City: Carlisle, PA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (717) 486-5031

Address: 500 Kings Gap Road

Description: Sitting about 30 miles north of Gettysburg in Cumberland County, Kings Gap is not a traditional state park. It’s operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and National Resources of the Bureau of State Parks, and its 1,454 acres of forest function as an education and training center on the environment. Sixteen miles of hiking trails interconnect three main day-use areas and wind through different habitats the hiker can explore. The grounds are open to the public year-round from 8:00 a.m. to sunset. Kings Gap is on South Mountain, and its vistas offer a panoramic view of the Cumberland Valley. A 32-room mansion on the mountaintop at the Mansion Day Use Area offers the best views, as well as functioning as the center’s office and a training center for state government agencies. The center also offers interpretive environmental programs to teachers, students, and the general public. A complete schedule of the programs offered is available from the center office or at the three day-use areas. The Bureau of State Parks’ Youth Environmental Learning Series for ages 4 to 17 is held here during the summer; the four programs of the series allow kids to explore and learn about the environment with other kids the same age. Hunting, orienteering, hiking, and learning about the environment are the principal activities at Kings Gap. Several hundred acres are open to hunting, trapping, and the training of dogs during established seasons, and the entire property is open to hunting during antlerless deer season. Hunters will find deer, turkey, and squirrel to hunt, but the hunting of woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, is prohibited. The sport of orienteering involves negotiating a designated course through the use of only a map and compass. A permanent orienteering course is located here, and copies of the course map are available at the center office. Thirteen hiking trails traverse 16 miles, and each has trailheads at the three day-use areas. (See the box on hiking within this chapter for a description of the trails.) Each of the day-use areas of the center represents a different habitat. The Pine Plantation Day Use Area is located near the entrance of Kings Gap, and here you experience a coniferous forest of white pine, Douglas fir, and larch trees. Several vernal ponds are found here. Vernal ponds are temporary ponds that retain water as a result of snowmelt, spring rains, and/or elevated groundwater tables. Many amphibians, including spotted salamanders, spring peepers, and wood frogs, use the ponds as breeding areas. A reconstructed log house from the 1850s sits in a small clearing within the area, and this is where a lot of the center’s educational programming takes place. The Pond Day Use Area is about 2 miles from Kings Gap’s entrance, and it features a scenic pond and the mountain stream Kings Gap Hollow Run. The pond gives you a chance to observe aquatic animals adapted to slower water, such as frogs, salamanders, turtles, and water snakes. Kings Gap Hollow Run periodically dries up and reveals a stony bottom, which is home to many aquatic species when the water flow is at its peak. A deciduous forest surrounds the stream, resulting in wetland areas where you can observe sphagnum moss, cinnamon ferns, skunk cabbage, and tulip trees. On the mountaintop 4 miles from Kings Gap’s entrance is the Mansion Day Use Area. Here you can enjoy a stunning view of the Cumberland Valley from the mansion’s patio. This area contains an oak forest habitat, which supports a variety of reptiles, including the box turtle, the northern copperhead, the timber rattlesnake, and the five-lined skink, one of the few lizards found in Pennsylvania. There’s also a garden that is divided into three educational areas—an herb garden, a wildlife-habitat garden, and a compost-demonstration garden. To reach the park from Gettysburg, drive north on Carlisle Street (Route 34) through Biglerville and make a left onto West Pine Street. Travel on West Pine Street for almost 1.5 miles, and then turn right onto Mountainview Road. At about half a mile, bear left onto Pine Road and follow it for almost 4 miles, and then turn left onto Kings Gap Road. The park is about 4 miles down the road. By the way you won’t find any trash containers at Kings Gap. A carry-in, carry-out policy directs visitors to take their trash home.