A Day at Camelback

After my last post on zorbing. I started doing some personal research on ski resort summer fun.  As I mentioned there, it seems as if the in vogue thing for PA ski resorts is to start including “summer adventures” in hopes to increase their revenue (and with the winter we just had, it’s a smart move).  Ski Roundtop does this, Spring Mountain (outside Philly), has an excellent zip line course I went on two years ago, and even the former Montage Mountain (I refuse to call it Sno) recently opened a mini water “cove.  Camel Back, who starting this trend with their water park years ago, is extending into the adventure trend in a big way this year.

On April, 6 of this year Camelback Resorts will open CBK, it’s summer adventure program.  Why I picked Camelback to write about rather than some of the other summer options, is that it’s reasonably priced, an easy day trip, they have multiple options, and I believe Camelback is located in the Poconos (what classifies, as “The Poconos” still alludes me to this day), so there should be other day-tripesque things to do.

The treetop adventure course and zipflyer appeal to me the most.  The treetop adventure is a series of canopy nets, rope swings, ziplines, and other obstacles, all high above the ground.  You’re clipped to a safety line the entire time and the pictures are pretty impressive.

There is no time set on the website, but having done a similar course at Spring Mountain, I’d guess this would take anywhere from 2-3 hours to complete, leaving plenty of time in the day for other activities.  The most obvious choice would be to head over to Camel Beach.

In general, I’m not a water park fan.  I think they’re unsanitary, and attract a certain type of clientele I don’t want to be rubbing up against in my bathing suit.  That being said, I’ve been to Camel Beach several times (in my camp counselor days) and find that it’s fairly clean and not overly crowded (still won’t catch me anywhere near the wavepool).

While the water park may be a viable option if it’s hot, where you definitely will find me after a jaunt in the treetops is Barley Creek Brewery for the following reasons:

A) My fear of heights would make drinking afterwards necesity.

B) It’s right next door to Camel Back

C) It’s the only brewpub located in Northeastern PA.

I’ve talked to people who’ve gone there before and have heard good reviews.  Some other pluses: they serve your typical light beers (Coors, Miller) on tap for those of you who aren’t into trying new things, at 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays their “pint sized park” featuring wiffleball and bocce courts is open, and they have daily 12:30 brewery tours with the requisite free samples.

Aside from the Camelback fun, and Barley Creek, the Delaware Water Gap is closeby if you want additional outdoor fun or to camp out overnight. I’ll probably stick to the ziplining and brewskis before heading back towards Scranton and the motherland.

This has officially been added to my Summer 2012 To-do List.