Out There

By Christopher Miller

At some point in the past the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) released a new, revamped website for locating trails in the commonwealth.

This website, also known as ExplorePa Trails (www.trails.dcnr.pa.gov), lets the user search by trail name, location, and/or use. But this website features a whole lot more than just locating a trail in a certain zip code or county.

By inputting your zip code, the website opens in a new window showing the user an outline of the state. The outline of the state appears, but also with many red lines crossing the state like rivers and creeks. These red lines are the trails, any and all use trails.

Let’s take a look at the features of the website.

On the right, the Layers button, allows the user to locate trails with a number of criteria. State lands, counties, state parks, water trails, bicycle routes, and land trails. “Basemaps,” as it is called, allows the user to look at dozens of maps including imagery, streets, topographic, terrain (with labels), oceans, community map, USGS national map, and many others!

The left bar on the website outlines ways the user can locate trails and extract data to GPS units.

Under “Find,” you may search by trail name, county, municipality, length, recreation use, or trails near me. Searching by “Trail Name” allows you to search all, yes I said it, ALL, of the trails in Pennsylvania! From “202 Parkway Trail, to Great Shamokin Path, to Zacharias Creek Trail, the explorations are endless in Pennsylvania!

Whether you are technically inclined, or still enjoy the comfort and feel of a paper map (like yours truly), just make sure you get out there this spring and summer. We’ve been cooped up way too long inside this past year.

And watch out for ticks, those suckers are nasty.