Hiking in Central Pennsylvania and Around the State
Hiking Through the Natural Areas of Rothrock State Forest
Just south of State College, Pennsylvania can be found the Rothrock State Forest. Located within Rothrock State Forest are a number of natural areas and wild areas. These designated areas have limits placed on them with regards to forestry and recreation. The purpose of a natural area or a wild area is to keep the woods as primitive and primeval as possible. Two such areas, the Detweiler and Alan Seeger Natural Areas were the focus of this hike.
Read all about our hike in the natural areas of Rothrock State Forest.
Mountain Laurel in Bloom
Mountain Laurel is in bloom here in Central PA. This past Tuesday, Shari and I took a little ride through Rothrock S.F. On our way back to Boalsburg, we stopped off at the Filmore Trail trailhead, just off Bear Meadows Road. We hiked to the deer exclosure, just to the east of Filmore Trail, and entered throught the yellow swing gate. Once within the exclosure we followed the logging road up to the last staging area. Here there was another gate, though no easy way through for us bipedal humanoids was provided, but that was OK. We got to see what we came for. In front of us was the burn area of the forest fire from 2006. Amongst the few standing trees, some dead, some still sprouting green, the mountain laurel was starting to repopulate the burn area. Areas of green, white, and pink greeted us as we enjoyed the view and surveyed the land.
Pennsylvania Hiking Week: May 29th - June 6th

Pennsylvania Hiking Week begins this weekend, Saturday May 29th, and runs through Sunday, June 6th. These hikes are being sponsored by DCNR and the Keystone Trails Association. They will be offering nearly 100 organized hikes and walks available throughout Pennsylvania during the nine-day event.
All of the scheduled hikes have leaders. Most hikes are on the two weekends of the event, but several weekday and evening hikes also are offered. Special hikes include night hikes; wildflower walks; hikes for people with disabilities; pet walks; geology walks and much more.
Visit the DCNR Website to learn more.
The New PAHikes.com
Welcome to the new PAHikes.com! Not only have we changed our looks somewhat, but we have also added some new features and enhancements which we hope you'll find usefull. Included on each hike page is a weather block that shows the current weather along with a 5-day forecast for the trail. You can also log in and leave comments on each of the trails as well as the specific hikes. All of the information from the old PAHikes.com can still be found here including topographical maps, trail statistics, elevation profiles, trip reports and photos from the trail.
This is a work in progress. We have a lot of hike pages to migrate from the old platform to this new website, so please excuse our dust. All of the trail and hike information from the old website is here, but not all of it has the new look or new features. When on the older web pages, some of the links may not work.
Like what you see, or perhaps you don't, we'd like to hear your thoughts.
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Allegheny Front Trail | Bald Eagle State Forest | Black Forest Trail | Chuck Keiper Trail
Donut Hole Trail | Eagleton Mine Camp Trail | Golden Eagle Trail | John P. Saylor Trail
Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail | Loyalsock Trail | Mid State Trail - Tioga Region
Mid State Trail - State College Region | Mid State Trail - Woolrich Region
Mid State Trail - Everett Region | Mount Nittany | Old Loggers Path
Pinchot Trail | Quehanna Trail | Ricketts Glen S.P. | Rothrock State Forest | Shingletown Gap
Sproul State Forest | Standing Stone Trail | Stone Valley Rec. Area | The Barrens
Yellow Creek S.P. | West Rim Trail
Outside of Pennsylvania:
Maine - Acadia National Park
South Carolina - Table Rock
West Virginia - Tygart Lake State Park
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- Old Loggers Path
- Pinchot Trail
- Quehanna Trail
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- Shingletown Gap
- Sproul State Forest
- Standing Stone Trail
- Stone Valley Rec. Area
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- Yellow Creek State Park
PAHikes Tweets
Latest Trail Comments
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Thanks for all of your hard…
5 Sep 2010 | 10:08 pmThanks for all of your hard work putting this site together
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My son and I started out…
3 Aug 2010 | 2:20 pmMy son and I started out at the parking lot on Rt. 118 at the bottom of the mountain. This makes for a longer 7.2 mile hike. We loved the trail and plan on returning in the fall to experience[…]
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i hiked the BFT over memorial…
2 Aug 2010 | 5:29 pmi hiked the BFT over memorial day weekend. this is by far the best trail i've been on. the vistas were great and there were a lot of them. i saw a lot of wildlife but i was surprised i[…]
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