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AT access at railroad tracks: 40.577464, -76.026111
NO PARKING at coordinates (Drop-off in town). You may be able to find in-town parking for day hike use.
Port Clinton is located off I-78. Take the PA 61N exit. For overnight parking use hiker lot on PA 61 parking (section 4 / MM 26.4)
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Provided coordinates marks where AT Enters/Exits the woods at the train tracks. Map shows approximate path of AT through town. You can also see where the AT hiker lot is located on PA 61.
SOBO enters the woods and begins a VERY steep climb along a rocky section. NOBO crosses railroad tracks and heads into town.
Due to increasing rail operations, the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad is no longer able to accommodate hiker parking or drop-off on their property, either at the station/office off Broad Street or near the ball field on South Street. Hikers are still welcome to cross their property while following the A.T., however are requested to use the lot on PA 61 or where legal in town. Hikers should note there are no public facilities at the railroad station/office. 08/03/20 (revalidated May 2024 by Nancy H.)
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0
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bsickley @ appalachiantrail.org
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Take Exit 29 B off I-78. From there a couple of options are possible but this is one that i used and it works. Go north on PA 61 for 3/4 mile to a stop light. Go left on Cabella Drive, then in about 0.1 miles go right (west) on Mountain Road. This soon swings to the north and after about 0.5 miles bears left and turns to the west again. At 3.0 miles from PA 6 look for a Gamelands sign and a gravel road going to the right (north). Follow this 0.3 miles to the point where it is gated. There is a huge parking lot on the left here.
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Hike past the gate and up the road as it switchbacks up the mountain. The route is clearly seen on the satellite view. At the top of the ridge about 1.2 miles from the parking area, the trail crosses a wide cleared swath. At the north end of this the road bears to the left, but another road goes right (east). Follow the right fork about 0.1 miles to the AT. The trail parallels the north side of the road, but does not cross here. Turn left for the southbound trail. The Auburn Lookout is 0.1 miles to the west. The rocks of this are visible on the satellite view. Go right (east) to go northbound on the AT. The marker indicates this contact point between the road and the AT. Coordinates are from http://bp2.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripid=48018. 02/18/10
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At least 50
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David Cullen
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Access here is from the Gamelands parking lot described at Mile 6.7
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The attached map here shows the route from the end of the driveable road at the parking area which can be seen (white line) at the very bottom of the satellite view slightly left of center. The access route goes north on the old cross-mountain road which can be seen in the view. In 1.1 miles another road comes in from the right (east). This is a Gamelands Service Road which goes east towards Port Clinton. The AT crosses it three times. Turn right on the road. This intersects the AT in 0.9 miles at the position indicated by the marker. Here the northbound trail goes right (south), while the southbound trail goes left (north).
One could continue east another 1.5 miles and intersects the AT again at AT Mile 3.3. A third crossing is another 0.7 - 0.8 miles on the road at AT Mile 2.0. In other places the trail comes very close to the road. This road provides a shorter and reportedly less rocky alternative to the AT. 02/14/10
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David Cullen
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From the Shartlesville exit of I78/22 (Exit 23) go north Mountain Rd. When Mountain Road bears right in about 0.3 miles, Continue straight on Forge Dam Road. in another mile turn right on Northkill Road. In 0.5 miles this will end at a state game lands parking area GPS N 40.32.261 W 76.07.435
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It is a steep walk or bike up to the trail. We have biked it 3 times and swear that the road gets steeper and longer each time. But the ride down is great! (10/13/2001)
Trail head is at GPS N 40.33 W 76.06
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20
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at @ rohland.org
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The attached map here shows the route from the end of the driveable road at the parking area which can be seen (white line) at the very bottom of the satellite view slightly left of center. The access route goes north on the old cross-mountain road which can be seen in the view. This intersects the AT in 1.6 miles at the position indicated by the green arrow. The northbound trail goes left (east) while the southbound trail goes right (west). 02/14/10
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David Cullen
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The instructions above are fine. The route is paved all the way to the parking lot.
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Walk up the gravel road north from the parking area. In 1.1 miles pass the terminus of what I call the Eastern Service Road. (Se mm 5.2). in another 0.4 miles the road passes a road and reaches a gate. The service road goes left here. Continue about 0.1 miles further past the gate on what is now a poor quality dirt road to the AT crossing. Here the northbound trail goes left while the southbound goes right. Do not be confused by all the white blazes at the gate. This is the boundary between the Gamelands area and Weiser State Forest. The blazes are probably boundary markers. 04/07/12
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David Cullen
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As of May 2022, the Information above remains accurate. You are hiking on a well maintained gravel road all but the last .1 miles to meet the AT. It is helpful to have some sort of hiking map downloaded on your smart phone to help you fine tune AT access. While using this access point in March 2022 I chatted with a local who was walking her dog. She said during 'big game' hunting season, the gate area is opened up. She said this access becomes a one way road that would have to be accessed off of 183. I have not been able to find such info online so cannot vouch for it. But if you are there in the fall and the gate is open, you could easily access almost all the way to the AT. There are various pulloff areas where you could park. I would probably only exercise this option for a day hike, as the gates could close without warning. 05/07/22
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30
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WardandDA @ gmail.com
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Access here is from the Gamelands parking lot described at Mile 6.7
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The attached map here shows the route from the end of the driveable road at the parking area which can be seen (white line) at the very bottom of the satellite view slightly left of center. The access route goes north on the old cross-mountain road which can be seen in the view. At approximately 1.5 miles this intersects a service road going to the left. Turn left on this. In approximately 1.9 miles, the AT crosses at the point indicated by the green arrow. The northbound trail goes north, while the southbound goes south.
This route is probably more of an alternate than an access, It is slightly shorter than the AT and reportedly much less rocky. One could continue west on the road for another 3.7 miles to intersect the AT at Mile 13.9. The map shows this as being the route of the AT, but this has not been the case for years. 02/17/10
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David Cullen
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Access here is from the Gamelands parking lot described at Mile 6.7
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The Gamelands parking area can be seen at the very bottom of the attached map slightly right of center (white line). The blue-blazed Sand Spring Trail goes northwest from the parking area to pass Sand Spring in 1.8 miles and reach the AT at 2.0 miles. I know nothing of the condition of this trail. The marker on the map indicates the AT intersection. At the intersection the northbound At goes right, the southbound goes left. The Sand Spring trail continues north for another 0.5 miles to meet the Western Service Road. 02/17/10
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David Cullen
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We couldn't find our exit trail and had to take the Sand Spring Trail to the gamelands parking lot instead. It was barely a trail in places, following in and through and criss-crossing a rocky and muddy stream bed most of the way. It was very rough to say the least. Can't imagine it is used very much. Avoid if you can. June 2019 03/03/20
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karenw293 @ gmail.com
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Coming from I-78, the entire way is paved until the very short road access to the Gamelands lot from PA 183.
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.3 miles down the south side of the mountain from the PA 183 trail crossing (See Mile 14.4) is a very large state game lands parking area (30 or more parking spaces). GPS N40.525300, W076.216445. To access the AT walk back to the highway and go right along it to the trail crossing (Mile 14.4). The northbound trail to Section 5 starts from the other side of the highway. (revalidated by Veena/Dec 2023)
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30
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WardandDA @ gmail.com
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Coming from I-78, the entire way is paved.
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This parking lot serves as both the end point for Pennsylvania section 5 and start point for section 6. The trail crosses at GPS N40.526937, W076.223414 . There is room for about 3 cars there (DO NOT BLOCK GATE). An even larger Gamelands lot is available for 30 or more cars just .3 miles from the trail crossing (see section 5 parking accesses). At the time of this entry, there was a sign at the trail crossing directing you to its location with an arrow: GPS N40.525300, W076.216445. The southbound trail to section 6 starts up the gated road at the back of the parking area. The northbound trail to Section 5 starts from the other side of the highway (revalidated by Veena/Dec 2023)
May 2024 update by Nancy H: Signage remains in place directing you to gamelands lot. In addition, there was construction equipment and piles of unused blacktop taking up most of the parking area that did not block the gate. By pulling up to the gate you could use this as drop off/pick up, but otherwise probably you will need to use the gamelands lot.
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3
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WardandDA @ gmail.com
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