Pennsylvania's Trail of Geology

Geologic features abound in Pennsylvania, and are especially visible in our state and other parks. The following Trail of Geology park guides are available as PDF files.* Click on the rock hammers on the map or use the list below to access the guides.

Park Guides

• Trough State Park (PG 1)  Huntingdon County, Ridge and Valley province—Ice Mine and Balanced Rock erosional remnant.
• Hickory Run State Park (PG 2)  Carbon County, on the Pocono Plateau—Hickory Run Boulder Field, created by periglacial activity during the Ice Age.
• Archbald State Park (PG 3)  Northeast of Scranton in Lackawanna County—the world's largest pothole, discovered in 1884.
• Moraine and McConnells Mill State Parks (PG 4; also includes the former PG 9) Butler and Lawrence Counties—glacial lakes and drainage changes.
• Moraine and McConnells Mill State Parks Addendum (PG 4A) Addendum to Park Guide 4—Muddy Creek Oil Field.
• Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks (PG 5)  Tioga County, north-central Pennsylvania—the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.
• French Creek State Park (PG 6)  Berks and Chester Counties—Piedmont rocks and the Hopewell Furnace.
• Ohiopyle State Park (PG 7)  Along the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County—waterfalls, Devonian-age rocks, and the Laurel Hill anticline.
• Valley Forge National Historical Park (PG 8)  Montgomery and Chester Counties—Port Kennedy quarry and Valley Creek Gorge.
• Gifford Pinchot State Park (PG 10)  York County—diabase (molten, liquid rock).
• Ravensburg State Park (PG 11)  Clinton County—Rocky Gorge, Castle Rocks, and Big Rock Spring.
• Worlds End State Park (PG 12)  Sullivan County—Loyalsock Gorge, fossils, and the Rock Garden.
• Ricketts Glen State Park (PG 13)  Luzerne, Sullivan, and Columbia Counties—the Red Rock, Midway Crevasse, and The Glens, which has 25 distinct waterfalls.
• Nockamixon State Park (PG 14)  Bucks County—Sentinel Rock, Tohickon quarry, joints, ledges, and boulders.
• Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace State Parks (PG 15)  Cumberland, Adams, and Franklin Counties—the iron ore industry, faults, and the Tomstown Dolomite.
• Swatara State Park (PG 16)  Lebanon and Schuylkill Counties—includes a site where you may collect fossils, including (if you are lucky) Phacops rana, the State Fossil.
• Samuel S. Lewis State Park (PG 17)  York County—Chickies Rock, Mt. Pisgah, and the Lower Susquehanna Valley.
• Promised Land State Park (PG 18)  Pike County, on the Pocono Plateau—ancient rivers and ages of ice.
• Raymond B. Winter State Park (PG 19)  Union County—scenery, rocks, and springs in eastern Brush Valley.
• White Clay Creek Preserve (PG 20)  Chester County, Pennsylvania, and New Castle County, Delaware—the Wissahickon Formation and pegmatites.
• Presque Isle State Park (PG 21)  Erie County—evidence of past and present geologic processes.
• Oil Creek State Park (PG 22)  The geologic heritage of Pennsylvania's oil region, and the geologic history of Oil Creek.

Also:

• Lehigh Gorge State Park  Open-File Report 98–03, Rocks and ruins of the “Upper Grand”—An illustrated trail guide to the geology and historical archeology of Lehigh Gorge State Park. 
• Point State Park  Older brochure, prepared for the Pittsburgh Geological Society by the University of Pittsburgh—features the structure of “The Point.”

Trail Guide

• Garrett-to-Rockwood section of the Allegheny Highlands Trail —Prepared by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey in cooperation with the Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association and the Somerset County Parks and Recreation Board—diverse geologic topics (formation of rock units, structure and age of rocks, types of fossils, and more) along a 7-mile section of the Allegheny Highlands Trail in Somerset County.
  

Good fossil hunting and we'll see you on Pennsylvania's Trail of Geology!

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