The 165-acre horseshoe-shaped Frances Slocum Lake is the focal point of the state park of the same name. The lake offers anglers a wide variety of warmwater species including crappies, bluegills, perch, bullheads, muskellunge, pickerel, largemouth bass and walleyes. The campground has 15 walk-in tent sites and 85 tent-trailer sites available.

Swimming, boating and hiking make this park vacation-worthy. The Frances Slocum loop trail begins and ends at the boat rental area, and passes through beautiful wooded sections along the way. The interpretive Deer Trail has three loops that allow hikers to go for a short jaunt or a four-mile hike. The Lakeshore Trail, which follows the lake for 1.4 miles, is popular with anglers.

The Boulder Field, a national landmark, is just one attraction at Hickory Run State Park. This large park has over 40 miles of hiking trails, three state park natural areas and miles of trout streams.

Anglers can find action in the many streams and lakes within the park, especially Fourth Run and Sand Spring Run, which are stocked with brook trout and brown trout. Warm-water game fish, trout and panfish swim the Lehigh River.

The Francis E. Walter Dam, just outside the park, provides boating and angling for trout and warmwater game fish.

The park's campgrounds offer both modern tent/trailer sites and rustic sites. Hickory Run has a sand beach, an extensive outdoor education program and over 43 miles of hiking trails.

Promised Land State Park is exactly that -- the promised land. This 3,000-acre park sits on the Pocono Plateau, 1,800 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by 12,464 acres of Pennsylvania's Delaware State Forest. Promised Lake, at 422 acres, and the 173-acre Lower Lake, are great places to wet a line.

Common fish species include largemouth and smallmouth bass, pickerel, muskellunge, yellow perch, sunfish and catfish.

Lower Lake is stocked with brook, brown and rainbow trout.

Nearby Lake Wallenpaupack is owned by the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company and is open to public fishing and boating. The lake contains many species of warmwater fish in addition to trout. For more information, call (570) 226-3702.

All four of the park's campgrounds offer swimming, boating and hiking opportunities. Cabins are also available adjacent to Lower Lake. Bicycling, mountain biking and horseback riding are available here.

For a unique experience, try the beginner and intermediate orienteering courses offered near the Rock Oak Ridge Trailhead, near the Pines Campground.

While in the region, stop by Archbald Pothole State Park, home to the world's largest glacial pothole. Or visit Jim Thorpe, a town that took its name from a famous American Indian Olympic athlete. While there, learn more about the region's history at the Asa Packer Museum, a 20-room Italianate mansion.

Visit the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau Visitors Center, located in the former New Jersey Central Railroad Station, which also serves as the landing area for the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.

Stop in Scranton, where anyone interested in trains will want to see the Lackawanna Railroad Depot, the Steam Town National Historic Site and the Lackawanna Coal Mine tour.

For a faster pace, visit the Pocono Raceway, home to two NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Races each season. Also, check out the Tunkhannock Viaduct, billed as the "Ninth Wonder of the Modern World," a span of 1,040 feet that rises 240 feet above the creek bed.

For information on these and other area attractions, call the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau at 800-POCONOS, or on the Internet visit www.800poconos.com.

SWEET SUMMERTIME FUN
Not many families could resist a vacation that includes the peaceful Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, the historic grandeur of Gettysburg and the chocolate capital of the world in Hershey! Throw in some really great fishing and Pennsylvania's South-central Region becomes a major outdoor vacation hotspot.