Crash Course on the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania (3 videos!)
Area Summary
The Pocono Mountains also referred to as “The Poconos” is located in the northeastern region of Pennsylvania. They offer a large array of nature filled activities for every season; including, hiking, skiing, kayaking or canoeing, biking (mountain or motor), water rafting, fishing, horseback riding… just to name a few. Our visited in late October of 2015 was a beautiful time to experience the northeast fall foliage. We also enjoyed some hiking, shopping and zip lining at one of their local Mountain resorts.
Campground(s) we stayed
Timothy Lake South is located in East Stroudsburg, PA the property was recently updated and now has a little over 300 sites that are all full hook up with 50amp service. The sites are large and can pretty much accommodate any size rig. It’s sister property, Timothy Lake North, is located about 1 mile up the road a smaller campground for smaller rigs. While staying at the Timothy Lake properties you can use the amenities (swimming pools, water parks, laundry, restrooms, showers, games, etc.) at both facilities.
Things to do
Camel Back Mountain Adventures – Zip lining and Mt. Coaster
With tons of mountains to see in the Poconos we found a great zip lining and tree adventure course on Camel Back Mountain called Camel Back Mountain Adventures. We went for the day and enjoyed a trip down their Mountain coaster. A 4,500 feet steel track coaster where you can control the speed by pulling or pushing the side levers. We also went down the dueling 1,000 foot zip line and the dueling 4,000 foot zip line, which from our experience was definitely the most exhilarating. Check out our video above to see what it was like to speed down the zip line and see the fall foliage in full effect. They offer different package rates depending on what you want to do for the day. If you are planning a trip to the Poconos we strongly recommend checking out the Camel Back Mountain Adventures as this was our favorite experience of this trip.
Country Kettle – Candle and Candy Outlet
We couldn’t believe how much candy was in this store. I think there is probably every single kind of candy you can think of. So, of course this was a spot I didn’t want to miss. Candles and Candy to the hearts content, and they also have some other cute items to browse and buy.
The locals call Bushkill falls the Niagara of Pennsylvania. There are eight waterfalls that can be viewed from mapped out hiking trails and bridges. There are 4 trails to take ranging from easy to difficult. While we started off on the easy green trail we ending up finished our day on the difficult red trail so we could see all the falls. The falls were beautiful or if you don’t like to hike they offer other activities including shopping, mini golf, paddle boating and a few activities for some of the little ones like mining for Gemstones and the Bushkill falls Mining Co. Maze. Check out their link for more information along with pricing for each event.
Places we ate
We stopped at Pub 570 a few times for some after work drinks and snacks. It was the closest bar we found to the Timothy Lake Campgrounds. We hit karaoke night along with a Sunday night football both were fun and the bar was filled with people. They make a really good dirty martini (vodka) and I had their chocolate lava cake, which was also very yummy.
We went to Muller’s diner for a quick breakfast on a Saturday morning. They have a large menu with a lot of different options. The wait staff was friendly and service was quick. We also got a lot of food for the money. I couldn’t even finish all my hash browns.
Overall Opinion
Great location for outdoorsy folks! We suggest not staying longer than a week or two but definitely a fun place to enjoy hiking and mountain adventure sports.
Would we Recommend?
Again, if you want to enjoy the great outdoors we would recommend checking out the Pocono Mountains.
Hi – I just found your blog and videos. We are planning on doing the same thing you’ve done within the next 3-6 months. I was wondering if you could talk more about traveling with Sake, and how you handle the litter box, how he travels, etc. I have two cats that will be coming on the journey with us, and there is not a lot of information about RVing with cats. Thank you
Tara Morse
Hi Tara,
Thanks for checking out our blog and reaching out. I’m more that happy to talk about Sake! He definitely makes our RV feel like a home. So I hope your furry family members adapt well!
In the beginning Sake was a little ‘freaked out’ as the walls moving and the entire house shaking was very different than what he has ever experienced, but after we moved about 3 times he got used to it. He also adjusted very quickly to living in the RV – probably about 2 week until he found the spots he likes to sleep in and he got into his old routines. We brought his favorite bed and toys, which I think helped him to adapt quicker to the RV (familiar things and smells, etc).
He’s an indoor cat so I was a little worried that he wasn’t going to have enough space to run/play so we bought a harness and leash and attempted to walk him outside. But he really didn’t like it. The second I bring him outside- he runs straight to the door and wants to go in. For exercise he loves the red dot lazer pointer. Running after that for a minute or two sends him right to nap time. 🙂
Last is the litter box… we tried to think of many different solutions to the old litter box problem. I did a bunch of research on this myself.. some people put it in their shower… other actually do a bit of construction and make a bay under their RV for the litter box. Our solution was to have a small litter box in our 1/2 bath (yes, we are a bit spoiled and have a bath and a half) so we just keep a small litter box in the corner of our half bath that I scoop into a small cover trash every other day or once a day. I then toss the trash every week. It’s not the most glorious job but it didn’t involved having to move the litter box everyday or a lot of work to the RV. I also buy light weight litter so it’s not to heavy to carry. We’ve been doing this for about 9 months and it has proven to be a solution that isn’t smelly and works for us – and Sake hasn’t had any accidents 🙂 yay!
I hope this was helpful.. maybe we’ll just have to make a video and article on it! Thanks for the idea!
Good Luck with making the change to a mobile lifestyle! That is so exciting! Please let us know if you have any other questions! We are happy to share our experiences and give help where we can.
See you on the road soon!
~ Kala (Erik & Sake)
Thank you so much for your reply. Both of my cats are indoors only also, and I think my younger cat will adapt well to living on the road as she’s already fairly comfortable in the car. My older one (almost 17) is a bit more unpredictable as he’s been mostly feral all of his life (even though he’s been indoors only since we adopted him). He’s just started to come around to enjoying someone petting him, and will sit next to me on the chair. I’m nothing if not patient – lol.
We have a motor home already (a 40′ Alfa See Ya Gold). Unfortunately, we don’t have the option to put the litter box in the bathroom, so we are thinking of taking out one of the recliners and getting a piece of furniture that will have the litter box inside (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006H7Y2CW?colid=2HZW8SIPINM56&coliid=I2681TQ9ZLH94H&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl). Not the best solution, but I think it’ll work for us. I’m just trying to do research before we go to make the transition as easy as possible for all of us. Thank you again, and I would love to see a video on traveling from Sake’s point of view 🙂
Tara
They both sound very sweet and I’m sure they will transition very well. 🙂
Having a ‘furniture litter box’ is good idea. I’ve seen several people do that as well. This one couple posted a neat idea on RVilliage. They create a kitty litter ottoman, where they bought a hollow leather ottoman and had a local upholstery guy cut a hole in the side to make a door flap. Below is the link with pictures. You may need to join RVillage first before you are able to see the pictures but I would recommend joining as it is a great way to meet other RV’ers.
http://www.rvillage.com/group/864/why-didn-t-i-think-of-that-tips
It’s great that you are doing research now. We started reaching easy too and I feel that made our transition much easier and made for less problems down the road.
We would love to hear how you guys make out. Let us know if you have any additional questions and Good Luck!
~Kala
Loved the new videos! Especially the zip lining!!
Oh my…
Yeah!! The zip lining was so fun! Definitely my favorite part of our visit to Pennsylvania. 🙂