Public Parks 173
State parks and forests, national recreation areas, wildlife refuges and city parks.
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Elk Country Visitor Center
The place to see Pennsylvania's wild elk up close, watching from the trails or through big windows indoors as bulls bugle across the meadows in the fall rut.
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Hillman State Park
Rolling former strip-mine land reclaimed as woods and fields, managed largely for hunting but laced with trails used by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.
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Laurel Summit State Park
A cool, breezy picnic ground near the top of Laurel Ridge that doubles as the starting point for walks to the rocky Wolf Rocks overlook and the Spruce Flats bog.
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Samuel S. Lewis State Park
A grassy ridgetop with long views over the Susquehanna River valley and the farmland around it, a breezy spot for kite flying, picnics and watching the sunset.
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Susquehanna State Park
A riverfront green on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, home port of the Hiawatha paddlewheel riverboat, which carries sightseers along the old lumber-boom waterfront.
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Varden Conservation Area
Former farmland given to the state by a local veterinarian, with easy trails through meadows and woods, a fishing pond and rows of conifers the donor planted himself.
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Warriors Path State Park
The Raystown Branch of the Juniata River loops around three sides of this wooded peninsula, near the route of an old Iroquois warpath, with river fishing, paddling and quiet trails.
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Buchanan's Birthplace State Park
Under tall evergreens in a narrow mountain gap, a stone pyramid marks where James Buchanan, the 15th president, was born in a log cabin, beside a clear brook-trout stream.
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Bushkill Falls
A privately run chain of eight waterfalls in a hemlock-shaded gorge, linked by bridges and boardwalk trails, with the 100-foot main falls at the center; it bills itself as the Niagara of Pennsylvania.
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Denton Hill State Park
A ski hill in the northern snow belt, where the state is working to bring back downhill skiing, beside the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum and near the dark skies of Cherry Springs.
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Dingmans Falls
A boardwalk through a hemlock ravine passes the slender ribbon of Silverthread Falls before reaching a 130-foot cascade that ranks among Pennsylvania's tallest waterfalls.
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Gettysburg National Military Park
The fields, ridges and woods of the Civil War's bloodiest battle, fought in July 1863, with more than 1,300 monuments, the great cyclorama painting and the cemetery where Lincoln spoke.
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Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
The world's first refuge for birds of prey, where hikers climb to rocky lookouts on the Kittatinny Ridge to watch thousands of hawks, eagles and falcons stream south each fall.
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Hyner Run State Park
A swimming pool and campground tucked into a narrow mountain hollow, with the vast Sproul State Forest all around and the winding climb to Hyner View close by.
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John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum
The largest freshwater tidal marsh left in Pennsylvania, just beyond the airport runways, with boardwalks, a visitor center and trails where herons, egrets and migrating songbirds are easy to spot.
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John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove
The first American home of John James Audubon, now a museum of his bird art set amid woods, meadows and trails along Perkiomen Creek that are rich in birdlife.
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Mont Alto State Park
The longest-serving park in Pennsylvania's state system began as a railroad excursion ground in 1875, and its domed dance pavilion, picnic grove and trout stream still make for a gentle afternoon.
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Nescopeck State Park
Anglers wade a well-loved trout creek and birders scan the marshes in this valley of wetlands and woods, where an education center offers nature programs.
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Patterson State Park
Deep in remote mountain forest, this quiet picnic clearing is a jumping-off point for backpackers bound for the 85-mile Susquehannock Trail loop.
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Poe Paddy State Park
Where Big Poe Creek meets Penns Creek, a famed trout stream with a June green drake hatch, the Mid State Trail crosses an old rail bridge and plunges into a railroad tunnel through the mountain.
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Reeds Gap State Park
Honey Creek runs cool and clear beneath big conifers in this small mountain park, a quiet retreat for a picnic, a night at the rustic campground or a few casts for trout.
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Schenley Park
A big wooded park on the edge of the university district, with Phipps Conservatory, the trails and lake of Panther Hollow, a public golf course, a running track and an ice rink.
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Wissahickon Valley Park
A deep, wooded gorge cut by Wissahickon Creek, with car-free Forbidden Drive along the water, the 1850s Valley Green Inn, a covered bridge and rugged trails up schist cliffs.
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Allegheny National Forest
Pennsylvania's only national forest, with the long Allegheny Reservoir, the old-growth groves of Hearts Content, overlooks such as Rimrock and many miles of the North Country Trail.
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Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area
Outsized trees of many species shade the slopes of Blue Mountain here, alive with warblers in spring, while a hillside meadow fills with butterfly weed and butterflies in midsummer.
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Colton Point State Park
On the quieter west rim of Pine Creek Gorge, rustic pavilions built by the CCC sit beside rocky canyon overlooks, and the Turkey Path drops steeply to the creek far below.
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Frick Park
Wooded ravines and miles of trails make up the largest of the city's parks, a bequest from industrialist Henry Clay Frick, with an environmental center and a lawn bowling green.
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George W. Childs Recreation Site
A loop trail follows Dingmans Creek through a hemlock gorge past three waterfalls, Factory, Fulmer and Deer Leap, with the stone ruins of an old woolen mill and shady picnic spots.
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Jennings Environmental Education Center
One of Pennsylvania's few remnants of prairie, bright with purple spikes of blazing star in late July and early August, and among the last homes of the rare eastern massasauga rattlesnake.
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Joseph E. Ibberson Conservation Area
Tall hardwoods blanket Peters Mountain here, and quiet trails wind up through warbler-filled woods to join the Appalachian Trail along the crest.
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Kinzua Bridge State Park
The surviving towers of the Kinzua Viaduct, half-toppled by a 2003 tornado, now carry a skywalk with a glass-floored lookout high over the valley, the twisted wreckage still lying below.
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McCalls Dam State Park
Along a gravel road deep in the forest, a handful of picnic tables sit beside White Deer Creek, good for a quiet lunch and some trout fishing in a remote valley.
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Prouty Place State Park
A tiny, out-of-the-way clearing by a trout stream, with forest roads and trails fanning out into the deep backcountry of the Susquehannock State Forest.
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Sand Bridge State Park
Rapid Run tumbles past this tiny roadside picnic grove, a peaceful stop on the winding mountain road through Bald Eagle State Forest.
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Susquehanna Riverlands State Park
Hikers on the blue-blazed Mason-Dixon Trail climb to rocky lookouts above the Susquehanna in this riverside woodland at the mouth of Codorus Creek.
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Tom Ridge Environmental Center
The gateway to Presque Isle, with exhibits on the peninsula's dunes, wetlands and Lake Erie ecology, and an observation tower with views over the bay and lake.
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Upper Pine Bottom State Park
Picnic tables beside a trout stream make this shady pull-off a handy trailhead into the steep backcountry of the Tiadaghton State Forest.
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Bald Eagle State Forest
Ridge after forested ridge in the heart of the state, with the Mid State Trail, trout water on Penns and White Deer creeks, and old-growth hemlocks in the Snyder-Middleswarth Natural Area.
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Buchanan State Forest
Mountain forest along the Maryland line, with the roadless Martin Hill Wild Area, stretches of the Tuscarora Trail and quiet gravel roads over long, wooded ridges.
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Clear Creek State Forest
Hilly hardwood forest in tracts along the Clarion and Allegheny rivers, with river overlooks and stretches of long-distance trail for quiet backcountry hiking.
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Cornplanter State Forest
A compact forest of scattered tracts named for the Seneca leader Cornplanter, with old-growth pines and hemlocks along Anders Run and short, easy trails for hiking and cross-country skiing.
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Delaware State Forest
Pocono Plateau woods dotted with glacial lakes, bogs and natural areas such as Bruce Lake, with long trails, primitive camping and plenty of room for solitude.
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Elk State Forest
Deep, wild valleys at the heart of Pennsylvania's elk range, crossed by the Bucktail Path and gravel forest roads where elk often graze in the clearings.
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Erie National Wildlife Refuge
Marshes, beaver ponds and wooded creek valleys managed for migrating ducks and geese, with quiet walking trails where birders look for waterfowl, eagles and wading birds.
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Forbes State Forest
Scattered high-country tracts of the Laurel Highlands, from Pennsylvania's highest point on Mount Davis to the Spruce Flats bog, with ridgetop trails, trout streams and room for backcountry rambles.
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Fort Hunter Mansion and Park
A Federal-style stone mansion on the site of a French and Indian War fort, set in riverside parkland along the Susquehanna with traces of the Pennsylvania Canal and a rebuilt covered bridge.
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Gallitzin State Forest
Mountain woodland named for Demetrius Gallitzin, the frontier priest of the Alleghenies, where the John P. Saylor Trail loops through the rugged backcountry of the Clear Shade Wild Area.
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Hearts Content Scenic Area
A grove of old-growth white pines and hemlocks, some well over 300 years old, on an easy loop trail through one of the few virgin stands left in the Allegheny forest.
