Caledonia State Park - Fayetteville,PA
Pennsylvania is full of hidden treasures and boy is this a good one! The Caledonia State Park is located in Adams and Franklin county in Pennsylvania. This beautiful state park consists of 1,125 acres of land for everyone to explore. There is literally so much that I will definitely be making more trips out there to scout for more locations within the park.
Coming from Lancaster county, the drive is breath taking the closer you get to the destination. I kid you not when I say this - I had half my body out of the moon roof of our car, camera in hand, in order to capture it all. I literally wish I could pick up our house and move it our there! Thank goodness for my supportive hubby for slowing down/stopping for me to get all my shots :) I tried to post as much as I could on my Instagram and Facebook stories that day so you all could see what i was seeing (if you missed these, make sure to follow me on social media to keep up with any announcements). The other highlight to the drive for me personally was driving through the small town of East Berlin. I am a sucker for all things that give off old and historical vibes and this little town did just that. All the houses along the main road were either stone, brick, or had character to them.
Our GPS took us right to the iron furnace parking lot. If you’re like me, you are a sucker for all things stone and brick so this was perfect for me. From there you have several options - there’s a trail right by the furnace or you can always cross the street for a more picnic-like area where river runs through. There are multiple bridges on this picnic-like area which are perfect for pictures by/near the water.
Most of our time was spent near the water. I was on a mission the day we visited - location scouting for a SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT! It was a very cold late fall day so we scouted very quick. Even with the quick scouting and '“small” ground coverage, we were able to find so many perfect spots for this surprise engagement to take place. On the picnic side, we found two short trails along a paved path. The first was a gravel trail which lead us to the Caledonia State Park Office and the Forest Heritage and Discovery Center. Unfortunately both we closed during our visit. The second trail was THE ONE. This trail was a wooded trail which had water running along each side of it with a small stone bridge on the one end and a naturally vegetated (not even sure if this is a word) tunnel. Throughout this trail there were some sections that were completely wooded and others that were opened up to see the water. This was our location for the surprise shoot.
The day of the engagement I patiently waited for my couple to make their way down the trail to the stone bridge. Funny story: while waiting, I was hiding behind a bush and saw two people coming down the trail. I quickly ducked down and waited for them to reach the bridge so I could come out and start capturing………… well turns out it was just two women who were on a freaking walk and I scared the shit out of them!!!!! I laughed so hard while also apologizing and explaining to them why I was hiding. We all shared a good laugh before they wished me luck and were on their way. Finally, I hid again and my couple made their way down the trail for me to capture their special moment.
Something to keep in mind, there is nothing around here and the cell service was not the best, at least not for us. There is a gas station down the road about 4 minutes away but other than that, there isn’t much in the area so come prepared. There are bathrooms in the park but we had no luck finding them. They are there though! Bring water, food, and proper foot-ware when you visit if you plan to visit long. There is also a campsite (which we did not visit) and a pool nearby. So if you are a camper, make sure to check this place out. We saw such a small portion of this huge park but it was so perfect for this engagement!
