Pine Creek Gorge       Map
Pine Creek Gorge is one of six National Natural Landmarks to be visited on this tour of Pennsylvania old-growth forests. There are several small true old-growth stands scattered along the steep walls of the Gorge, but the primary attraction of the area is the impressive size of the deep, nearly straight gorge cut down about 1,000 feet by Pine Creek into the flat-lying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the area.

Bark Cabin Natural Area       Map
This is one of the smaller old-growth areas on the tour, but it is right on the Mid-State Trail, not far south of the Pine Creek Gorge, allowing visitors to more easily see what the giant eastern hemlocks in the Gorge would have looked like if they had been left in place. Surrounding the hemlocks is a 73-acre patch of hardwoods of impressive size and variety, including hickories, red oaks, white ash and even bigtooth aspen.

Wykoff Run Natural Area       Map
Travel west from Renovo 23.8 miles to a bridge left (south) across Sinnemahoning Creek. This is Wykoff Run Road, which winds up along a lovely small stream and through the steep-sided ravine of Wykoff Run up to the plateau in the most unpopulated area of the entire state. The Quehanna Wild Area is a 48,000-acre almost circular patch of small second-growth mixed hard wood forest. Wykoff Run Natural Area is a 1,215 acre patch within the Wild Area, at the headwaters of Wykoff Run, the stream which heads northeastward back down to Sinnemahoning Creek.

Johnson Run Natural Area       Map
This area, perhaps above all others on the old growth forest tour, gives you a real feeling for how rugged the job was for the first settlers to traverse the unbroken forests of the Allegheny Plateau. Far from flat, the plateau is laced with steep ravines following small streams........

Lower Jerry Run Natural Area       Map
Lower Jerry Run is a small stream draining into Sinnemahoning Creek. The area not only contains a remnant stand of o ld growth white pine and hemlock , but it is also a reptile and amphibian protection area. The entire area is relatively inaccessible, but the old growth is found on a northeast-facing slope at the upper (south) end of the watershed, in the forks of Lower Jerry Run.

Bucktail State Park Natural Area       Map
Lower Jerry Run is a small stream draining into Sinnemahoning Creek. The area not only contains a remnant stand of o ld growth white pine and hemlock , but it is also a reptile and amphibian protection area. The entire area is relatively inaccessible, but the old growth is found on a northeast-facing slope at the upper (south) end of the watershed, in the forks of Lower Jerry Run.