Pennsylvania State Parks

Visitors to Trough Creek State Park can get picturesque views from some of the overlooks.

One similarity I’ve noticed between the central/western part of Pennsylvania and northeast Pa. is the abundance of state parks. My hometown of Mountain Top was in close range to three of them – all part of a “complex.” 

The three – Hickory Run, Lehigh Gorge and Nescopeck – are all entertaining for different reasons. Hickory Run, the most developed of the three, has a sand beach, a campground, hiking trails and Boulder Field, which if you didn’t guess, is a field of boulders.

Lehigh Gorge is well-known for the D&L Rail-Trail, a hiking/biking/walking trail starting in Mountain Top and ending in Jim Thorpe, which if you didn’t guess, is a town named after Jim Thorpe, the Native American Olympian.

The Lehigh Gorge State Park is known for the D&L Rail-Trail, which spans from Mountain Top to Jim Thorpe along the Lehigh River.

Jim Thorpe has become a tourist destination over the years for cyclists, kayakers and white water rafters.

This memorial marks the burial site of Olympian Jim Thorpe near the borough that shares his name.

Lehigh Gorge is well-known for the D&L Rail-Trail, a hiking/biking/walking trail starting in Mountain Top and ending in Jim Thorpe, which if you didn’t guess, is a borough named after Jim Thorpe, the Native American Olympian.

Last is Nescopeck, which, out the three parks in the complex, is still in its infancy. The park was renovated a few years ago with an office that hosts children’s programs. A few trails surround the park, including one that goes around Lake Francis. The lake is a popular spot for fishing when trout season begins. The park considered campsites at one point, but the idea never took off, mainly due to a luck of funding.

Many people fish and walk around Lake Francis in Nescopeck State Park.

State parks are numerous in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has 120 of them, which is an incredible number to me. To put that into comparison, only four other states have more state parks than Pennsylvania: Washington (188), Oregon (154), Florida (127) and California (126). Alaska, the largest state in the U.S. in terms of land mass, has only four state parks. The second biggest state, Texas, has 55. 

For accuracy purposes, www.stateparks.com lists 119 state parks, while DCNR lists 120. I’m not sure what the one discrepancy is. The 120th park could be a wildlife conservancy, which stateparks.com might not acknowledge as a “state park.” Regardless, Pennsylvania is still No. 5 for state parks in the U.S., and that’s something we as Pennsylvanians should be quite proud of.  

It wasn’t until recently that I discovered the number, and my first thought was having this many parks is overkill. My second thought was Pennsylvania needed something since, other than the few major cities, there isn’t much else in-between. The biggest city in the southwest part of the state is Pittsburgh. Philadelphia “is” the southeast. People who live 45 minutes away from Philly still consider themselves “Philadelphians.” The northeast belongs to Scranton, which is a great misfortune and an overstatement. The final corner, the northwest, is the Lake Erie region, and upon a recent visit to Erie, I found it’s not all that much bigger than Scranton in most respects.

Point State Park is located near the heart of Pittsburgh and marks the meeting point between the city's three rivers: The Allegheny, Monongahela and the Ohio.

Erie is like Scranton with the added benefit that it's on the gorgeous Lake Erie.

Between these four cities is a ton of space. Most of it is just winding highways, back roads and farming country. An outpost will pop up once in a while. Hershey and Lancaster are two good examples in Dutch country. The central part of Pennsylvania has State College, which on football weekends becomes one of the most populated areas in the state. Former industrial cities such as Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Altoona and Johnstown are all small “metropolises” dotting the landscape.

Penn State's Old Main is the most iconic building on campus and near State College.

Wilkes-Barre has grown over the years despite being in the center of the nearly defunct coal country.

Once you get outside of all these urban areas, however, Pennsylvania is mostly woods. This is where state parks add a sense of history, culture and “civilization” to these remote areas.

Pennsylvania state parks are special for a few reasons. For one, they’re free of admission. I was shocked when I looked into the possibility of camping at a state park in Maryland to find that it charges a few bucks before you even set foot in the place. The same applies to Delaware state parks. Pennsylvania state parks are my go-to destination when I need to do something cheap for the day. I’ve spent many days hiking, biking and fishing in our state parks with the only expenditure being gas for my car.

Pennsylvania’s state parks offer a variety of activities that are not limited to fishing, hiking, skiing, horseback riding, camping, kayaking, canoeing, boating, swimming, stargazing and sightseeing.

Blue Knob is just one example of the several state parks that offer miles of hiking trails.

Some of them have historical significance, such as the limestone trade of Canoe Creek outside of Hollidaysburg, the lumber/shipping/coal-mining industry of Lehigh Gorge and the maritime history of Presque Isle in Erie. Others just have oddities that attract attention like the Balanced Rock in Trough Creek State Park near Raystown Lake, Boulder Field in Hickory Run or the freshwater lighthouses of Presque Isle. Despite what most people think, state parks aren’t just a bunch of trees and dirt.

The limestone kilns are one of the biggest attractions at Canoe Creek State Park.

The Balanced Rock is just one of a few oddities at Trough Creek State Park.

Presque Isle State Park has beaches, Lake Erie and lighthouses.

In my office, taped to a wall, is a map of the state parks in Pennsylvania. Circled in black ink are the ones I’ve visited to some extent. It looks as though I’ve covered some ground until I count the circles – seven. Seven out of 120 is only about 6 percent of the state parks in Pennsylvania. I’ve got a lot of work to do. 

It’s unlikely I’ll ever visit every single one in my lifetime, but I like to think it’s possible. The biggest challenge in my way is distance. The parks, much like the major cities, are close in some cases but far apart in others. Trough Creek, which I visited last month, is one of the closer parks to Altoona – at 45 minutes driving distance. Presque Isle State Park, which Cassidy and I visited at the end of August, was almost a drive to the beach at four hours.

As you can see, I’m going to need some vacation time along the way. It’s a challenge, but it’s one that is filled with wonders, oddities and beauty. I can live in Pa. for the rest of my life and never see everything it has to offer. As of right now, I still have 113 reasons to go out and explore.