Take a hike
By JENNIFER VOGELSONG
for Smart
Trying to highlight the best fall hikes in York County is kind of
like trying to give advice on which places serve the best
Pennsylvania Dutch food — there are so many that you can’t list them
all, and everyone has a personal favorite.
With that in mind, we asked those in the know — members of the York
Hiking Club and a county park naturalist —- to whittle the lengthy
list down to the cream of the crop, a collection of hikes for folks
of every fitness and interest level.
Best hike for young kids
Let them scramble up the sloping hills on a 2-to-3-mile loop of the
Mason-Dixon Trail below the Holtwood Dam and look down on power-line
towers where bald eagles nest.
To get there: Take Route 74 to Route 372 (Holtwood Road), which will
take you to Lock 12 Recreational Park. Drive upriver to the parking
lots.
Best hike for leaf-peeping
Hikers agree that Lake Redman and Lake Williams are two of the best
places to view the fall foliage because you can catch the canvas of
color across the lake, or see the leaves reflected in the water.
To get there: From York, follow South George Street to Jacobus. For
Lake Redman, turn left on Church Street, and the boat launch is on
your left. For Lake Williams, turn right on Water Street.
Best hike for a workout
A section of the Mason-Dixon Trail that runs between Long Level and
Apollo County Park.
“There are a couple of climbs, but in Pennsylvania it’s hard to find
(a hike) without climbs,” said Jim Hooper of Lower Windsor Township,
a member of the York Hiking Club. “It’s better to have a dirt trail
with variations though, so you don’t have the same stride all the time.”
To get there: From Red Lion, follow Burkholder Road east to New
Bridgeville. Take Route 425 east for 3½ miles. Turn left onto Boyd
Road. Parking lot is at the end of the dirt road.
Best hike for a great view
Rocky Ridge County Park, so named because of its location on a rock-
strewn hilltop northwest of Hallam, offers a variety of trails that
lead to two overlooks. From the north overlook, you get a panoramic
view of the Susquehanna Valley. The south overlook shows off the York
Valley.
To get there: From Route 30, take Mount Zion Road (Route 24) north
for 1 mile. Turn right onto Deininger Road and follow to park.
Most accessible hike
The boardwalk over the backwaters of Lake Redman. “It’s shallow back
there, so there’s lots of wildlife viewing,” says Jodi Sulpizio,
Nixon Park naturalist. And, you can push a wheelchair on it with ease.
To get there: Take Route 214 south from Dallastown. Turn right on
Iron Stone Hill Road, and park in the first lot you come to.
For more information• York County Parks: http://www.york-county.org/gov/Parks/park_brd.htm
• Pennsylvania State Parks: www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/recreation/hiking.aspx
• Pennsylvania State Forests: www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/hiking/index.apx
• Keystone Trails Association:
www.kta-hike.org• York Hiking Club: www.yorkhikingclub.com/index.html
Mason-Dixon Trail System: www.masondixontrail.org/index.htm
Leaf art projects for kids• Handprint tree. Gather colorful leaves from outside. Then trace the
child’s hand and part of his arm on a piece of brown construction
paper or a brown paper bag. Cut it out and glue on leaves to make a
fun fall tree.• Leaf painting. Paint one side of a leaf and press it onto paper to
make a kind of rubber-stamp leaf. Or tape several leaves to a piece
of paper, and paint the whole sheet of paper. Be creative: make polka
dots or splatters, or dribble paint on top. Then remove the leaves to
show the leaf pattern in reverse.• Leaf rubbings. Place a leaf on the table, top it with a piece of
white drawing paper. Use a crayon to color over the leaf to make a
rubbing of the leaf’s texture.
Fall foliage frolicLearn a little bit more about the trees your admiring this season during a walk with forester Bill Greenawalt through Richard M. Nixon County Park, Nixon Drive, Springfield Township, 2:30 p.m. to 4 Oct. 14.
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