Login | August 07, 2025
Great day hikes in Pennsylvania’s Black Forest
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: August 4, 2025
I’ve raved about all the outdoor opportunities in and around the Black Forest region (Lycoming, Potter, Clinton and Tioga counties of north central Pennsylvania) ever since I began writing this column.
And well I’m about to go there again.
Yup, I’ve just recently come back from yet another trip to this place that I discovered back in 1986 - a place that’s become one of my favorite U.S. outdoor destinations to frequent.
Even today, after my racking up some 40 years worth of Black Forest visitations to bike, hike, canoe and backpack, it’s no stretch when I say that there’s so many cool places to go and so many adventurous things to do within this four-county area that my trips have never gotten redundant.
Take for instance the hiking.
You can hike the gamut, from short to moderate to long, to out-and-back, to point-to-point, to circular.
So with this being said, let me offer you my three must-do BF day hikes, all of which could fit into a jam-packed hiker’s weekend.
Golden Eagle Trail
So some PA hiking aficionados have dubbed this the best day hike in Pennsylvania.
Now I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, but let me tell you that the Golden Eagle Trail is filled with spectacular scenery amidst some extremely challenging hiking terrain.
It’s a five-star day hike for sure, and with a loop that stretches for nine miles, it most definitely won’t leave you wanting for more.
There are streams, waterfalls, massive white pine groves, old logging camps, splash dams, and quarries to name but a few of the sights.
And then there’s the vista, Raven’s Horn, a vista which is one of the finest in the BF.
The trailhead can be found at the Clark Farm/Utceter Station Recreational Parking Area 2.7 miles north of Cammal, on PA Route 414 in the Pine Creek Valley.
West Rim Trail out-and-back: Bradely Wales Picnic Area to Leonard Harrison State Park Overlook
Though it’s a 30-mile point-to-point trail, you still have plenty of opportunities to do sections of this awesome trail as shorter out-and-back day hikes.
And in my opinion one of the most spectacular of these day-hiking sections is the second of my three must-do BF day hikes.
This one runs from the Bradely Wales Picnic Area north to the Leonard Harrison State Park Overlook, an approximately seven-mile one-way trek.
On this stretch of trail you’ll be treated to well over half of the trail’s scenic overlooks, all perched some 600-800 feet above the Pine Creek Gorge - PA’s Little Grand Canyon.
Water is available at the Bradely Wales Picnic Area.
For more information on how to access this section of trail go to https://pacanyon.com/images/west-rim-trail.pdf
Black Forest Trail out-and-back or point-to-point: Slate Run Trailhead to the Little Morris Camping Area
The BFT is the granddaddy of all BF trails, and it’s the reason I first ventured out to this neck of the woods.
The BFT is a punishingly hard trail, but what it extracts from you in the way of blood, sweat and tears it will give back to you in the way of euphoric sensory overloads.
My all-time favorite section of this 43-mile loop trail starts at the official trailhead in Slate Run and it winds it’s way counterclockwise to the Little Morris Camping Area - a 7.5-mile point-to-point trek.
Now you can do it as a monster out-and-back for 15 miles or you can make it more manageable by parking two vehicles on each of the section’s terminuses.
Along this spectacular stretch are killer hard accents and descents but they’ll all reward you with world class scenic overlooks of the Slate Run Valley.
This is my go-to hike anytime I want to show my hiking buds what BF hiking is all about.
For more information go to: https://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/PDFProvider.ashx?action=PDFStream&docID=3527528&revision=0&docName=Black+Forest+Trail+2019+D12+Tiadaghton&nativeExt=pdf&PromptToSave=False&Size=8603258&ViewerMode=2&overlay=0
So there you are hikers.
And with the summer nearly over don’t you think it’s time to get out there and sample Pennsylvania’s Black Forest trails?