Kitchen Creek
Rte. 487 to Rte. 118(Ricketts Glen)
| Difficulty | V+ |
| Length | 2.7 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Reach Info Last Updated | August 31, 2024 |
River Description
Kitchen Creek is a very steep creek that flows through Ricketts Glenn State Park. Although Colonel Rickett is not quite as famous as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken, I would take the 21 waterfalls, ranging from 15 to 94 feet in height, that are in the park over 11 herbs and spices anyday. The first descent of this creek was made by myself, Stephen Wright, and Ian Devine on September 28th of 2002. There is definitely a ton of wood in there to be cleared out that ruins several really cool drops but there are also several good drops that are clear.
Brad Roberts shared:
Evidently a second group ran this creek in May 2003, and wound up getting fined by the local rangers. Not sure what the status is at this point.
Brad Roberts shared on 2004-06-29:
Did the hike of this run the other day. Kinda defines 'manky.' A ton of wood in the runnable drops. The big drops feature some super-shallow landing pools or land on bedrock. I'd say the run would pretty much define a boat-assisted hike, but I would love for Bobby to weigh in on how many of the falls they actually ran. There are two branches of Kitchens Creek that are 'doable.' Both feature a nice well-groomed trail beside the falls. The hemlocks up there are being destroyed by a beetle infestation which has added to the amount of wood in the stream. I'd strongly recommend a hike of the falls trail before putting on. I will say that on the branch with the 98-foot falls there were some very cool rapids between the big drops. Just don't accidently miss the eddy above the 98-footer with the knee-deep pool at the bottom.
River Features
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Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportI've always wondered if you could put on at Rt. 118 trailhead discreetly and run Adams Falls and continue downstream out of the park, I just think the big drops and shallow landing upstream are worth it. There also just a bunch of little tributaries and parallel creeks outside of the park but very nearby, most of which require a ridiculous hike in from the bottom or hiking in from the top through the park. I'd love to hear if anyone has explored any of these and whats really worth a look.
I am 1 of the 2 who ran Kitchen Creek on 5-3-03. We were given a warning notice , by officer Bradish. He exsplained that we were lucky , the fines would have cost us around $2000 a piece. Ricketts Glen is a federal park. We were in volation of PA 7506(a) 11.219(e)(1) / 11.219(i)(3)(i). (defendant did operate a kayak on a body of water not designated for boating in a state park/ and no launch permit) (which in DE we dont need). We were band from the park for a year.