Hikers should use extreme caution in crossing PA 26 on top of Tussey Ridge.

PennDot started a construction project on Tussey Mountain the week of August 2, 2010. A third lane or truck pulloff is being added. A swath of forest has been cut down and three trail signs removed.

A tree has been blazed at the forest edge so that it is possible to find the Pine Grove (Mid State Trail).

Please be advised that the Warrior Trail has been rerouted on to the road between mile 2 and 4. Older WT maps still show the original route. The trail has been posted at either end of the section to indicate the new route. Contact Llew Williams at Llew.Williams@L-3Com.com for additional information.
 

The closing of a pedestrian/snowmobile bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike effectively cuts in half the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. An 8.3-mile detour has been established. View the detour map here.

It is anticipated that the bridge will be replaced by December 2011.

The bridge across Sawmill Run got removed by a storm. A temporary water level bridge is in place. Please proceed with caution since the treadway had not been restored and another storm could take out the temporary bridge.

Thunder Swamp Trail has been re-routed to the old logging road between Ludleyville and Lake Minisink. Heading north, take the right (at Marker 10) onto the logging road (toward Marker 7) where the trail follows the creek to Burnt Mills Trail (Marker 11). Make a left at the next intersect (Marker 7) at Lake Minisink to rejoin the Thunder Swamp Trail (at Marker 13).

PPL has closed 460 wooded acres around the Holtwood Dam to public recreation for the next three years. PPL officials state that the closure is needed for safety reasons as work has begun on a $440 million expansion project at the hydroelectric dam. The land is now posted "no trespassing."

Now off-limits is Face Rock Overlook, a portion of the Conestoga Trail system and hunting, hiking and other uses in the closed area. All or parts of three roads owned by PPL are closed, except to construction vehicles: Old Pinnacle Road, New Village Road and Old Holtwood Road.

Unaffected are the Pinnacle Overlook, the Holtwood Arboretum and the Kelly's Run Trail system.

The area will remain off-limits until the expansion project is finished in the spring of 2013.

Users of the Conestoga Trail system, the longest trail in Lancaster County, will be detoured onto Crystal Drive.

A map of the closure area is available here.

From the forest office on Route 6 headingn south towards Lyman State Park, there are at least three major blow downs across the Susquehannock Trail and several on the trail to the vista. The blow downs are located at the following coordinates:

41 45.9781
-77 51. 8898

41 45.9733
-77 51.8405

41 45.7940
-77 51.0446

41 45.5427
-77 50.4067

NAD 83 Degrees Minutes

Reminder: When hiking, please use caution with water sources. All water should be considered contaminated and needs to be boiled or treated.

The Loyalsock Trail was previously blazed with red disks and yellow "LT". On newer blazes the colors have been reversed to yellow disks and red "LT". Because some side trails are marked with yellow disks and red "X", be sure to follow the "LT" blazes to stay on the Loyalsock Trail.

In Chester County, traveling east to west on the trail starting at roughly MP 10.3 (corner of Sidley Hill Road and Yellow Springs Road):

Go right briefly then left across Yellow Springs Road up the embankment to the edge of the woods. Go right along the grass edge of Deerfield development towards a Horse-Shoe Trail post at the far side of paved entrance to the development. Passing to the right of the Horse-Shoe Trail post, continue downhill following the grass line; the trail becomes a mown path through the field, 10 to 20 feet in from the field's edge (STAY ALERT: blazes on posts may have become hidden by overgrowh. Be aware that the trail is roughly parallel to, but not on, Yellow Springs Road). Field pathway leads to drainage swale; cross to the outside top edge of the swale, continue downhill along the top of the grassy swale as the trail leads further away from Yellow Springs Road towards the drainage basin. Note the double row of young apple trees to your right. Skirt outside edge of basin, keeping between it and the hedgerow. Turn left around the basin, staying on the grass (still in Deerfield) parallel to Valley Hill Road. Turn right at the Horse-Shoe Trail post at the development's end. You're at MP 10.8. Cross Valley Hill Road. Continue downhill through a cut log and bushes. Blazing on trees becomes the norm again as you enter small woodland.

For other updates or changes to the Horse-Shoe Trail Guide, please click here.

The Tuscarora Trail is closed between PA74 and the Tuscarora State Forest boundary east of Colonel Denning State Park. The section through the Welch Hill area to McClures Gap has been closed by the land owner and is posted. The only available detour is by public roads between Colonel Denning State Park and PA74. Please do not attempt to access the trail by using roads off the Kennedy Valley. These roads are private. The land owners there have specified that these roads not be used. It is anticipated that this section of trail will be closed though the summer of 2010.

 

The trail seemed quite grown in and hard to follow from the Private road south of Bradley Wales to Bradley Wales. There was one blowdown that was in the trail (about halfway into the above-mentioned area) that was lengthwise with the trail and the end of it was very sharp and obscured by the growth. Several hikers I talked to mentioned that they walked into it and were hurt. I also walked into it and was hurt. I received a nasty bruise on my leg. The trail is really starting to disapear in that area. One of my friends hiked the same area at night and said the trail was impossible to follow.