Endless Mountains

Why should it be a National Park?

The Endless Mountains are a region in northern Pennsylvania made up of hills, canyons, and rivers that rise and plunge across hundreds of miles of forested wilderness. The most commonly visited sites in the region are Ricketts Glen and World's End State Parks, as well as the complex of state lands that comprise the boundaries of the massive Pine Creek Gorge.

Pine Creek Gorge lies at the western portion of the Endless Mountains region. This 1,450 feet deep river canyon carved its way into the woods of Pennsylvania and carries the nickname "The Grand Canyon of the East". It extends 47 miles through rugged terrain, offering scenic viewpoints and trails. The best known ways to access the gorge are from Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks that flank the edges of the canyon at its most expansive point. Additional state forests overlay the majority of the gorges length, providing several impressive, but harder to reach overlooks. In addition to hiking trails and roads, 65 miles of former railways routes have been converted to rail trails for biking. This experience is unique among major gorges and easily allows visitors to experience the full depth of the gorge by being totally enveloped by it.

Venturing deeper, you can visit the impressive scenery of World's End State Park, which showcases tremendous views of forested hills and the winding Loyalsock Creek valley between them. These hills and the rivers that split them are not connected to Pine Creek Gorge and offer a different landscape within the Pennsylvania wilds. The rocky terrain found at World's End features large boulders and rock formations on the hillsides and within the creek itself. The park's central focus isn't the substantial scenery, however, but outdoor recreation. Here you can throw yourself into the activities that define the region; fishing, hiking, camping, whitewater kayaking, swimming, picnicking, and even seasonal hunting on roughly half of the park's land.

Traveling further east, you'll find Ricketts Glen, the crown jewel of the Endless Mountains. It is a wonderland of waterfalls and lush greenery that was originally slated to join the National Park Service in the 1930s, before the plans were set aside due to lack of funds during the Great Depression. It is currently administered as a Pennsylvania state park, but this park is the centerpiece for redefining the grandeur of forgotten nature in the Northeastern United States. Ricketts Glen covers just over 13,000 acres, boasting 24 major waterfalls which are accessible via a single trail that follows the path of Kitchen Creek as it descends through a series of glens.

The Endless Mountains region has an extensive history as a geological oddity and as home to various Native American tribes before colonization pushed them aside. As settlers replaced the displaced tribes, the area became a small tourist attraction. Over the years, ease of travel and the prevalence of cities on the east coast resulted in the area being somewhat overlooked or forgotten.

While Ricketts Glen was intended to become a National Park Service site in the 1930s, World War II brought an end to this plan for development and it instead became a Pennsylvania state park.