Growing up in the Philadelphia area, I dreamed of fishing pristine lakes and streams, but I always assumed I had to travel a distance to find them. When I came back to the area a few years ago, I decided to look for wilderness waters near to home.

What I have found are wonderful, clear, cold trout streams, where you are more likely to meet a bear than a person, that are within an hour's drive and a thirty minute hike from the Mid-County Tolls. As you can see from the photos below, these are not babbling brooks but fast moving streams, surprisingly deep in spots, that surge down the sides of mountains, shielded by dense forests and steep valleys. Some hold brook trout; some hold brown trout; and some hold a mix of two.

The rugged terrain along these streams makes a day's fishing a bit physically demanding, but the wildness of the streams and their surroundings makes the effort worthwhile.

- Richard Ulrych