We had been planning to spend the night in Atlantic City, NJ

But we changed our minds and decided to head to the Pocono Mountains to explore a little. The fall colors made the drive extra beautiful.

A quick stop at Wegman’s, an upscale grocery store, to pick up dinner

There are quite a lot of toll roads in the area

Some tell you how much you owe and let you pay and some don’t, you either need EZpay or they’ll send you an undisclosed bill in the mail.

Checked in Holiday Inn Express, Stroudsburg, PA

$154/night

https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/stroudsburg/srbex/hoteldetail

To Worthington State Park, NJ ($0) for a late afternoon hike

We chose the Garvey Springs hike because we didn’t have much time before sunset and it’s the shortest route to Sunfish Pond, a pretty glacial lake near the top of Kittatinny Ridge. The trail is short (2.6 total mile out and back) but very steep (1058’ elevation) and rocky. Once we reached the lake we continued along the shoreline to the Beach of the Little Rock Men. The fall colors made this hike extra beautiful.

Worthington State Park has a number of other hikes and the Lakota Wolf Preserve which we weren’t able to visit this time. It’s definitely on our list for the next time we’re in the area.

https://nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/parks/worthingtonstateforest.html

8.5

difficulty: 8