r/PAWilds

Hi everyone! I am 23 years old female and moved to Pittsburgh last year. Me and my dog (a golden retriever) love outdoors, especially backpacking.

I found out it is hard to make friends after college so I want to try here.

We want to find backpacking friends! Ideally a non-male with similar age, need to have backpacking experience.

Most ideally if you have a dog too! We plan to hike LHHT this June, it would be great if we can do it together, I am also happy to go to other backpacking trail!

Thank you!

Let us help!

Fishing in Northcentral PA is a special experience, offering anglers a chance to explore some of the most pristine and untouched waters in the state. This region boasts a rugged landscape of forests, rolling hills, and crystal-clear streams that feel like stepping back in time.

Some of the places you'll want to cast a line in:

• Pine Creek (Tioga and Lycoming Counties)
• Hammond Lake (Tioga County)
• Hills Creek Lake (Tioga County)
• Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir (Centre County)
• Penns Creek (Centre County)
• West Branch Susquehanna River (Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming, and Union Counties)
• Fishing Creek (Clinton County)

You can read more about these places here: https://explorepawaters.com/fishing-pennsylvania-wilds/

Heading on a backpacking loop up there next weekend over 4 nights. Got plenty of time for side quests - what shouldn't I miss?

For some context, I've been working on a goal to visit all 125 PA state parks, so I've been doing a lot of hiking in state parks lately. Some of that has bled over into state forests, but I haven't purposefully been going to state forest trails (besides a couple I live very close to). I'm wanting to do more trails in the state forests, especially as I finish up my goal. What trails in any of the state forests would you recommend?

I am planning a brief stop in Allegheny late June and was hoping to find a good car camping/fishing spot. I recently purchased a rooftop tent so my ultimate goal would be to do some light off-roading to a stream or similar waterway that I could camp/fish in relatively close proximity to. Any recommendations, coordinates, or help would be greatly appreciated!

I'm looking for an overnight trail in western half of the state. I was thinking about the North Country Trail at Moraine, but they don't allow tents. I live fairly close, so that was my first choice, but I'm looking for other options.

Over the past few days I have been working on getting a digital copy of the entire trail. On a whim I reached out to the state and today believe it or not they sent me the trail.

I have some GIS friends and they created a KMZ file for me.

The DNR already warned me about the trails errors and that I need to be responsible for myself in what might happen to me using the data sent to me.

For me it's a start of my own trail data base. I can't claim any part of this information as being 100% correct.

I won't know until later tonight if this trek has any Z information on it.

I also don't want to gate keep this information either. So I am offering to anyone who wants it. DM me and we can exchange emails.

Again this is buyer beware I take zero responsibility for the accuracy of the data. The end user assumes all responsibility and liability for using said data.

Hello Folks I hope all is well with everyone here.

I am a fly-fishing goober and because of all the rain and cooler weather “thank you Canada” I find myself looking at alternatives while on vacation.

I also enjoy hiking so this will be a win win for me.  I as recently found or rather stumbled upon the Mid State Trail “MST”. I was shocked because I have been all over the state already hiking and fishing and I never came stumbled upon it before.

I am also a mapping nerd going back to paper maps, protractors, and compasses! Now it’s a back up plan, but I used my Garmin 64sx.

I will download a map in Garmin Basecamp and edit routes.

I found that All-Lies does not have this trail in its data base. I thought ok umm what am I missing.

I do have the trail in Basecamp, but I would like a downloadable version.

I did stumble upon an application called “FAROUT”.  For a fee you can download the trail. I have emailed the application provider and asked them these questions.

I have no issue with the fee, but I have questions if someone here can answer them.

What format can you download the trail in? Can I use the map on a device other than a phone?

Sorry to be long in the tooth and thank you

I am thinking about doing an out and back here this weekend.

Is this section worth it? I have only hiked the northern PA section of the NCT near Tracy Ridge.

Temps look pretty warm, but looking at the Farout map water seems fairly plentiful and I shouldn't have to carry much.

It also looks like there are plenty of trees, so hanging my hammock shouldn't be an issue.

I plan on going all the way to Kellettville then back a few miles before camping, so about 20 ish miles, then that should leave a shorter mile return the next day back to the vehicle of about 15 miles.

Any general thoughts or advice on this section?

I don't know where to ask this, and if this violates the rules, just delete this.

I have a trekking pole sent, Zpacks Duplex Pro, and I'm looking for some help in determining if I'm pitching it correctly. I've watched the Zpacks videos, and some other YouTube videos about pitching it but I'm still not sure I'm doing it right. Could someone point me in the right direction? TIA.

So I’ve been having problems with rain. My trip to French creek got rained out except for 1 day the other week. This week I’m going to ricketts glenn it’s supposed to rain pretty good 2 out of 4 days. I got a cabin but unfortunately I’ll be going alone. So my question is how is the cell coverage in the cabin area? Cal topo overlay says it should have some signal but idk how reliable that is. I’m afraid of getting a lil bored. I’ll just throw on a raincoat if it’s not pouring but probably won’t be able to have a fire and will be in the cabin more than I’d like. So I’m gonna download some videos and have a book but it would be convenient if I had signal during that time. And June 8th I’ll be going to worlds end so my question is does that area get much rain in June? Hoping to have 1 trip without rain. And I’ll be in my tent for that one. Also is it dark enough at night to see the Milky Way in these parks? Haven’t been there since I was a kid.

I love PA, I'll never move because of how much beauty we have in this state.

Ilate summer/early fall I wanted to do a 3 night hiking/fly fishing/primitive camping excursion for me and my 2 outdoorsy friends. We've done some short trips/overnights but haven't had the chance to do something longer than 2 days.

I'd like to keep it in Central/Northern/Western PA since we're based in SW and I don't wanna make a 5 hour drive (sorry Eastern/NEPA).

Dump your immense PA Wilds knowledge on me and your suggestion for something like this.

TIA