Ideas for a day out
A loop through the Pennsylvania Wilds, with old-growth forest, wild elk, a deep river gorge and some of the darkest night skies in the East.
The Pennsylvania Wilds cover much of the state's north-central mountains, and you can drive for an hour there without passing a traffic light. A century ago much of this country was cut-over wasteland; today it is mostly state and national forest again, with wild elk, bald eagles, a deep river gorge and skies dark enough to show the Milky Way in all its glory. The places below make a loop of several days: from Wellsboro west along Route 6 to the Allegheny National Forest, south to Cook Forest and Elk Country, and back east along the Sinnemahoning and the West Branch of the Susquehanna. Towns are small and far apart and phone signal comes and goes, so fill the tank and download your maps before you set out.
1State park · Shippen Township, Tioga County
Start in Wellsboro and drive about ten miles west to the rim of Pine Creek Gorge, the so-called Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. Leonard Harrison sits on the east rim, and Colton Point faces it, quieter and wilder, from the west.
Photo: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
2State park · West Branch Township, Potter County
A hilltop clearing in Potter County, far from any town's lights, and in 2008 one of the first places in the world named an International Dark Sky Park. On a clear, moonless night the Milky Way arches from one horizon to the other; bring warm clothes even in summer, and use only a red light.
3History museum · Ulysses Township, Potter County
By the early 1900s loggers had stripped most of these mountains bare. This state museum on Route 6 tells the story, with a re-created logging camp, a steam sawmill and a geared Shay locomotive of the kind that hauled timber out of the hollows.
Photo: Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4State park · Hamlin Township, McKean County
When it was built in 1882, the Kinzua Viaduct was the tallest railroad bridge in the world, 301 feet above Kinzua Creek. A tornado knocked down most of it in 2003, and the surviving towers now carry a walkway out to a glass-floored overlook above the twisted wreckage.
Photo: Nicholas from Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
5National forest · Sheffield Township, Warren County
Pennsylvania's only national forest covers more than half a million acres of hills, streams and hardwood forest around the Allegheny Reservoir. Drive its back roads in October, or paddle the clear, slow Allegheny River below Kinzua Dam.
Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
6Old-growth forest · Watson Township, Warren County
A small stand of the forest that was here before the loggers came, with white pines and hemlocks several centuries old, some well over a hundred feet tall, along an easy loop trail of about a mile.
Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli from Northeast Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
7State park · Barnett Township, Forest County
The Forest Cathedral, a National Natural Landmark, holds some of the tallest white pines and hemlocks in the Northeast. Walk the Longfellow Trail through it, climb the fire tower at Seneca Point for the view, or float down the Clarion River.
8Visitor center · Benezette Township, Elk County
Elk had vanished from Pennsylvania by the late 1800s and were brought back from the West beginning in 1913; today the herd roams the hills around Benezette. Come at dawn or dusk in September and October to hear the bulls bugle.
9State park · Grove Township, Cameron County
A quiet valley along the First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, where elk, bald eagles and black bears are all seen. The park's wildlife center is a good first stop.
10State park · Chapman Township, Clinton County
End the loop at an overlook high above the West Branch of the Susquehanna, where hang gliders launch on breezy days and wooded ridges roll away in every direction.
Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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