17 Best Things To Do In Blakeslee, Pennsylvania

Located in the breathtaking Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, Blakeslee is a hidden gem just waiting to be explored. This charming destination offers the perfect blend of adventure, relaxation, and natural beauty, making it a fantastic choice for travelers seeking a refreshing escape.

While it may not be the first place that comes to mind for a getaway, Blakeslee surprises visitors with its abundance of exciting activities and warm, welcoming atmosphere. Outdoor enthusiasts will be in their element, with everything from exhilarating ATV trails and summer watersports to world-class skiing and snowboarding in the winter. Beyond the adventure, Blakeslee boasts a rich local culture, lively festivals, and fascinating historical sites that add to its unique charm.

To make the most of your visit, we’ve put together a list of the best things to do in Blakeslee. Let’s dive in!

1. Explore the Woods at Austin T. Blakeslee Natural Area

Location: Route 115, Blakeslee, PA 18610

The Austin T. Blakeslee Natural Area doesn’t announce itself loudly from the roadside. There are no entry gates, no visitor centers. Just a wooden sign, a gravel lot, and the sound of water somewhere in the distance. That’s how you know you’re in the right place. Here, nature doesn’t perform. It just breathes.

Located near Blakeslee in the heart of the Poconos, this 130-acre preserve follows Tobyhanna Creek, winding through thick woods and rocky beds carved by time. The trails aren’t long—just under three miles combined—but that’s not the point. What matters is the shift that happens once you’re in them. The noise of the highway fades. Bird calls come through clear. The air carries the scent of pine, soil, and stillness.

Locals come here to think. Families come to wander. Photographers come for the light that filters down through the trees just before dusk. In summer, the shallow pools near the creek fill with kids and dogs, but the deeper you go, the more the woods take over. It’s not untouched—but it feels that way.

This isn’t a park designed to impress. It’s one that reminds you what it feels like to be alone, not in loneliness, but in peace. And in the world we live in now, that’s a rare kind of relief.

2. Check Out the Pocono Raceway Slingshot Rentals

Location: 1234 Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA 18334

Renting a Slingshot at Pocono Raceway isn’t like borrowing a car. It’s more like borrowing adrenaline. Three wheels. No doors. Open cockpit. The road hits harder, the curves pull tighter, and the sky feels closer. You don’t just sit in a Slingshot—you wear it.

Once you fire up the engine, the Pocono landscape stops being scenery and starts being part of the ride. The rental staff walks you through the controls, then sets you loose into the heart of the mountains—past lakes, over ridgelines, through tree-lined roads that twist like they were made for this machine. Every turn feels cinematic. Every mile is louder, faster, more awake than the last.

What makes it special isn’t just the speed—it’s the permission. The freedom to drive for no reason except to feel something real. No backseat. No distractions. Just the engine, the open road, and whatever emotion shows up in your gut when the straightaway clears.

It’s not for everyone. But if you’ve been numb for a while, or stuck in cruise control, this ride snaps you back. Hard. And with a smile you probably haven’t seen on yourself in a long time.

3. Wander the Thomas Darling Preserve

Location: Burger Rd & PA-940, Blakeslee, PA 18610

The Thomas Darling Preserve doesn’t look like much from the parking area—just grass, a sign, and a trail that disappears into tall brush. But keep walking. The land opens up slowly, and what you’ll find is one of the most ecologically rare places in the Poconos: a massive glacial wetland, stretching nearly 2,500 acres, breathing quietly beneath the weight of time.

This is a landscape shaped by cold, held together by water. The trails are long and mostly flat, winding through black spruce, tamarack, sedge, and spongy ground that’s soaked in centuries of snowmelt. You’ll pass through open meadows, into tree-covered paths, and sometimes onto boardwalks built to protect the fragile bog below your feet. It feels untouched because, mostly, it is.

Birders know this place. So do ecologists. But even without a guidebook, you can feel it—how unusual it is, how delicate. This isn’t a hike for loud groups or goal-setting. It’s for those who move slow, listen more than talk, and understand that not all beauty comes with a view.

You won’t leave with a selfie on a cliff or a waterfall behind you. You’ll leave with something quieter: the sound of wind moving through wet pine, the silence of standing where glaciers once scraped across the earth, and the feeling that some places are important simply because they still exist.

4. Join a Racing Program at Bertil Roos Racing School

Location: 1234 Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA 18334

For decades, this school at Pocono Raceway has trained serious drivers—some who go on to compete professionally, others who just want to understand what it really means to control a car at speed. The staff isn’t here to coddle you. They’re here to teach you how to push, correct, recover, and repeat.

From the moment you suit up, everything shifts. The classroom is direct and technical. The instructors speak like they’ve lived it—because they have. Then you climb into an open-wheel formula car and realize this isn’t like anything you’ve done before. Every vibration, every shift, every turn forces you to be fully present.

The track teaches you quickly. Mistakes aren’t punished with scolding, just the humbling reality of physics. By the end of the day—or the end of the multi-day program—you don’t just feel faster. You feel sharper, more awake. And maybe even a little more fearless.

It’s not a go-kart track. It’s not a simulation. It’s the real thing. And it doesn’t care if you’re a bucket-list thrill seeker or someone with racing dreams. What it gives you is the truth—about speed, control, and your own limits.

5. Cross Boulder Field at Hickory Run State Park

Location: 3613 PA-534, White Haven, PA 18661

It sits at the edge of Hickory Run State Park, wide and sudden—nearly 17 acres of massive, jagged boulders spread across what once was forest. There’s no trail through it. No smooth way across. You just step out of the tree line and realize: this entire thing is real. No one placed these rocks. No machine carved them. It’s a natural relic, left behind by glaciers over 20,000 years ago, untouched and unchanged.

Crossing it is slow and awkward. The rocks shift under your feet. Ankles turn. Palms scrape. Kids move across it like mountain goats. Adults hesitate, trying to find the right rhythm. Some people walk five minutes in, take a photo, and turn back. Others go all the way—step by step, breath by breath—until they reach the far tree line and stand in silence.

There’s no payoff at the end. No waterfall, no view. The field is the experience. It asks for focus, patience, humility. And in return, it gives you something surprisingly rare these days: the sense that you’ve just walked across time itself.

This place hasn’t changed since before there were cities. Before there were roads. Stand in the middle of it, and the silence doesn’t feel empty. It feels honest.

6. Create New Memories at Lake Harmony Watersports

Location: 37 N Lake Dr, Lake Harmony, PA 18624

Lake Harmony doesn’t need hype. It just needs daylight, warm weather, and someone willing to say yes.

At Lake Harmony Watersports, the day isn’t built around a strict schedule—it’s built around motion. Tubing, wakeboarding, water skiing—nothing is automated, and nothing is hands-off. It’s a family-run operation, and that shows in how the crew treats every rider like they’re part of something familiar, not transactional.

First-timers get clear guidance. Veterans get a little more rope to push limits. The boat doesn’t rush the experience. It waits for the signal, watches your balance, adjusts for your nerves. And when you fall, which you will, the lake’s right there to catch you—cool, clean, and quiet for a moment before the next attempt.

Lake Harmony itself plays the perfect backdrop. Tree-lined shores, cabins scattered in the distance, and that mid-afternoon light that turns water into gold. There’s no pressure to “do it right.” Just the invitation to try, to laugh, to let go of whatever else was on your mind before you stepped onto the dock.

People come for the action, but they leave remembering the stillness between runs. The quiet ride back in. The handshake from the instructor. And the feeling that, for at least one day, you weren’t just watching summer happen—you were part of it.

7. Enjoy an Exquisite Meal at Split Rock's Lake View Tavern

Location: 100 Moseywood Rd, Lake Harmony, PA 18624

A good meal doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs to be honest. That’s what the Lake View Tavern at Split Rock delivers—solid food, slow pacing, and a view that does most of the talking.

Perched above the lake, the tavern makes good on its name. Large windows frame the water in every season—misty mornings in spring, golden light in fall, a calm silver shimmer during dinner in July. You sit, and the view settles you. The service doesn’t push, and the menu doesn’t try too hard. That’s the beauty of it.

You’ll find classics done right: grilled trout, ribeye with char you can taste, crab cakes that hold together on the fork but melt the moment you bite in. The drinks list leans toward the familiar, with just enough local offerings to keep things interesting. It’s not trendy. It’s not overthought. It’s just good.

Families come here after long lake days. Couples drift in for quiet meals. Every so often, a celebration fills the room with laughter—but even then, the place never feels crowded. It breathes.

Split Rock's Lake View Tavern doesn’t chase flash. It offers something better: a table you’ll want to return to, not just for the food—but for how it made you feel while you ate it.

8. Join the Elements Music & Art Festival

Location: Pocono Raceway Grounds, Long Pond, PA

For three days each year, quiet corners of the Pocono wilderness transform into something electric. Not in metaphor, but in sound, light, and human energy.

The Elements Music & Arts Festival isn’t just a party in the woods. It’s a curated, built-from-the-ground-up village, designed for immersion. Stages rise from open fields. Art installations pulse with movement. Costumes blur with canvas. The forest becomes architecture, and strangers become part of your temporary neighborhood.

The music spans electronic, experimental, and boundary-pushing genres. But the sound isn’t everything—it’s just the framework. What makes Elements unique is the way it brings people into their bodies, into each other’s stories. Fire dancers and aerialists. Food vendors serving vegan wraps beside barbecue plates. Workshops on breathwork held a hundred feet from bass-heavy DJ sets. It’s a collision of chaos and care.

By day three, your legs ache, your voice is gone, and your perspective might be a little wider. And when it’s all over, the Poconos go back to quiet. But you don’t—not right away. The experience stays with you. Not just the music, but the strange beauty of watching a forest become a canvas for freedom.

9. Enjoy an ATV Ride in the Dixon Miller Recreation Area

Location: Access via PA-115, Blakeslee, PA

There are trails you hike and trails you hear before you even see them. Dixon Miller belongs to the second kind.

Part of the larger Delaware State Forest, this area is one of the few places in eastern Pennsylvania where ATVs aren’t just allowed—they’re expected. The trails are rough, rutted, sometimes half-submerged. They weren’t made for comfort. They were made for grip, torque, and noise.

The ride isn’t polished. That’s the point. You get covered in mud, you bounce hard, you hit moments where the path disappears into a slope and you just hold on. If you’re new to riding, the learning curve is steep. But if you’re here for the full-body jolt of moving machine versus wild terrain, Dixon Miller delivers.

The surrounding forest closes in, then opens without warning. Pine groves give way to wetlands, then to open stretches where the throttle can stretch out. You ride not just to move forward, but to stay upright. To read the land second by second.

This isn’t the curated outdoor experience with brochures and rangers. It’s loud, fast, and a little unhinged. But if you’ve been stuck in stillness for too long, an afternoon on this trail doesn’t just shake loose the mud—it shakes loose something in you.

10. Go Skiing at Jack Frost Big Boulder Resort

Location: 434 Jack Frost Mountain Rd, Blakeslee, PA 18610

This dual-mountain resort isn’t built for showboating—it’s built for movement. One side (Jack Frost) favors families and skiers looking for long, wide trails where the ride flows. The other (Big Boulder) leans younger, louder, and faster, especially at night when the terrain park lights come on and music pumps from speakers at the base.

What ties both mountains together is accessibility. You don’t need to be a pro, and you don’t need to drain your bank account to feel the rush. You need gear, a lift ticket, and just enough courage to get off that first chairlift.

Snow here is a mix of machine-made and real powder when the weather cooperates. You’ll hear complaints from purists, but you won’t hear them from people flying down Blue Trail with their kids, or carving clean turns on a February afternoon when the trees stand still and the slope is yours.

Jack Frost Big Boulder doesn’t chase the luxury ski crowd. It gives people room to move, to fall, to get back up, and to fall in love with winter in a way that sticks.

11. Enjoy Family Day at 940 Golf N'Fun

Location: 951 PA-940, Pocono Lake, PA 18347

Not every family outing needs to feel like a “family outing.” At 940 Golf N’Fun, there’s no guilt, no schedule—just low-key entertainment that somehow hits the mark more than you’d expect.

It starts with the mini golf. The course isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s well-kept, playful, and full of those little challenges that make kids high-five and adults quietly keep score like it matters. Then you’ve got the arcade, the bumper boats, the batting cages. One moment you’re hitting baseballs in a cage, the next you’re watching your kid win tickets with a claw machine. None of it’s digital. All of it’s simple—and that’s what makes it work.

The staff doesn’t push. The crowd is local. And the whole place runs with the vibe of a roadside summer stop that somehow hasn’t changed much in 20 years, in the best possible way.

What makes it memorable isn’t the wow factor. It’s how everyone ends up smiling without trying too hard. You leave with ice cream on your hands, a few dollar-store prizes in your pocket, and the kind of tired that means the day was exactly long enough.

It’s not a destination. It’s a day well spent. And sometimes, that’s all you’re really looking for.

12. Try Stock Car Racing at Pocono Raceway

Location: 1234 Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA 18334

They don’t give you a toy. They give you a 600-horsepower stock car and a helmet, and then they point to the track.

Driving at Pocono Raceway isn’t a simulation—it’s real speed, real engine heat, and the roar of your own heartbeat competing with the motor. Known as “The Tricky Triangle,” the track is a mile longer than Daytona and just as unforgiving. This isn’t about taking laps. It’s about facing down something faster than you and learning to keep up.

After a short safety briefing and gear check, you're strapped in and rolling. The first lap humbles you. The second tempts you. By the third, if you're listening, the car starts talking back. Not in words, but in feel—in the way it leans, accelerates, forgives or doesn’t. You don’t white-knuckle your way through it. You tune in.

For most, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime high. For some, it unlocks something they didn’t know they were missing. Either way, you leave different: maybe not faster, but braver.

13. Have Fun at Alvin's Offroad Playground

Location: 2069 Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA 18334

There’s nothing polished about Alvin’s Offroad Playground, and that’s what makes it work.

This is mud, throttle, and instinct. An open playground where ATVs and dirt bikes churn across nearly 70 acres of raw terrain: hills, puddles, rocks, ruts—none of it forgiving, all of it available. You bring your own machine or rent on-site, and once you’re out there, it’s all grip and gut.

There are no pristine trails or scenic pull-offs here. No mountain views carefully framed by trees. What Alvin’s offers is the kind of freedom you can’t fake—freedom that comes from letting loose without worrying how it looks. Beginners bounce around nervously. Pros slide corners with surgical precision. Everyone walks away covered in dirt and smiling.

Kids ride side-by-side with parents. Friends test limits. There’s a real community vibe—loud, muddy, unpretentious, and welcoming. The place feels less like a business and more like someone opened their backyard and said, “go nuts.”

You don’t come here to escape. You come to feel everything all at once—speed, grit, laughter, adrenaline, and the occasional whiplash reminder that dirt doesn’t care how good you think you are.

14. Enjoy a Relaxing Stay at the Village at Pocono

Location: 1308 Foyt Rd, Blakeslee, PA 18610

Not every trip needs a five-star hotel. Sometimes you just want somewhere clean, calm, and close to everything that matters. That’s what the Village at Pocono delivers—a quiet landing spot a few minutes from the Raceway, surrounded by forest and far from noise.

You won’t find luxury for the sake of it here. You’ll find space. Townhouses and villas designed with the basics done right—real kitchens, working fireplaces, and beds that don’t squeak when you roll over. Families spread out. Couples unplug. Solo travelers catch their breath. The Wi-Fi works, but the air outside the porch door works better.

The grounds are quiet, even when it’s fully booked. You might hear birds in the morning. You might not hear anything at all. That’s the charm. This isn’t a place built to impress—it’s built to restore. A swimming pool, a fitness room, maybe a game of pool in the clubhouse. Just enough. Never too much.

You stay here because you want to explore the Poconos without needing to recover from your own accommodations. You come back because peace of mind is harder to find than you thought—and this place hands it over, no questions asked.

15. Learn about Regenerative Farming at Pocono Organics

Location: 1015 Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA 18334

One of the largest regenerative organic farms in North America, this place isn’t just about going “green” or selling trendy produce—it’s about reworking how farming interacts with the planet. No chemicals. No shortcuts. Just soil, sun, and a process built to heal the land while feeding people better.

It started as a dream linked to the Raceway next door, but has turned into a full-scale operation: acres of crops, greenhouses, solar-powered infrastructure, and partnerships with local chefs, doctors, and schools. You can tour it, walk the rows, taste the output, or take a workshop on composting that makes you rethink your grocery bill.

But it’s not just science—it’s story. Veterans work the land as part of healing programs. Kids come here to learn how a tomato actually happens. Diners at the on-site café taste salads that came out of the ground that same morning. It’s clean eating with a purpose—rooted in land that’s cared for like it matters, because it does.

In a region known for adrenaline and escape, Pocono Organics offers something quieter and harder to come by: sustainability you can see, touch, and actually take home.

16. Step Back in Time at the Old Jail Museum

Location: 128 W Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229

The walls at the Old Jail Museum don’t just hold history. They echo with it.

Built in 1871 and decommissioned in the 1980s, this stone jail in Jim Thorpe isn’t a recreation—it’s the real thing. Cold cells. Iron doors. The kind of silence that doesn’t feel empty. Most visitors come for the infamous story of the Molly Maguires—Irish coal miners hanged here in 1877 under charges that still spark debate today. Their handprint, permanently embedded on the wall of Cell 17, draws both curiosity and doubt. But it’s the feeling of the place that stays with you.

The tour is short, unscripted, and sharp. You’re led through dim hallways, into holding cells, down to the gallows. There’s no glass between you and the space. No digital screens telling you how to feel. Just stories, told in the same air that held those men in their last hours.

It’s not comfortable. It’s not fun. It’s honest. And in a region that often celebrates escape, this place reminds you that not all who lived here had that luxury. Some came to the Poconos in chains. And their stories still sit inside these walls.

17. Hike the Trails of Lehigh Gorge State Park

Location: Glen Onoko Access, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229

Lehigh Gorge isn’t loud. It lets the landscape do the talking.

Carved by the Lehigh River over millions of years, the park stretches along a deep canyon of forest, stone, and water. The trails here don’t feel manufactured. They follow what the river shaped—long, curving paths that rise and drop with the terrain. You walk beside waterfalls, through old rail beds, past ruins of the coal industry that once fueled the region and now sit rusted and overgrown.

The most well-known route is the Lehigh Gorge Trail, a 26-mile stretch of crushed stone perfect for biking or long, reflective hikes. But the real power of this park isn’t its length—it’s its pace. You’re not here to conquer anything. You’re here to move. To let the sound of the river clear out whatever’s been stuck in your head for too long.

Even in summer, you can find quiet pockets where it’s just you and the trees. In fall, the color hits full volume—burnt reds, deep golds, the kind of leaves you forget to take photos of because you’re too busy looking.

This isn’t a trail you’ll brag about. It’s one you’ll remember quietly, days later, when your legs are tired and your mind finally isn’t.

Conclusion

The Poconos don’t need dressing up. They don’t need taglines or ad campaigns to prove their worth. What they offer isn’t about flash—it’s about feel. A trail that gets quiet after the fifth mile. A cold lake where your laughter echoes back. A roadside market that still sells corn from the same farm it did twenty years ago.

Every place on this list—whether it’s a roaring track or a silent forest—is built around one thing: presence. You’re not here to scroll past. You’re here to show up. To drive something faster than fear. To walk through a wetland older than your last three apartments. To eat, hike, paddle, and just exist a little more fully for a weekend.

There’s no one way to do the Poconos right. That’s the whole point. You can come for the history, the speed, the mud, the music, or the stillness. And when it’s time to leave, what you take with you won’t be the itinerary. It’ll be the moment your boots hit the rocks at Boulder Field, the tug of the rope behind a boat on Lake Harmony, or the quiet weight of a prison door closing behind you at the Old Jail Museum.

Book your favorite vacation rental in Blakeslee now!

FAQ

1. What is Blakeslee known for?

Blakeslee is known for its proximity to the Pocono Mountains, making it a popular destination for outdoor activities like hiking, skiing, ATV riding, and watersports. It’s also home to the famous Pocono Raceway.

2. Is Blakeslee, PA worth visiting?

Absolutely! With its mix of adventure sports, natural beauty, and unique attractions like the Boulder Field and Pocono Raceway, Blakeslee is an exciting destination for travelers looking to explore the outdoors.

3. What is the best time to visit Blakeslee?

Blakeslee is a year-round destination. Summer is perfect for hiking, watersports, and off-roading. Fall offers stunning foliage for photography and hiking. Winter transforms the town into a snowy haven for skiing and snowboarding.

4. How far is Blakeslee from New York City?

Blakeslee is approximately 2 hours by car from New York City, making it a convenient weekend getaway for city dwellers looking for a nature-filled retreat.

5. Can I rent equipment for outdoor activities in Blakeslee?

Yes! Many local businesses offer rentals for outdoor gear. For example, you can rent ATVs at Alvin’s Offroad Playground, ski gear at Jack Frost Big Boulder Resort, and watersport equipment at Lake Harmony Watersports.

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