MST - Section 2

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Features Views · Wildflowers

• Mid State Trail (MST)

From PA 326, climb through rhododendron and laurel. There is a short side trail to a State Forest ATV trail and the attached parking. Cross into State Game Land No. 97 at a white-blazed boundary - note that there is no camping for the rest of this section.

From its start in State Game Lands 97, the trail narrows and becomes rocky. It drops westerly off the still rocky ridgeline, but eventually regains the ridge. Enjoy the double sweeping viewpoint at Texas Eastern pipeline crossing. From here, drop westerly off the ridgeline again, on a treadway breather along a grassy, gated management road. An unmarked side road drops to a barely-marked Biddle Place parking area, with water near the parking area but way down off of it.

Reclimb the ridge to find an even tougher knife edge with vertigo-inducing views. Drop to the west one last time, on more grassy management roads and then turn left and drop further on a usually-drivable, one-lane gravel hunter access road.

Turn right at the lower parking area and enter brushy woods on private land continuing the gentle descent. The landowner graciously allows runners to pass, but stick to the trail.

Pass behind a billboard then emerge on paved Ashcom Rd were you'll take a hard left to cross under PA Turnpike/I-70 & 76 in a narrow underpass. The turnpike and underpass are both slated for widening, and the trail is to be temporarily re-routed for about two years during future construction. Check for updates at hike-mst.org/index.php/guid….

Roadside parking for several cars is available at the end of this section.

Four kinds of briars and firecherry often have obscured ridgeline trail in past. Grassy Game Land roads might not be mowed until early autumn.