Lake Wallenpaupack
Everything about the trip was pretty last minute. Given COVID, nobody wanted to travel. I reserved the car on Friday night, and my credit card had not even been activated (You need a credit card to rent cars in the US). We did not even have a solid itinerary in mind.
But by 10:00 AM on Sunday, after having wiped our car with sanitary wipes, Harshmeet, Pooja, Shivani and me sat in our KIA wearing masks. We did not even know how parking tickets worked and had some struggle exiting the parking lot. From then on, taking the right exits we got on to the highway that would take us to Dingman’s fall in the Poconos. It was about a 2.5 hour drive, the last thirty minutes of which were hill roads. All through the drive we played music in a car, which paired with the sights outside was a welcome escape from the quarantine life. The hills roads were absolutely beautiful, surrounded by lush greenery and little concrete.
The walking trail to the Dingman’s fall was about 2 miles. We hiked it in peak afternoon stopping only once to snack. We planned on jumping into the pool created by the waterfall. Everyone doing the trail seemed to be in swim suits and carried mats which gave us the impression that the pool must be huge. But it was a disappointment at best. The waterfall was pretty, but the pool was not for swimming. After getting pictures clicked, we hiked back to head to Dingman’s falls.
Here, deep into the Pocono Mountains, we were starting to get weaker reception. We should have noted this as a first sign of trouble, but we were too exhilarated by the fresh air to take note. We stopped at the visitor center of the Bushkill’s fall for some ice-cream but decided to not do another hike and instead head for Lake Wallenpaupack. The drive was about 40 minutes of gentle hill roads.
Finding a place to park near the lake was not easy, but after some struggle with google maps we found ourselves a place to park and a spot on the banks to sit. Lake Wallenpaupack is huge, one can easily mistake it for an ocean shore. On the banks, there were even baby waves, like those on the calmest beaches. The beauty and the tranquility that we were seeking is what the lake perfectly offered.
We did not realize how time slipped past as we sat on rocks jutting out of the water, our feet dipped inside. I used the opportunity to swim and goof around in the water. The bank near the shore was not steep, which made it safe for me to do so. I realized how much I had craved this, just being in a pool of water in the summer. But the weather flipped suddenly and it went from sunny to rainy in matter of minutes. But we were so captivated by the lake that we let ourselves drench in the rain while it was still light. But soon, it got chilly and we decided to retreat to the safety of our car. Here we enjoyed the lemon rice that Shivani had cooked for all of us.
By the time we had eaten, the rains had stopped, leaving a cloudy sky in its wake. We set out for a small walk on the banks. In the distance, we could see where the rains had moved to. There were intermittent lightning flashes that we caught in the distance too. The wind was perfect. While we got pictures clicked and enjoyed the view, it got time for us to leave. The drive back was 3 hour long and it was already 8:00. On the journey back, we had now opened up and started singing along to the tunes playing on the audio system.
The return journey was again hill roads and hungover from the lake, we did not notice when the navigation stopped working due to bad reception. It was only after the mountain roads did not seem to end did we realize that something was up. With poor reception and the dimming of the light outside, everyone was on guard. With the next signal opportunity we corrected our routes using the maps on our phones instead of hooking up to the screen in the car. We had to make a U turn. But I guess it was a blessing in disguise. The mountain roads seemed to be in the interiors and had very less traffic and magnificent views. But it also made driving a little dangerous because we spotted two deer on the roadside. We had no music too, due to poor connectivity and frayed nerves.
But we laughed about it when we rejoined the highway one hour from Philadelphia. At the petrol pump, we had one last incident to prove that we were real beginners on a road trip. We had never self-served at the petrol pump. We did not know if our car was petrol or diesel. We did not know which pump was gas(petrol in US) and which was diesel. In America you are just supposed to know some of this stuff. I asked the guy at the snack shop at the pump only to be met with a look of incredulity. I stood there like an idiot, following the instructions which simply said, remove from handle, choose gas type and pump gas. I must have stood for 10 minutes with the nozzel in the car, with nothing pumping only to realize you have to swipe your card first. It made sense for a self-serve station.
Aware now of the American petrol pump lingo, we did the last leg of the journey to reach Philadelphia around midnight.
