Paradise-Price Preserve is less than 2 miles from my home. I hike there often. Friends have repeatedly told me how to get through the woods to the waterfall on Brodhead Creek, but I’ve never been able to find the way!

At 777 acres, the preserve is fairly big, and that’s been my excuse. This summer, though, a dedicated crew from Paradise Township has cleared and blazed trails at preserves throughout the township, including this one. With a map in my pocket, I set off on a bright late summer morning — determined that today was the day.

The first few miles are familiar territory. An old fire road for the railroad leads me through cool glens of mossy stones, where small streams flow from wetlands on the ridge above to Cranberry Creek below.

Climbing up and along the flat ridgetop, the trail is wide, grassy and well-marked with yellow blazes. Here, the woods are open. Maples, oaks, shagbark hickory and other hardwoods shade hay-scented fern, low-bush blueberries and sweet fern as far as the eye can see. I’ve noticed some bear scat, turkey feathers and a couple of deer stands, and flushed a grouse. Abundant food, cover and nesting sites make this prime habitat for many birds and other critters.

More large wetlands gleam as the trail leads through waist-high ostrich fern and bracken. Big glacial boulders layered with lichen are new landmarks for me as the trail heads down a long slope on the northeastern side of the ridge. It’s rockier now, and the newness of the trail shows in the weed-whacked stubble underfoot.

Even before reaching a wide woods road, I can hear cars on Route 447. A short walk farther, and there it is —Brodhead Creek at my feet.

The round-trip is about 5 miles, and the view is worth every step. The low horseshoe waterfall tumbles over ledges of bedrock to a wide pool, where beavers have taken up residence. Sunlight drips through the canopy of leaves, lighting up native Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, blackberries and wintergreen. Non-native knotweed and the new nuisance, cat briar, also grow along the bank. Across the creek is a second preserve parking area, off Route 447. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed, and there is a pleasant path along the stream on that side, through tall pines.

As one of the best-loved trout streams in the world and birthplace of fly fishing in America, Brodhead Creek is a natural treasure. It’s also the drinking-water source for 22,000 neighbors downstream in Monroe County and, after it joins the Delaware River, these clear waters are the source for millions of people in Easton, Trenton, Philadelphia and beyond.

By protecting a large swath of land between Brodhead and Cranberry creeks, Paradise-Price Preserve helps keep many acres of wetlands pure and unpolluted. The wetlands store rainwater and snowmelt and release it slowly, preventing flooding, and sending pure water to the creeks.

It’s a beautiful hike for early fall. And now that I can show you the way, I hope you’ll come on along!

Carol Hillestad is a hike leader and writer for Get Outdoors Poconos, a grant-funded series administered by Brodhead Watershed Association.