Pine Grove Furnace State Park - Camping Trip

 April 19 - 21, 2024

Time spent camping isn't time spent, it's time invested.

-Anonymous

Our first camping trip of 2024 was to the 696-acre Pine Grove Furnace State Park, near Gardners, Pennsylvania. The park is located at the northern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountains in an area known as South Mountain. It provides many outdoor recreational opportunities including two lakes, riding on the Hiker Biker Trail and hiking on one of the many trails that criss-cross the park and the surrounding Michaux State Forest. Inside the park are facilities for camping, fishing, swimming, picniking and boating. In addition, there is a nicely restored iron furnace, the Pine Grove General Store, and the Appalachian Trail Museum. There is plenty to do at this state park for people of all ages. Here's a link to Walter Zolna's YouTube video featuring Pine Grove Furnace State Park.

Charcoal Hearth Campground has 74 campsites, most of which include 30 or 50 amp electric hookups. There is one bathhouse and one restroom. There are spigots for potable water as you enter the campground, and a dump station just before you exit. The campground is pet-friendly and has a playground for children. Firewood can be purchased at the large shed across from the Camp Host where you will also find a Little Free Library.

One thing to keep in mind while visiting or camping at this State Park: there is no cell service. There is free Wifi at the General Store and we were finally able to connect when we hiked to some of the highest points in the park, but otherwise we were without service. 

Also, the General Store doesn't have much by way of supplies. It mostly serves as a resting point for Appalachian Trail thru hikers where they can accept the "half gallon challenge" of eating an entire half gallon of ice cream in celebration of arriving at the halfway point along the trail.

We only had one full day to enjoy the park and we were most interested in the hiking trails, so we decided to explore as many of them as we could. Our first night there we followed the easily traversed Campground Trail, which meanders through the trees from the campground over to the Furnace Stack Day Use Area. From there we followed the Hiker Biker Trail past Fuller Lake. This trail travels 3 miles over an old railroad bed until it reaches the back side of Laurel Lake. 

Fuller Lake Beach & the start of the Hiker/Biker Trail
on the left.

The trail is level and has a paved or crushed limestone surface, and at the farther end broadens into a shared-use road including cars/trucks. Further along the trail we found the remains of a swimming pool built in 1934 for a Girl Scout camp that existed there from 1922-1967. 

Abandoned Girl Scout Swimming Pool	Abandoned Girl Scout Swimming Pool

We didn't complete the entire trail, but turned around where the Appalachian Trail joins it and headed back to the campground, for a total of 3.11 miles.

Saturday morning was bright and sunny and it looked like we would have perfect hiking weather. We started out early with a 5.5 mile loop hike beginning with the Pole Steeple Trail to take in the view. We started at the Pole Steeple parking lot in the park and followed the steep trail up into Michaux State Forest. At the top is a quartzite rock outcropping where you can get wonderful views of the park and Laurel Lake below.

From there we followed the Appalachian Trail back down to the Hiker Biker Trail and followed that a short distance before branching off on the Mountain Creek Trail. This trail meanders through the forest and wetlands before ending at the Hiker Biker Trail a short distance from our starting point.

View from the Mountain Creek Trail
View from the trail	View from the trail

View from the trail The only snake we saw on this trip

View from the trail View from the trail

Before driving back to the Furnace Stack Day Use Area, we stopped at the viewing area for the Laurel Lake Dam.

The dam at Laurel Lake

After eating an early lunch under a pavilion in the day use area, we walked around the cold-blast furnace reading about its history on the signs posted along the walkway. 

Pine Grove Forge

The nearby Pine Grove General Store wasn't open yet, so we decided to do another, shorter hike to the halfway-point of the Appalachian Trail (AT), which is located just outside the park in the state forest. You can hike to the halfway point from the state park, but we decided to drive to the parking area closest to the halfway point, at the top of Michaux Road, passing by the Camp Michaux Historic Site on our way. We had visited this site on a previous camping trip in October of 2022, but we passed by it this time. The trail to the AT halfway point was a bit soggy and we had to detour around large pools of mud, but we were able to find it. The hike added another 2 miles to our total for the day.

Halfway point of the Appalachian Trail

After returning to our truck, we thought we had it in us to do one more hike, so we decided to drive up Old Shippensburg Road to the parking area for Sunset Rocks. We planned to see if the trail was passable at night in case we came back at sunset. Unfortunately, the trail was very steep and rocky. There was a lot of climbing up and over boulders and working our way over deep crevices. Too tired to continue, we turned back before making it to the overlook. There's another trail leading to it that we'll have to try some other time.

Sunset Trail The path leads over & through huge boulders Trying to find our way around the boulders

The Appalachian Trail also follows this path, marked by white blazes A balanced rock The towering boulders

Driving back down to the state park, we stopped again at the General Store and treated ourselves to some ice cream before heading over to the Appalachian Trail Museum where we bought the new Purple Lizard Pennsylvania Recreation map highlighting recreation areas in Pennsylvania. It features rail trails & bikeways, state & national forests, state parks & campgrounds, public lakes & reservoirs, long distance hiking trails, mountain biking destinations, water trails, state game lands and ski areas. It's perfect for planning our camping trips and allows us to quickly see what sites and activities are in the area we want to explore.

We highly recommend Purple Lizard maps. The maps are highly detailed and feature trails, scenic vistas, and some of the best outdoor recreation areas in the Mid-Atlanitic region and Puerto Rico. The maps are sturdy and waterproof. We purchased our first one in 2023 for the Loyalsock Forest/Worlds End State Park area and used it extensively to find our way around the many dirt roads in that area, helping us to explore waterfalls, trails and many other sites.

Sunday morning was a bit cool, but we had time for another hike before leaving for home. We started out from the campground following the Creek Trail until it crossed over Bendersville Road into the group camping area. From there we took the Brickyard Trail over to Fuller Lake, then walked across Fuller Field to one of the trailheads for the Koppenhaver Trail. This scenic loop trail winds through a forest of tall pines and hemlocks, and partially follows along Tom's Run and Mountain Creek. Here we found more remnants of the old Girl Scout camp scattered along the trail. After completing the trail we followed the road back to the campground, completing our 4.21 mile hike.

Along the Koppenhaver Trail
View from the trail	View from the trail

We had a wonderful time at Pine Grove Furnace State Park and would definitely return. The trails are wonderful, and had we done our homework, we would have brought our bikes along to use on the Hiker/Biker Trail. All told we hiked about 17 miles over the weekend. Not bad for a couple of senior citizens!

* All photos and videos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *