The Pennsylvania Wilds, or the Pennsylvania Wilds Conservation Landscape, is a predominantly rural and forested region in northern central Pennsylvania, mostly within the Allegheny Plateau. It covers about a quarter of the state's territory, but is home to only 4% of its population. It is one of Pennsylvania's 11 state-designated tourist regions. [1] [2]
The Pennsylvania Wilds comprises all of the following 12 counties: Warren, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Lycoming, Clinton, Elk, Cameron, Forest, Clearfield, Clarion, Jefferson, and the northwestern part of Centre county. [3]
The region includes several state parks and other tourist destinations, including Hyner View State Park, Cherry Springs State Park, Kinzua Bridge State Park, Leonard Harrison State Park, Colton Point State Park, Susquehannock State Forest, Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, and Pine Creek Rail Trail. [4] Two rivers in the Pennsylvania Wilds - Allegheny and Clarion - are designated as parts of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The West Branch Susquehanna River flows through the region.
The abundance of hardwood forests in the region lead to harvesting of lumber becoming the main economic driver in the area in the second half of the 19th century, when Williamsport, the county seat of Lycoming County, was known as "The Lumber Capital of the World". [5] By the beginning of the 20th century, the extensive harvesting led to deforestation and subsequent decline of lumber industry in the region. By the 21st century, the forests in the Pennsylvania Wilds have been mostly regrown. Williamsport, population 28,437, remains the most populous settlement in the region. [6]
The notion of the Pennsylvania Wilds was not in widespread use until the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative was launched in 2003 to promote the region's nature tourism industry. [7]
Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat is Williamsport.
Brown Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 92 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Cummings Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 264 at the 2020 census, down from 273 in 2010. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. Cummings Township is home to Little Pine State Park and Upper Pine Bottom State Park.
Plunketts Creek Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes the villages of Barbours and Proctor. The population was 595 at the 2020 census, down from 684 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Washington Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,769 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Worlds End State Park is a 780-acre (316 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley on Pennsylvania Route 154 in Forks and Shrewsbury Townships southeast of the borough of Forksville. The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain. Although it was founded as Worlds End State Forest Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot in 1932, the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943.
Clear Creek State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #8. The main offices are located in Clarion in Clarion County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Until August 2007, it was named Kittanning State Forest.
Larrys Creek is a 22.9-mile-long (36.9 km) tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Lycoming County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, its watershed drains 89.1 square miles (231 km2) in six townships and a borough. The creek flows south from the dissected Allegheny Plateau to the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian periods.
White Deer Hole Creek is a 20.5-mile (33.0 km) tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed drains parts of ten townships. The creek flows east in a valley of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods.
Tioga State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in District #16, in the Allegheny Plateau region within Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
The Loyalsock Trail (LT) is a 59.2 mi (95.3 km) linear hiking trail in Lycoming and Sullivan counties in north-central Pennsylvania. It is roughly parallel to Loyalsock Creek and traverses rugged lands mostly in Loyalsock State Forest. The trail is maintained by the Alpine Club of Williamsport and has been known for its distinctive blazes, made from the tops of tin cans and painted a distinctive color with "LT" in the center. Many of these are still present but some have given way to painted yellow blazes with a red stripe in the center. The Loyalsock Trail is also the main artery in a network of associated trails called "Red X" trails for alternate routes, plus blue-blazed spur trails to nearby roads and white-blazed side trails to various points of interest.
Cherry Springs State Park is an 82-acre (33 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Potter County, Pennsylvania, United States. The park was created from land within the Susquehannock State Forest, and is on Pennsylvania Route 44 in West Branch Township. Cherry Springs, named for a large stand of Black Cherry trees in the park, is atop the dissected Allegheny Plateau at an elevation of 2,300 feet (701 m). It is popular with astronomers and stargazers for having "some of the darkest night skies on the east coast" of the United States, and was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and its Bureau of Parks as one of "25 Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks".
Little Pine State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 2,158 acres (873 ha) in Cummings Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Little Pine State park is along 4.2 miles (6.8 km) of Little Pine Creek, a tributary of Pine Creek, in the midst of the Tiadaghton State Forest. A dam on the creek has created a lake covering 94 acres (38 ha) for fishing, boating, and swimming. The park is on Pennsylvania Route 4001, 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of the unincorporated village of Waterville or 8 miles (13 km) southwest of the village of English Center. The nearest borough is Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles (24 km) south at the mouth of Pine Creek on the West Branch Susquehanna River.
Upper Pine Bottom State Park is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is in Cummings Township on Pennsylvania Route 44 and is surrounded by the Tiadaghton State Forest. It is on Upper Pine Bottom Run, which gave the park its name and is a tributary of Pine Creek. Upper Pine Bottom State Park is in the Pine Creek Gorge, where the streams have cut through five major rock formations from the Devonian and Carboniferous periods.
Susquehanna State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 20 acres (8.1 ha) in Williamsport in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on the West Branch Susquehanna River in the western part of Williamsport, and is operated by the Williamsport / Lycoming Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Bureau of State Parks of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Susquehanna State Park offers cruises on a paddlewheeler, boating, fishing, and picnicking.
Colton Point State Park is a 368-acre (149 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is on the west side of the Pine Creek Gorge, also known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, which is 800 feet (240 m) deep and nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) across at this location. The park extends from the creek in the bottom of the gorge up to the rim and across part of the plateau to the west. Colton Point State Park is known for its views of the Pine Creek Gorge, and offers opportunities for picnicking, hiking, fishing and hunting, whitewater boating, and camping. Colton Point is surrounded by Tioga State Forest and its sister park, Leonard Harrison State Park, on the east rim. The park is on a state forest road in Shippen Township 5 miles (8 km) south of U.S. Route 6.
Black Moshannon State Park is a 3,480-acre (1,410 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Rush Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It surrounds Black Moshannon Lake, formed by a dam on Black Moshannon Creek, which has given its name to the lake and park. The park is just west of the Allegheny Front, 9 miles (14 km) east of Philipsburg on Pennsylvania Route 504, and is largely surrounded by Moshannon State Forest. A bog in the park provides a habitat for diverse wildlife not common in other areas of the state, such as carnivorous plants, orchids, and species normally found farther north. As home to the "largest reconstituted bog in Pennsylvania", it was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for its "25 Must-see Pennsylvania State Parks" list.
The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is near Galeton, Potter County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It documents the history and technology of the lumber industry that was a vital part of the economic development and ecological destruction of Pennsylvania.
Plunketts Creek is an approximately 6.2-mile-long (10 km) tributary of Loyalsock Creek in Lycoming and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Two unincorporated villages and a hamlet are on the creek, and its watershed drains 23.6 square miles (61 km2) in parts of five townships. The creek is a part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin via Loyalsock Creek and the West Branch Susquehanna and Susquehanna Rivers.
Pine Creek Gorge, sometimes called The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, is a 47-mile (76 km) gorge carved into the Allegheny Plateau by Pine Creek in north-central Pennsylvania.