If you're up for the adventure, Pennsylvania's woods teem with trails for backpacking adventures
To really experience the broad vistas and varied topography, lace up some hiking boots, test your orienteering skills, and walk into one of these wild areas. (Just don't forget to register at the trail head!)
Upstate PA’s Loyalsock Trail in Worlds End State Park offers a peaceful immersion into the waterfalls and swimming holes along the Loyalsock Creek. The 60-mile point-to-point trail passes the remains of an old casino from the 19th-century logging boom (in addition to abandoned hotels and logging camps).
Beginning backpackers might enjoy the Quebec Run Wild Area. This remote space offers a relatively flat trail in addition to steep, technical routes for more expert hikers. The forest contains a rare gem: preserved glens of native chestnut trees.
The vast backcountry in the Allegheny National Forest highlights white pine and hemlock, as well as the spectacular Kinzua Sky Walk overlooking the gorge, accessible to all visitors a short walk from the parking lot.
Rothrock State Forest’s Mid State Trail offers rugged terrain and exciting evidence of freeze-thaw cycles' geological effects on our state. The flat, bubbling creeks along the trail form natural Jacuzzis for cooling off before pitching a tent.
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