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January 20, 2025

Things to do around Kinzua Bridge State Park during Skywalk renovations

As the Skywalk at Kinzua Bridge State Park will be temporarily inaccessible for the next few years for renovations, except during brief stints during the fall foliage season, what can you do instead around the park?  There are many ways to keep exploring, whether it's in the park itself or nearby towns such as Kane, Bradford, and Warren. Check out these ideas for your next adventure!

January 16, 2025

The Waterville Hotel: A home base for exploring the PA Wilds!

The Waterville Hotel is located in the charming town of Waterville, Lycoming County, in the Pine Creek Valley and PA Grand Canyon landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds. Nestled in the scenic Tiadaghton State Forest, this historic restaurant offers a delightful eating, drinking, and even overnight accommodation experience in Pennsylvania’s most picturesque setting. You can find it on your journey up Route 44 as you head to your next adventure. 

January 14, 2025

Alma and Jake Swanson: Life as a family in Pennsylvania’s lumber camps

Life in Pennsylvania’s lumber camps was rugged and demanding, yet for some, it was also a family affair. Families like Alma and Jake Swanson’s not only worked in the camps but lived and thrived there, carving out a unique existence in the midst of Penn’s Woods. Their story provides a rare glimpse into the lives of women, children, and families who helped sustain the camps during the early 20th century.

January 10, 2025

Forest Fridays: Wooden toys from Pennsylvania’s working forest

Toys of long ago were commonly made of wood. Abundant and relatively cheap, wood as a raw material could be crafted into a variety of products. Toy and game classics like Lincoln logs, sleds, slingshots, pop guns, building blocks, sleds, cars, Jenga®, and Scrabble®  come to mind. Through the years, toys and games made of wood took a back seat to cheaper alternatives often made of plastic, much to a forester’s dismay. Although this trend has continued for decades, it seems that wood is making a comeback.

January 9, 2025

A UV night hike at Black Moshannon State Park

The dawn greeted a new year on Wednesday, but my real New Year’s Day celebration started after the sun set on the first day of 2025. Although I’ve done daytime hikes as part of the First Day Hike initiative in years past (like my hike at Parker Dam State Park in 2024), this was the first time I was beginning the new year with a special night hike. Black Moshannon State Park, which is located along the I-80 Frontier landscape in the southern part of the Pennsylvania Wilds, decided to hold two UV light night hikes for their First Day Hike in 2025.

January 7, 2025

BIRD LORE: Winter birding

It was cold and the wind was blowing hard but there I was with two friends scanning the whitecaps of Rose Valley Lake in Lycoming County, hoping for a “fallout” of waterfowl and vagrant species. Winter birding in these kinds of conditions can be challenging, but also rewarding. We didn’t find many birds on the water, but we braved the “fowl weather” long enough to watch a Bald Eagle hopefully, but futilely, try to snatch a duck in flight across the lake. That’s not a sight you see every day. Though fish are their preferred food, Bald Eagles are opportunistic and will hunt smaller birds and mammals, as well as feed on carrion.

January 2, 2025

Mark these 2025 PA Great Outdoors photo contests on your calendar

Do you have an eye for catching the perfect shot while making memories in the PA Wilds? If you've snapped a photo of a winter wonderland, a great catch, a hiking adventure or a stunning scenic view in Pennsylvania’s Great Outdoors region (part of the Pennsylvania Wilds that includes the counties of Cameron, Elk, and Forest), that photo could win you some cash in 2025! PA Great Outdoors Visitors Bureau's (PAGO) four quarterly themes for 2025 are Winter Wonders, Big Fish, Take a Hike, and Scenic Views.

December 31, 2024

Year in Review: Top 10 PA Wilds blogs of 2024

For those of you who didn't get a chance to keep up with the blog all year, we're counting down the Top 10 blogs for you to catch up on all things PA Wilds before 2025 arrives. Starting with #10 and ending with #1, check out the most read blogs of this year!

December 26, 2024

Start your 2025 on the right foot with a First Day Hike

Go take a hike! No, really. You can start the new year on the right foot (literally) with guided hikes at many state parks throughout Pennsylvania, including several in the Pennsylvania Wilds.

December 24, 2024

Christmas in Clearfield 100 years ago

It’s always nice to see a community put effort into making a nice holiday for the local children, and there are many stories from history where this happened. The Pennsylvania Wilds is packed with historic incidents of local communities ensuring a good Christmas, and a century ago was an especially heartwarming moment with a record-setting crowd. Clearfield, 1924. Christmas, a hundred years ago. Back then, in what would later become part of the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds, a heartwarming holiday celebration happened in a local theater.