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Reeds Gap State Park
Nearby Parks:
Poe Valley State Park
Poe Paddy State Park
Penn Roosevelt State Park
Snyder-Middleswarth State Park
Thickhead State Wildlife Area
Bald Eagle State Forest
Greenwood Furnace State Park
Voneida State Forest Park (historical)
Pleasant Gap State Fish Hatchery
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| State Park Contact Information: |
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Reeds Gap State Park
1405 New Lancaster Valley Road
Milroy, Pennsylvania 17063
Phone: 717-667-3622
Toll Free: 888-727-2757
Reservations: 888-727-2757
Email: reedsgapsp@state.pa.us
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Area Accommodations
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| Adopt-A-Park Contacts: |
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Photography: add your photos
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| State Park Reservations: |
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Reservations: 
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| State Park Overview: |
| Reeds Gap State Park is 220 acres of wilderness in the New Lancaster Valley of Mifflin County. Large Hemlocks and white pines cast cool shadows over Honey Creek, which flows through the park. |
| Reviews By Park Visitors: |
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A fine park..!
Very well run park. Neat,clean, well maintained. BIG enough to have a pool and concession stand but still small and intimate. Always been treated well by the helpful staff. Nicely laid out campsites along a gorgeous creek. Great showers and restrooms. My favorite campground in the area. In the heart of one of the most beautiful areas of the state. Wonderful.
Written by mike gobs
1-May-2008
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(name not given)
9-May-2008
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fun place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(name not given)
12-May-2009
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| Trails: |
| Hiking: 3.6 miles of trails
A walk on the 1.8-mile, red-blazed Honey Creek Trail Loop often reveals wildlife signs or sightings.
The 1.3-mile, blue-blazed Blue Jay Trail Loop goes along Honey Creek through the main activity areas of the park. It offers a variety of scenery.
The 0.5-mile, yellow-blazed Flicker Path leaves the Blue Jay Trail by the swimming pool and rejoins it by Reeds Gap Run.
The Self-guiding Interpretive Trail is a 1.1-mile trail following the scenic banks of Honey Creek. Interpretive waysides focus on the various ecological communities. This green-blazed trail starts at the kiosk beside the snack bar and follows parts of Blue Jay and Honey Creek trails between the swimming pool complex and Picnic Pavilion #3.
Reeds Gap Spur Trail starts at the park office and climbs through Reeds Gap along scenic Reeds Gap Run to Knob Ridge Road and continues to Poe Valley State Park?a distance of 18 miles. This very beautiful and rugged trail has interesting large rocks along the upper section. Once many logs were brought down the trail to a sawmill that stood by the park office. |
| Picnicking: |
| Four mostly wooded picnic areas are available year-round. There is ample parking, tables and one small, non-reservable shelter. Modern flush toilets and running water are available during the warmer months. Three picnic pavilions may be reserved up to 11 months in advance for a fee. Unreserved picnic pavilions are free on a first-come, first-served basis. Picnic Pavilion Two has electric hook-ups. |
| Swimming: |
| Two, free, guarded swimming pools offer about 4,000 square feet of water for swimming. The small children?s pool is shallow. The larger pool is shallow at both ends and five feet deep in the middle. No diving is permitted. All children ten years of age or younger must be accompanied by a person at least 14 years of age. The pools are open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, unless posted otherwise. The pools are normally closed weekdays until mid-June. A modern bathhouse with flush toilets and hot showers is beside the pool. A snack bar is open in the summer season. The pool has an ADA lift. |
| Fishing and Hunting: |
| Fishing:
Native and stocked trout are found in Honey Creek and smaller mountain streams like Reeds Gap Run. Hiking trails offer access to Honey Creek. The spring months offer the best angling. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission laws apply.
Hunting and Firearms:
Over 96 acres are open to hunting, trapping and the training of dogs during established seasons. Common game species are deer, turkey, bear and squirrel.
Hunting woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, is prohibited. Dog training is only permitted from the day following Labor Day to March 31 in designated hunting areas. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission rules and regulations apply. Contact the park office for accessible hunting information.
Use extreme caution with firearms at all times. The park is used by other visitors during hunting seasons. Firearms and archery equipment may be uncased and ready for use only in authorized hunting areas during hunting seasons. In areas not open to hunting or during non-hunting seasons, firearms and archery equipment shall be kept in the owner's car, trailer or camp.
Hunting and Firearms:
Over 96 acres are open to hunting, trapping and the training of dogs during established seasons. Common game species are deer, turkey, bear and squirrel.
Hunting woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, is prohibited. Dog training is only permitted from the day following Labor Day to March 31 in designated hunting areas. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission rules and regulations apply. Contact the park office for accessible hunting information.
Use extreme caution with firearms at all times. The park is used by other visitors during hunting seasons. Firearms and archery equipment may be uncased and ready for use only in authorized hunting areas during hunting seasons. In areas not open to hunting or during non-hunting seasons, firearms and archery equipment shall be kept in the owner's car, trailer or camp. |
| History of the Area: |
| Reeds Gap is a natural water gap in Hightop, also called Thick Mountain. American Indians from the village of Ohesson, today?s Lewistown, used this valley as hunting grounds. When European settlers arrived, they homesteaded and named the area the New Lancaster Valley.
During the late 1700s, Reeds Gap became a bush meeting ground. The settlers packed lunches and traveled in their horse-drawn wagons to hear a circuit preacher and enjoy neighborhood fellowship. These bush meetings, also known as homecomings, were held through the 1920s.
In the mid-1800s, the park?s namesakes, Edward and Nancy Reed, set up a water-powered sawmill along Honey Creek just inside of the western boundary of the present park. Part of the historic water-storage dam is still visible along the red-blazed Honey Creek Trail Loop downstream from the swimming pools. Edward Reed?s son, George Wilbur Reed, was a sawyer at the mill. Another son, John, later moved the watermill to Virginia by horses.
Around 1900, a steam-powered sawmill was by the park?s maintenance building. After decades of logging, the forests were gone. On January 15, 1905, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased this depleted land from the William Witmer and Sons Lumber Company. Eventually parts of this land became Reeds Gap and Poe Valley state parks.
Around 1930, people sold five-cent bottles of soda pop cooled in Reeds Gap Run to attract picnickers and to improve the local economy.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a national work program established in 1933 during the Great Depression. A residential camp for over 200 young men was built five miles east of Reeds Gap in the upper end of New Lancaster Valley. Camp S-113 was run by the U. S. Army and the former Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters. One of their projects was to change the ?jungle? around Reeds Gap to an attractive recreation facility. By the late 1930s, the park offered stone fireplaces, tables, picnic pavilions, play equipment, pit toilets and running water. Local bands entertained on summer Sunday afternoons from a bandstand and swimmers enjoyed a small lake formed by a CCC-built dam in Honey Creek. Reeds Gap State Park officially opened in 1938.
The CCC program ended early in World War II. Most of the wooden CCC structures were removed as they deteriorated, but part of the old CCC camp is now a state forestry field office. Electrical power came to the valley in mid-1940s.
In 1965, a major developmental phase started when the swimming pools replaced the old dam. Shortly thereafter, a new water system, flush toilets, a modern bathhouse, snack bar, maintenance building and parking lots were constructed. Voter approved Project 500 monies were used to further improve the park. |
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| Area Accommodations |
| | | B&Bs / Inns | | The Annie Natt House - The Annie Natt House, in Bellefonte's historic district, is approx. halfway between New York and Ohio. It offers 19th century charm and access to major sporting events and many outdoor activities. |
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| | Advertise your park related business
on stateparks.com
...vacation cabin, weekend getaway, log cabin rental, romantic cottage, vacation home, resort, hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, country inn, campground, RV park, horseback riding stable, canoe livery, river rafting, outfitting, sporting goods store, guide service, RV rental, etc read more.... |
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| Related Links: |
| Pennsylvania State Parks - Reeds Gap - PA DCNR - This is an official Web site of the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks. Begin your adventure here. - This broad valley is flanked by the rugged mountainsides of Bald Eagle Sate Forest has some... | | PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 99-343 - STATE CONTRACTS INFORMATION | | Parks - ... It has pretty much remained undisturbed in over one hundred years. Reeds Gap State Park Reeds Gap State Park offers recreational opportunities for every season of the year. Fishing, camping, ... | | Mifflin County, Pennsylvania - info, facts, communities on Key to the City - Mifflin County, Pennsylvania information, facts, lists of Pennsylvania cities with links. US Cities information 11 categories for businesses, organizations, schools, government, historical... |
| Area Attractions: |
| Many fine attractions are in Mifflin County. Many Amish live to the south, especially near Belleville. For more information on nearby attractions, contact the Juniata River and Valley Visitors Bureau, 877-568-9939, www.juniatarivervalley.org.
The 200,000-acre Bald Eagle State Forest, adjacent to the park, is managed for timber, water, wildlife and recreation. The gravel Locust Ridge Road at the east end of New Lancaster Valley features a scenic view of the valley. You can take this road on your way to see the large old growth timber at Snyder-Middleswarth State Forest Picnic Area. The Big Valley Vista on the gravel Siglerville-Millheim Pike is also spectacular. 570-922-3344
The Siglerville-Millheim Pike takes you to Poe Valley and Poe Paddy state parks. Poe Valley offers camping and a 25-acre lake. Poe Paddy has popular campsites along Penns Creek. 717-667-3622 |
| Area Campgrounds | | Gray Squirrel Campsites
RR 1 Box 699
Beavertown, PA
(570) 837-0333
| Sunsational Family Campground
1120 Hoffman Ln
Millmont, PA
(570) 922-2267
| Penn's Creek Camp Ground
7300 Creek Rd
Millmont, PA
(570) 922-1371
| Locust Campground
475 Locust Rd # A
Lewistown, PA
(717) 248-3973
| Bob Kearns Campgrounds
137 Kearns Rd
Spring Mills, PA
(814) 364-1339
| Buttonwood Campground
RR 3
Mifflintown, PA
(717) 436-8334
| Vacation Acres II
Poe Vly
Coburn, PA
(814) 349-5861
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| | Area Fishing Related Businesses | | Linda Morrison Live Bait
1914 N River Rd
Granville, PA
(717) 242-6799
| Dan Pierce Outdoor Shop
842 W 4th St
Lewistown, PA
(717) 242-0061
| Custom Tide & Flies
15 Mill Rd
Lewistown, PA
(717) 543-6077
| Felmlee Lures
600 Middle Rd
Lewistown, PA
(717) 248-5061
| Lewistown Fishing & Hunting
224 N Logan Blvd
Burnham, PA
(717) 248-8889
| Harris Twp Game & Fish Assoc
417 Torrey Ln
Boalsburg, PA
(814) 466-6507
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| | Area Resorts and Lodging | | Woodward Cave
Route 45 & Pinecreek Rd
Woodward, PA
(814) 349-9800
| Schafer's Country Cottages
364 W Aaron sq
Aaronsburg, PA
(814) 349-8316
| Woodward Crossings Inc
133 Jackson Hill Rd
Woodward, PA
(814) 349-4404
| Tussey Mountain Ski Area
301 Bear Meadow Rd
Boalsburg, PA
(814) 466-6810
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