By Ad Crable . of the ing cl Best cy bi d    an g in ik , h  FLATWATER PADDLING hether your outdoors outdoorsg W in The Yellow Breeches Creek, a designated b Pennsylvania Scenic River that runs for 49 miles passion is lacing up running shoes, im through the Cumberland Valley, is one of the l most accessible and consistently pastoral water- doing the J stroke, free climbing, , c ways in the state. “There is plenty of shade. There g is the opportunity to see osprey, kingfishers, polled clubs and enthusiasts n hoofing it through the woods or traversing li egrets, river otter and deer,” marvels Baker. The dd stream gets no rougher than Class I and II rapids, back roads by pedal power, your time has come. pa making it well-suited for family floats. latwater  Put-in: and f The historic covered bridge on Central PA Magazine er the campus of Messiah College in Grantham. at  Take out: ew McCormick Park, a linear in the region to come up with someit park in Upper Allen Township on McCormick h Road. Informal parking allowed along the road. “best-of” destinations forw  g, Also recommended: in The Swatara Creek Water Trail stretches for n 42 miles from Jonestown, Lebanon County, to n the Susquehanna at Middletown, with farms, u bank barns, Union Canal locks, limestone out- r crops and the only lava deposits in the state. — Lower Susquehanna River. Where else can  you find Indian hieroglyphics, grassy islands DLING and polished potholes? ER PAD on the USGS gauge. A good first-time  WHITEWAT down or intermediate level is 300-600 improved so much that it is common on cfs. Levels over 1,000 cfs should be - a paddle down this pretty creek to see attempted only by advanced or expert One of Pennsylvania’s most rollicking deer and bald eagles. Not that you’ll have paddlers. whitewater streams is a relatively mod much time to gawk at the scenery in the  Also recommended: est ravine that folds into the River Hills middle of the run, which has three Class - Muddy Creek in southern York County along the Susquehanna River. In York III rapids. The last two, “Upper Dee” and “is reasonably clear and flows through a County, the Codorus Creek gathers it “Lower Dee,” “have must-make moves - pretty laurel-studded gorge that looks self for a foamy push of 5.5 miles before and are challenging and fun,” says Betts. like it belongs in the Appalachians,” says spitting itself out into the Susquehanna. - Codorus Creek attracts whitewater pad COURTESY ALBERT MOSES  Wildlife on The Yellow Breeches - Ron Baker, a Canoe Club of Greater “The Mighty Codo is a popular Class- dlers in creek canoes and kayaks. Its Harrisburg member. Put-in: Paper Mill II and III creek that runs fairly of - waves and holes are a draw for the play Road bridge. Take-out: Boat ramp off ten, rarely if ever freezes and, de boating fans.  Put-in: Where Rt. 24 crosses Cold Cabin Road. Watch out for a nasty pending upon [its] level, is a fantas  Take out: Historic 15-foot drop over Muddy Falls, which tic training ground for intermediate the stream. to advanced boaters,” enthuses Mike Codorus Furnace at Furnace Road, requires a 100-yard portage over rocks. Betts, vice president of the Conewago on the right side. The creek is runable Canoe Club. down to 150 cubic feet per second (cfs) Since an upstream paper mill cleaned

COURTESY ALBERT MOSES  COURTESY ALBERT MOSES  up its act years ago, water quality has Paddle trips on The Yellow Breeches Swinging Bridge on The Yellow Breeches

14 June 2011 | CENTRAL PA MAGAZINE CENTRAL PA MAGAZINe | june 2011 15    RUNNING HIKING “After 30 years, I never get tired Lancaster County has its own version side of the bridge. The southern end is at the of running along Riverfront Park Riverfront Park and the city’s skyline, I mar of the Appalachian Trail: The 63-mile Holtwood Recreation Park on Street Road - with its great views of the picturesque vel at how fortunate we are in Harrisburg to north-south Conestoga Trail System. On a near Holtwood. w Susquehanna River,” says Gregg Warner have such a beautiful area to run, walk, bike a nine-mile segment through the surprisingly No camping is allowed along the of the Harrisburg Area Road Runners and otherwise enjoy,” says Warner. rugged River Hills, you can explore Wind Conestoga Trail System. There is camp-

tiles Club. The park runs parallel to the river For detailed trail directions for Riverfront S Cave, one of the largest tectonic caves in ing at PPL’s Pequea Creek Campground on different levels between the shore Park and the Capital Area Greenbelt, go to Greg Cauller, the eastern United States, walk the Pequea near the northern trailhead. A detailed trail - George line and Front Street for more than four the Capital Area Greenbelt Association’s ourtesy Sh C lay Gorge on an old trolley bed, cross a covered guide of the entire Conestoga Trail may C Rocky Ridge miles. While getting your heart rate website at caga.org. View from bridge, explore the waterfall-laden Kelly’s be found at the Lancaster Hiking Club’s up, you can take in views of the river,  Also recommended: Conestoga Trail Run ravine, maneuver through walls of van- website at lancasterhikingclub.angelfire.com. ourtesy C sized rhododendron in Tucquan Glen and downtown and Blue Mountain in the Nolde Forest Environmental Education  Also recommended: A 13- stop and gawk at a handful of rock outcrop- distance. The linear park is but one link Center, on Rt. 625 in Berks County. Ten mile section of the heavily forested Allegheny ping vistas of the Susquehanna Gorge. “It’s in the jewel that is the 20-mile Capital miles of running on wooded trails of mild Front Trail in Centre County around Black a part of Lancaster that people don’t know Area Greenbelt. All its interconnected to steep hills with no doubling up. — York Moshannon State Park. Start at the trail- about,” says Ken Fillo, who has long led links are suitable for running. County’s Rocky Ridge County Park for its head at Black Moshannon Road (Rt. 504) hikes for the Lancaster Hiking Club. Warner is partial to veering off technical single- and double-track trails and Six Mile Run Road. End point is along The House Rock and Pinnacle Overlook Riverfront Park and running across the that go up and down in the center of the Benner Run Road, at the end of Moosehead vistas are among the most dramatic any- pedestrian-only Walnut Street Bridge to park, about 16 miles in all. — A 10-mile Lane. Highlight: streams that vary from Red where along the Susquehanna. The north- meander through the paths and roads on section of the Mason-Dixon Trail along Moshannon Creek, colored orange from ern terminus for this point-to-point hike City Island. “When I am circling City the York County side of the Susquehanna acid-mine drainage, to tea-colored Black is where Bridge Valley Road crosses the Island looking back across the river at between Otter Creek Campground and Moshannon Creek as it passes through peat orange-blazed trail, 0.3 miles south of Long Level is a trail runner’s paradise with bogs. AFT trail maps available online at Pequea. You can also park at the public boat many overlooks. If you’ve got alleghenyfronttrail.info/aftmaplg.html. launch at Arrowhead Marina on the other it in you, run it at sunrise and

look east. LING D 

GOO  CLIMBING FF - the top bouldering JE

w in the Mid-Atlantic. a The fastest-growing segment of climb At Governor Stable,

ourtesy ing these days does not involve a steep rock there are more Ryan Shipp, C Riverfront Park face or even rope. In bouldering, climbers of   - than 100 boulders "The Egg," BIKING all ages free-hand their way across and over Marathon runners, splayed out ideally CATLIN KEVIN COURTESY Governor Stable ourtesy Clay Sh rounded rocks. You don’t need a safety har C Riverfront Park Central PA is blessed with routes in a 10-acre grove ness or belayers, just a foam crash pad to that vary from gently rolling to not-so- land on if you slip up and ample chalk of trees. While gentle, but without strenuously hilly. James McCormick Cameron in 1908 there Tim Miley, for fingertip gripping. It’s harder than traditional climbing is Jeff McPartland of the Harrisburg is a panoramic view of the Cumberland "Herr Left," it looks. Some of the footholds are the more of an individual sport, bouldering Bicycle Club loves a 40-mile tour through Valley. The route is challenging for novices, Governor Stable thickness of a dime. Grips may be mere is more social. At Governor Stable, knots the Cumberland Valley that begins and but there are ample opportunities to shorten of climbing friends or even families may crystal protruding from the smooth ends at Ashcombe Farm & Greenhouses at the route and still make it a circuit. For a gather around the base of a boulder to surface. You have to be in total control 906 Grantham Road near Mechanicsburg. detailed map of the route, go to mapmyride. watch and help solve the climbing route. of your body. Because you’re closer to Park in T.J. Rockwell’s Grill and Tavern, com/routes/view/4419128. Bouldering between January and - the ground, you can attempt moves you along the far fence and out of the way of  Also recommended: August requires a $60 annual member 25- or wouldn’t splayed to a cliff 50 feet off the customers. ship. But by this summer, plans were to 45-mile circuit route on scenic back roads ground. “The route rambles past farms and with small, gentle hills, originating from The rounded ironstone rocks at start selling daily passes to the public. To fields of corn and is especially beautiful , with names such as The buy an online pass, annual membership or Thompsontown in Juniata County. Start at Governor Stable - on a sunshiny day in the spring and fall,” for more information about bouldering at the Haldeman Park Athletic Field park- Pyre, The Dish, Breadloaf and Pyramid McPartland says. “We roll past the sce- - Governor Stable, go to the FROGS web ing lot behind the Corner Deli. — Any of Boulder, range from eight to 25 feet tall, nic Yellow Breeches Creek in many places site at friendsofgs.org. the routes in the Plain Sect belt of eastern each with its unique set of climbing “prob and maybe see a deer or fox along the way.  Also recommended: Lancaster County between Routes 340 and lems” to get to the top. “In traditional Mostly gentle two-lane blacktop roads and 222. The Lancaster Bicycle Club’s “Scenic climbing the crux is the hard part of the Birdsboro Quarry in Berks County, a a couple of short, busy stretches but with Tours of Lancaster County” with more than climb. Bouldering is kind of like all those technical climbing playground in an old more than adequate shoulders for bicycling.” d 24 downloadable maps and cue sheets is cruxes, but they’re all right there in front quarry with more than 100 routes with There are plenty of scenic or natural - available for free at lancasterbikeclub.org. of you,” says Randy LaForce, a climber a difficulty rating of between 5.5 and places to stop, including Kings Gap General

artlan — Ten routes in Lebanon County are listed from Harrisburg who heads the Friends 5.14. For more information, go, alongto read the P c Store, a state trout hatchery, an alpaca farm at the Lebanon Valley Bicycle Club’s web- of Governor Stable, a new organization of ingrocks.com. — Chickies Rock

ff M ff - e and the lake and quaint town of Boiling site at lebanonvalleybicycleclub.net. — The climbers who recently gained a climbing Susquehanna River near Marietta is a Springs. One certain stop is atop South Harrisburg Bicycle Club will soon have 50 of lease from the property’s private owners. landmark offering beginner to intermedi

Joanne Dobrenski , Mountain at the Kings Gap Environmental its best rides in Pennsylvania, by region, on The new climbing overseers of the- ate top-roping climbing at the largest, most

J ourtesy

C Harrisburg Bike Club Education Center near Carlisle. From i its website at harrisburgbicycleclub.org. boulder field at Governor Stable in north accessible climbing spot in Central PA. More the patio of the 32-room mansion built by western Lancaster County claim to have info at readingrocks.org. 16 June 2011 | CENTRAL PA MAGAZINE CENTRAL PA MAGAZINe | june 2011 17 COURTESY KEVIN CATLIN KEVIN COURTESY