"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." - John Muir
One in a series of family friendly caches placed to introduce you to some of the great public open spaces forever saved and preserved within the Brodhead Watershed. Round up your family, friends, and geo-pets and head on outdoors and take in and explore the natural wonder that surrounds you!
The cache is a small container, large enough for a few trade items. There is a cleared and marked parking area along Devil Holes Rd. From there follow the trail to the left of the kiosk for a short walk to the cache site.
Kurmes Paradise Creek Nature Preserve (400 acres) – Pocono Heritage Land Trust. Deep in the rhododendron shrouded heart of this 400 acre Pocono Heritage Land Trust Preserve you can hear the noisy merging of two beautiful clear cold Brodhead headwater streams combining their waters “where the Paradise begins”. In the heart of the Alex and Lillian P. Kurmes Paradise Creek Nature Preserve lies the confluence of two Pocono escarpment streams, Yankee Run and Tank Creek. And just downstream from this magic spot by next to a sparkling pool at the base of a small waterfalls is a rustic old small cabin built by and used for decades as a summer getaway for the Kurmes and Van Dam family. This cabin still stands today and is maintained and used every year as a hunting cabin. This PHLT Preserve’s two small streams and the beginning of the Paradise comprise over a mile of pristine mountain wild trout waters framed by 300 acres of mature mixed deciduous and coniferous forests with a dense understory of rhododendron and mountain laurel. Purchased and preserved as part of the Monroe County Open Space program this large nature preserve on the western edge of Paradise Township is monitored and maintained by PHLT with assistance from the historic Poplar Swamp Club. Only wildlife trails, foot paths and a few old narrow logging roads skirt the edges of this wildlife retreat. Public access is available via the cleared and marked 1 and 1/2 mile Tank Creek Trail which loops from the trailhead kiosk and parking area off Devil’s Hole Road along Tank Creek. An additional 100 acres of the Preserve separated by Rt. 940 lies to the east near the famous Phoebe Snow crossing of the DL&W Rail Line which forms the northwestern and western edge of the Preserve. For much of the early 1900’s this crossing was where visiting vacationers from Philadelphia and New York City disembarked the train and were transported by horse drawn wagons to the many famous inns and resorts of Mt. Pocono and Paradise Valley. This hundred acre section of mixed deciduous forest dry upland scrub oak is crossed by a former utility corridor trail on the high ground that provides a view of the Delaware Water Gap and the Blue Ridge mountain. Nearby to this Preserve is the 4000+ acre State Gamelands #221 and Devils Hole Creek with it well know Devil’s Hole Falls and the remains of a once famous hunting preserve visited by well know political and social figures of the early 1900’s.
The Brodhead Watershed Association (BWA) is a group dedicated to protecting and improving water resources and the environment in the Brodhead and Cherry creek watershed. They assist municipalities, residents, businesses and groups with protecting natural resources through education, workshops, seminars, public programs, stream monitoring and baseline data collection and stream cleanups. Pocono Heritage Land Trust (PHLT) is a locally based conservation group dedicated to protecting important lands and waters, open space, agricultural landscapes and the natural heritage of the Pocono Mountains region.