AMC is collaboratively planning a trail network that will protect and connect the ecological, historic and recreational assets of the Pennsylvania Highlands and create “close-to-home” outdoor recreational opportunities.

The Pennsylvania Highlands Trail Network will extend the Highlands Trail (130 miles in New York and New Jersey) along the length of the Pennsylvania Highlands, from the Delaware River at Rieglesville, PA south to the Maryland border in south-central PA. Encompassing roughly 1.9 million acres, the Pennsylvania Highlands includes portions of 13 counties (Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, Lehigh, Chester, Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Adams, and York).

The trail network will link existing trails such as the Horse-Shoe Trail, Mason-Dixon Trail System, and Appalachian National Scenic Trail with new trail segments including loops and spur trails. The trail network will also aid in implementing the PA Highlands Greenway vision by connecting undisturbed natural lands and adjacent protected lands throughout the PA Highlands Greenway.

With assistance from the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA), as well as other partners, AMC has developed an action and implementation plan which will be put in place over the next few years. Through our advocacy efforts AMC has been supporting the RTCA program.

In order to promote the Trail Network as well as other recreational opportunities in the Pennsylvania Highlands AMC has created a Pennsylvania Highlands Regional Recreational Map & Guide as well as hiking cards featuring individual hikes throughout the Pennsylvania Highlands.

View a map of the PA Highlands Trail Network area (PDF, 1.5 MB)

See a slideshow from the Hike the Highlands Trail Celebration>>

For more information:

Highlands Trail in the New York and New Jersey Highlands

For information about the PA Highlands Trail Network Project contact:

John Brunner, Mid-Atlantic Recreation Planner
610-868-6906