54 places
Big forests, dark skies, wild elk and a canyon
Photo: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This is Pennsylvania's big woods: a high, rugged plateau of state forest, game lands and the Allegheny National Forest, with small towns far apart. Pine Creek has cut a gorge some 47 miles long here, often called the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, and from the overlooks at Leonard Harrison and Colton Point state parks you look about 800 feet down to the creek. A rail trail runs along the bottom, and Wellsboro, with its gas-lit main street, makes a good base.
Wild elk roam the hills around Benezette, where the herd reintroduced more than a century ago is often seen in the fields at dawn and dusk. Cherry Springs State Park is an International Dark Sky Park, with some of the darkest nights in the East. Cook Forest and Hearts Content keep rare stands of old-growth pine and hemlock, and at Kinzua Bridge, where a tornado knocked down much of an old railroad viaduct in 2003, you can walk out on what is left, high above the valley.
Highlights
State park · Shippen Township, Tioga County
From the east rim of Pine Creek Gorge, overlooks frame the canyon's classic views, and the steep Turkey Path zigzags down past waterfalls to the creek, with a visitor center on top.
Photo: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
State park · West Branch Township, Potter County
An International Dark Sky Park on a remote mountaintop, where astronomers set up telescopes under some of the darkest skies in the East and the Milky Way blazes overhead on clear, moonless nights.
State park · Hamlin Township, McKean County
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.
Photo: Nicholas from Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Visitor center · Benezette Township, Elk County
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.
State park · Barnett Township, Forest County
Giant old-growth pines and hemlocks, some centuries old, crowd the Forest Cathedral, with a fire tower for treetop views and lazy canoe trips down the Clarion River.
Rail trail · Brown Township, Lycoming County
A 62-mile crushed-stone rail trail along Pine Creek, running through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and past small villages, with eagles overhead and the creek for company.
Photo: Jakec, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The full list
A re-created early-1900s logging camp, a steam-powered sawmill and a 70-ton Shay locomotive tell the story of the lumber boom that stripped and remade the state's northern forests.
This town's munitions plant made bombs and shells for the Allies, and the museum honors those home-front workers, most of them women, alongside dioramas, weapons and uniforms from the war.
Beside the stadiums where the Little League World Series is played each August, this museum covers the history of youth baseball with interactive exhibits and memorabilia.
Zippo lighters and Case knives fill this company museum, where you can watch technicians repair lighters through a window, and giant lighter-shaped lampposts stand out front.
The wooded hilltop outside Punxsutawney where crowds gather before dawn every February 2 to hear whether Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow.
A Tioga County seat with gas streetlights along a tree-shaded Main Street, a village green, and the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon a short drive away.
A tiny borough where the Clarion River meets the Allegheny, with a golf club dating to 1887, river views and a quiet main street popular with paddlers and cyclists.
Giant old-growth pines and hemlocks, some centuries old, crowd the Forest Cathedral, with a fire tower for treetop views and lazy canoe trips down the Clarion River.
A classic Depression-era park with a small lake, rustic log cabins and a beach, where trails wind through woods regrowing after a 1985 tornado and lead into the Quehanna wilds.
A mountain lake on Little Pine Creek, cradled by steep forested ridges, with a beach, campground and trails climbing to views over the Pine Creek country.
A small lake dammed on the West Branch of Tionesta Creek, with a sandy beach and campground and the big, quiet woods of the Allegheny National Forest all around.
Rustic log cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps line a clear trout stream that runs down to the Clarion River, a favorite for easy canoe floats, with a small beach and hemlock-shaded trails.
A tranquil lake in rolling farm-and-forest country where loons and ospreys stop over, with a sandy beach, cabins and a campground a short drive from Pine Creek Gorge.
Elk graze the meadows and bald eagles nest along the First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, which widens into a reservoir framed by steep, wooded mountains.
In a remote, mountain-walled valley, Kettle Creek widens into a lake behind a flood-control dam, with trout fishing, creekside camping and bridle trails into the surrounding forest.
Norwegian violinist Ole Bull tried to found a colony in this wild Kettle Creek valley in 1852; a trail climbs to the ruins of his hilltop castle above a creekside beach and campground.
A small lake in remote mountain forest, with a beach, campground and trout fishing, and the famously dark skies of Cherry Springs just a short drive up the road.
From the east rim of Pine Creek Gorge, overlooks frame the canyon's classic views, and the steep Turkey Path zigzags down past waterfalls to the creek, with a visitor center on top.
Picnic tables in the shade line the East Branch of the Clarion River, a trout stream that has bounced back from old mine pollution, with a swimming pool for hot summer days.
Big enough for waterskiing and powerboats of any size, this deep reservoir in rugged northern mountains also draws anglers after trout and other fish.
Boulder-strewn slopes close in tight around a trout stream in this little mountain gorge, with a small campground beside the water and trails climbing through laurel thickets.
A wooded hideaway honoring an early champion of Pennsylvania's forests, with rustic cabins and campsites amid quiet hardwood forest and quick access to the Quehanna backcountry.
Tucked in a valley of the Pennsylvania Wilds, a small campground and swimming pool at one end of the Bucktail Path, with mile upon mile of state forest beyond.
An International Dark Sky Park on a remote mountaintop, where astronomers set up telescopes under some of the darkest skies in the East and the Milky Way blazes overhead on clear, moonless nights.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Deep in remote mountain forest, this quiet picnic clearing is a jumping-off point for backpackers bound for the 85-mile Susquehannock Trail loop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Picnic tables beside a trout stream make this shady pull-off a handy trailhead into the steep backcountry of the Tiadaghton 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.
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.
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.
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.
Wild plateau country cut by Loyalsock Creek, with the rugged Loyalsock Trail, waterfall-filled glens and the High Knob Overlook's view across the Endless Mountains.
Big plateau forest that takes in much of the Quehanna Wild Area, once a Cold War nuclear research site, now crossed by the long Quehanna Trail and home to roaming elk.
The largest of Pennsylvania's state forests, a vast, deeply cut plateau along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, with the Chuck Keiper and Donut Hole trails, wild areas and roadless valleys.
Remote, rolling plateau forest near the New York line, with the 85-mile Susquehannock Trail, the roadless Hammersley Wild Area and night skies dark enough to draw astronomers.
Steep, forested mountains along lower Pine Creek, with the Pine Creek Rail Trail on the canyon floor and two famously rugged hiking loops, the Black Forest and Golden Eagle trails.
Much of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon lies within this forest, where the 30-mile West Rim Trail follows the gorge's edge and the Pine Creek Rail Trail runs along the creek far below.
The big concrete dam holding back the long, winding Allegheny Reservoir, with overlooks, a visitor center and a history that includes the flooding of Seneca Nation land in the 1960s.
Less a park than a 75-mile drive: the Bucktail Trail follows Sinnemahoning Creek and the West Branch Susquehanna through deep forested valleys, named for a Civil War regiment of backwoods marksmen.
A stone-walled overlook perched high above the West Branch of the Susquehanna, with a sweeping view up and down the river valley and a launch ramp used by hang gliders.
A 62-mile crushed-stone rail trail along Pine Creek, running through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and past small villages, with eagles overhead and the creek for company.
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.
Steep climbs out of deep hollows lead to wide vistas over the Pine Creek valley on this hard 42-mile loop near Slate Run.
For 30 miles this footpath follows the western rim of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, with frequent vistas down into Pine Creek Gorge and campsites along the way.
Short but steep, this loop of about nine miles above Pine Creek climbs to a string of vistas before following a stream back down through the woods.
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.
A loop of about 27 miles through Loyalsock State Forest on old logging railroad grades and woods roads, with mountain vistas and the clear pools of Rock Run.
Starting at Parker Dam State Park, a rugged loop of more than 70 miles through the Quehanna Wild Area and nearby state forest, with deep stream valleys and elk country.
An 85-mile backpacking loop through remote Potter County state forest, passing Ole Bull State Park, the Hammersley Wild Area and long, quiet stream valleys.
A 62-mile crushed-stone rail trail along Pine Creek, running through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and past small villages, with eagles overhead and the creek for company.
![Kettle Creek State Park: Northeast-facing vista (elevation approximately 2080 feet [634 meters]), Clinton County, within Kettle Creek State Park](/assets/photos/kettle-creek-state-park-leidy/1-commons-4795055-960.webp)
