Day Trip - West Shore Susquehanna River, York County, PA

 April 23, 2023

April 23rd dawned sunny and a little cool as we headed out on another adventure with some of our family members. The plan for this day was to head to the western shore of the Susquehanna River in York County to see some sites. 

Susquehanna Riverlands State Park

First stop: the brand new Susquehanna Riverlands State Park, north of Wrightsville.

View from the trail

The park was opened in 2022, but is pretty much undeveloped at this point. There are no restroom facilities, so plan accordingly if you visit. A 2.75 mile portion of the Mason-Dixon Trail crosses the park and there are some excellent views of the Susquehanna River from high above it. Be sure to download a map from the State Park's website (see the link above) so you can find your way to the Overlook at Schull's Rock. There's a parking lot there with enough room for at least a dozen cars. The approximately 1.3 mile-long trail starts across the road from the parking lot and crosses some farmland before heading into the woods.

After entering the woods, the trail crossed a ravine and then headed up to the overlook at Schull's Rock. The views out over the Susquehanna River were beautiful.

View toward the south
Photo by Bill Seiders

View looking north
Photo by Bill Seiders

We also took some time to look for wildlife and flowers during our walk. 

Woodland Snail	Swallowtail Butterfly
Mayapple Flower

Highland Point Scenic Vista and Recreation Area

After completing our hike at Susquehanna Riverlands, we drove further south in York County to High Point Scenic Vista and Recreation Area. 

We ate our lunch at the picnic area and then followed the winding half mile trail to the top of the hill overlooking the Susquehanna River. The park is a great place for bird watching and watching the sunrise at the Summer Solstice. The Mason-Dixon Trail also crosses over the top of the hill. We walked a small bit of it on our way back to our car.

View toward the north

View toward the south

Samuel S. Lewis State Park

After enjoying the views from the top of the hill we continued on to Samuel S. Lewis State Park, just a very short distance away. The park is a day-use area with areas for picnicking, kite flying, star gazing, disc golf and two miles of trails. There really wasn't much to see here, so no photos this time. We had hoped to find stamps for both the Susquehanna Riverlands State Park and Samuel S. Lewis State Park for our Pennsylvania State Parks Passport books at the park office located there, but it was closed. We'll have to try and get our stamps another time. 

Lock 12 Historic Area and Mill Creek Falls

Our last stop for the day was to visit the Lock 12 Historic Area near Airville, and to follow the Mason-Dixon Trail through the park to Mill Creek Falls.

Lock 12 is very well preserved and was one of 28 locks on the Susqehanna and Tidewater Canal. The canal paralleled the Susquehanna between Wrightsville and Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Today the park is used for picnicking and hiking as well as for viewing the lock, a reconstructed limekiln, ruins of an old mill and Holtwood Dam. 

We followed the trail through the park past the limekiln and lock, then through the woods where we saw the mill ruins just before arriving at Mill Creek. From there the trail followed a short distance along the creek and up over a bridge crossing the creek before rejoining the trail on the other side. 

Reconstructed limekiln

Trail to the lock

Lock 12

Lock 12

Susquehanna River

Susquehanna River

Mill Creek

Mill Ruins

The falls were just a short distance further along the trail.

Mill Creek Falls

Another small cascade along the trail

We continued to follow the Mason-Dixon Trail past the falls, climbing up out of the ravine and along the ridge to a rock outcropping, where we were treated to a view of the Susquehanna and Holtwood Dam below.

Susquehanna River

Holtwood Dam

From there the trail continued to just above the dam where we could see an Osprey nest on a tower down below. Then we followed the trail down to a gravel road along the Susquehanna, following it until we returned to the bridge just below Mill Creek Falls and the trail back to the parking lot at the Lock. The entire loop was only about 3 miles long, but had some steep climbs and equally steep descents. We both gave this trail 2 thumbs up. We enjoyed another successful day "adventuring" along the banks of the Susquehanna.

NOTE: The Mason-Dixon Trail is a nearly 200-mile trail that starts at the Appalachian Trial in Whiskey Springs, Columbia County, then follows the west bank of the Susquehanna River south into Maryland. From there is heads east across the river and into Delaware before heading turning north and back into Pennsylvania to its terminus at Chadds Ford. We enjoyed picking up the rail here and there during our journey and look forward to hiking on it again in the future.

* All Photos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *