Bushkill Falls, PA

When a place bills itself as "The Niagara of Pennsylvania" one is allowed to be skeptical. Perhaps that is part of the marketing plan, by overselling itself you expect it to be completely lame but are curious at the same time. So when you go there and it is not completely lame you have a good time.

We found ourselves near Bushkill Falls a few weeks ago, my wife had been there before and convinced me to make a day of it. I've been to Niagara and it is definitely no Niagara - it is a different kind of place, a series of man made trails and bridges that wind themselves over two relatively small rivers and a lot of waterfalls.

The story behind places like this fascinate me, some guy a hundred years ago finds the waterfalls and starts building a series of walkways, turns it into a tourist attraction and now his descendants run the place. It's not a government funded operation but the result of some young entrepreneur building on his vision of a tourist attraction and making it successful for decades to come. It seems so completely crazy to think about starting a business like that, some waterfalls? in what was the middle of nowhere? you're going to get people to visit? and pay to walk around? Brave person.

If you find yourself in the area I would definitely recommend it, good way to kill an afternoon hiking around the woods and water. It is probably even more dramatic after some serious rain or thaw.