Waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park

There are 24 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania along Kitchen Creek. The waterfalls are the result of increased flow in Kitchen Creek from glaciers enlarging its drainage basin during the last Ice Age. The rocks exposed in the park were formed between 370 and 340 million years ago, when the land was part of the coastline of a shallow sea.

About Waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park in brief

There are 24 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania along Kitchen Creek as it flows in three steep, narrow valleys, or glens. The waterfalls are the result of increased flow in Kitchen Creek from glaciers enlarging its drainage basin during the last Ice Age. The rocks exposed in the park were formed between 370 and 340 million years ago, when the land was part of the coastline of a shallow sea that covered a great portion of what is now North America. The Falls Trail has been called “the most magnificent hike in the state” and one of “the top hikes in the East”. The headwaters of Kitchen Creek are on the dissected plateau, from which the stream drops approximately 1,000 feet in 2.25 miles as it flowing down the steep escarpment of the Allegheny Front. The branch in Glen Leigh has eight named water Falls and lies north of the confluence, while the branch in Ganoga Glen has ten named water falls and lies to the northwest. The park, which opened in 1944, is administered by the Bureau of State Parks of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) The DCNR names 22 falls, the United States Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) names 23 falls, and Scott E. Brown’s 2004 book Pennsylvania waterfalls: a guide for hikers and photographers names 24. The falls are described in order going upstream along the creek for each of the three glens, and there are fewer named falls in Rickett’s Glen, where the terrain becomes less steep, and the waterfalls become less steep.

The DC NR names only four in Rickets Glen, all on Kitchen Creek; the USGS GNIS names these and one more on the creek, and Brown’s book adds a sixth named falls on a tributary. About 300 to 250 million years ago, the. Allegheny Plateau, Alleghenyfront, and Appalachian Mountains all formed in the Alleghanian orogeny. This happened long after the sedimentary rocks in the Park were deposited. In the past 5,000 years, the rock has been eroded by streams and weather. At least three major glaciations in the past million years have been shaping the land that makes up the park today. The effects of glaciation have made Kitchen Creek unique compared to all other nearby streams that flow down the Alleg Pittsburgh Front. Prior to the last ice age, Kitchen Creek’s drainage basins were confined to the east and Phillips Creek to the west, and both watersheds had similar basins of similar area. This changed when two temporary dams formed on two neighboring streams that formed on the Allegsburgh Front, and Kitchen Creek and Phillips creek had similar watersheds of similar areas. There are ten named falls. There are between four and six named waterfall in Ricketta’s Glen and between four to six namedWaterfalls in the Glen Leigh Glen.

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