, and I wouldn’t make it anywhere at Hickory Run State Park at the rate I was going.
In all, I’m definitely happy I was up at Hickory Run Park near Allentown, and I do want to go back on a better day. Nothing about the hike at Hickory Run State Park went as planned but I made the best of the situation and that is all I can ask of myself.
Hickory Run State Park looks awesome, and there are so many fun trails. I love NJ, but I’ve done 75% of the hikes here now! I don’t regret the short but fun hike at Hickory Run State Park, I’m happy to be able to do it.
Here are other hikes I’ve done this Spring and Summer:
Hiking Turkey Swamp in Freehold
Exploring Cattus Island in Toms River
Exploring Hartshorne Park in the Highlands
Hiking to the Cape May Lighthouse
Hiking Bear Mountain in a Downpour
Hiking through Belleplain State Forest
Hiking High Mountain with a View of NYC
You can see all the hikes here.
Questions for you:
Have you hiked in the rain?
Where is your favorite place to hike? Have you been to Hickory Run State Park?
It’s funny but while I am willing to run in the rain, I’m not willing to hike in rain!
Your hike looks really beautiful! We have no mountains here and even the trails don’t have streams or rocks or even water around them. They’re basically dirt roads, which makes them good for running but not hiking. To hike in SC, you have to drive a few hours. Raining on your hike and not being prepared kinda stinks but I guess it’s like running. Once you’re wet, you’re wet- and it doesn’t matter so much.
Also, I was a nuun ambassador for a year. I think they chose everyone who applied, and the only perk was a discount that made nuun slightly cheaper than the prices at my LRS. I didn’t reapply because I felt bad since I put the Nuun into Diet Sprite (not intended use) and also because I always chose to buy it from the LRS.
I love your mountains are calling, but I wish they’d just text tank top. That’s an epic tank top.