Conditions may have changed since this Management Plan was published.
Information on scenic, cultural, and natural resources in the Tuscarora Trail corridor is provided from North to South. Further information is contained in the appropriate guidebook for the Tuscarora Trail, which is published by PATC (see Appendix E. Trailheads and Parking). Trail miles are contained on the referenced map elevation profiles.
Pennsylvania Map J Edition 2, August 1997 Elevation Profile
State Game Lands #170 from mile 0.0 to mile 1.7
Sterrets Gap, mile 2.5
Elevation: 932 ft. In 1700s the gap was part of a major trade route with Indians to the west. During War of 1812, U. S. Army dispatch riders passed en route the Canadian border. In June 1863, Perry County citizens occupied the pass to hastily fortify and defend it against advancing Confederate soldiers before the Battle of Gettysburg.
Cumberland Valley View, mile 4.8
State Game Lands #230 from mile 5.8 to 7.2
Cranes Gap, mile 6.6
Elevation: 1240 ft. The cross-mountain road to Carlisle, built in 1772, passes through the gap.
Florence Jones Reineman Wildlife Sanctuary, vicinity mile 12.7 & 13.1
A registered natural landmark established in 1966 as a private sanctuary for all forms of wildlife. Not open for hiking.
Flat Rock Vista, mile 22.6
Elevation: 1987 ft. Prominent view of Cumberland Valley.
Tuscarora State Forest
The trail is within or near this state forest from mile 19.8 to 48.5.
Wildcat Hollow, mile 21.1 to 21.8
Natural area with hemlocks along Wildcat Run.
Hemlocks Natural Area, mile 42.3
Natural area of 131 acres of virgin hemlocks in a narrow ravine about 1 ½ miles long.
Catholic Path, mile 47.5
A route followed by Catholics across Rising Mountain from Amberson Valley to the Catholic Church in Doylesburg.
Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel View, mile 48.3
The tunnel was constructed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Pennsylvania & Maryland Map K Edition 2, August 1997 Elevation Profile
Path Valley (PA 75), mile 1.0
The Tuscarora Path was the route used by the Tuscarora Indians when they migrated in the 1760s from North Carolina to Iroquois country in upstate New York. The Indians generally traveled in the valleys and along streams.
Mile 5.2
Prominent View of Western Valley and Mountains.
Buchanan State Forest
The trail is within or near this state forest from mile 6.1 to mile 24.2.
Forbes Road, mile 12.1 to 12.9
A westward road opened in 1755 and used by General Forbes to transport and supply troops during the French and Indian War.
Cowans Gap, mile 15.8
The gap is named for Samuel Cowan, who settled in the vicinity during the American Revolution.
Fire Tower site, mile 19.8
At end of Tower Road in Buchanan State Forest. Scenic view to east before hitting 2004 relocation of Tower Road.
The Pulpit, mile 22.6
Rock formation on PATC-owned property with prominent view of McConnelsburg in the valley and mountains to the west.
State Game Lands #124
The trail is within or near these state game lands from mile 25.0 to mile 38.6.
The Lockings, mile 35.8
Elevation: 2020 ft. View of “the lockings” below, where Tuscarora Mountain and Dickeys Mountain meet. Prominent views into Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Mason and Dixon Line, mile 41.4
Named after surveyors who established the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area
The trail is within the wildlife management area from mile 42.2 to mile 44.2.
Camp Harding County Park, mile 45.7
Named after President Warren Harding, who visited the area in July 1921 with friends Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and Henry Ford.
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal
The trail is on the C&O Canal towpath from mile 48 to mile 55.9.
Begun on July 4, 1828—President John Quincy Adams turned the first spadeful of dirt—and finished in 1850, the Canal was used for 73 years to carry goods between Cumberland MD and Georgetown. The Canal opened the Potomac valley to commerce, farms, and small industries, but railroads soon took over its function. The Canal was abandoned in 1924 after severe flooding.
Licking Creek Aqueduct, mile 48
Located 0.6mi east along with Licking Creek Campsite. The aqueduct is a long single-span aqueduct of 90 feet built in 1838 to carry the C&O Canal over Licking Creek.
Millstone Point, mile 50
A Civil War encampment.
Little Pool, mile 51.5 to mile 52.4
A body of water nearly one mile long formed by transferring the C&O Canal towpath from the mainland to an island. Gates at both ends protected the water level.
Canal Lock 51, mile 54.2
Tonoloway Creek Aqueduct and Lock 52, mile 54.3. Remains of a 110-foot, one-arch aqueduct that once carried the C&O Canal over Tonoloway Creek.
West Virginia & Virginia Map L Edition 3, December 2004 Elevation Profile
Hancock, Maryland, mile 0.0 to 0.4
Hancock, once known as the “North Bend Settlement” on the National Pike, was a thriving frontier trading post. When the C&O Canal reached it in 1839, Hancock became a bustling canal town. It is still a shopping center for the state’s principal apple-producing region. The town is named for Joseph Hancock, a Revolutionary War soldier who operated a ferry across the Potomac River.
Spruce Pine Hollow County Park, mile 9.6
Natural area of hemlock and rhododendron along Meadow Branch.
Rumsey Mill foundation & Millrace, mile 10.1
Adjacent to the campsite, the Tuscarora Trail crosses the remains of a filled-in former millrace that can be traced through the woods to the east toward a source of water. To the west, the race leads a short distance to the ruins of the 18th-century Rumsey Mill (foundations). There is some evidence that the timbers for George Washington’s house in Berkeley Springs were milled here.
Sons of the American Revolution Cornerstone, mile 10.4
Cornerstone of park boundary that indicates ownership by the non-profit organization, Sons of the American Revolution.
Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area (SCWMA)
The Tuscarora Trail is within the wildlife management area from mile 11.8 to mile 31.8.
Meadow Branch Crossing, mile 18.5
Natural area where beaver dams and other evidence of beaver activity are usually present.
Sleepy Creek Lake, visible between mile 19.4 to 22.7
A 205–acre lake completed in 1963; stocked for fishing.
Ruffled Grouse Management Area, mile 24.3 (and other locations)
Clear-cut areas created for grouse habitat.
High Rock, mile 30.7
Rock formation with view of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge to the east. A white-blazed trail leads to a crawl over the “knife edge” ridge to the view.
Historic Packhorse Trail Road, mile 34.5
The old Colonial road ran between the courthouses in Martinsburg and Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia).
Historic Braddock Road, mile 46.7
Between Va 600 and Va 688 in the village of Gainesboro, the Tuscarora Trail is on the historic Braddock Road. This was the route that General Braddock’s army built in 1755 en route Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh, PA), where they were defeated catastrophically by the French and and their Native American allies in the French and Indian War.
Willow Shade, mile 50
The home of author Willa Cather between 1874 and 1883, when she moved at age ten with her family to Nebraska. Cather described this childhood home in her novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, as a “…big old brick house entered by a white portico with fluted columns.” Cather was born in 1873 in a home 0.9 mile west of Willow Shade beside US Route 50.
Deep Hollow, mile 57.5
Natural area with waterfall and Cat Rock cliffs on west side of the gorge.
Pinnacle Rock & Cave. mile 58.4 to mile 58.5
Elevation: 2360 ft. Natural area of rock outcrop and cliffs with views west of the Allegheny plateau. A white-blazed trail connects the Tuscarora Trail to views and a cave formed by the rocks.
Frye Path, mile 58.6
This white-blazed trail east of the Tuscarora Trail is on the old Frye Path, a pioneer trail across Great North Mountain connecting Back Creek Valley in the west with St. Johns Church in the Shenandoah Valley. Most of the path had probably been an Indian trail in earlier times. In one incident, Indians attacked a group of whites in the 1750s on the Frye Path and took some captives across the mountain. En route, they killed the baby of one of the prisoners, fearing its crying would alert pursers.
Devil’s Backbone & Hell’s Thicket, mile 59.2
Elevation: 2,568 ft. A natural thicket area of high laurel, scrub oak, and pine that prompted the crew cutting through it to provide the name. The rock formation near a turn in the trail reminds hikers of an historical name for Great North Mountain: the Devil’s Backbone.
Lucas Woods, mile 61.5 to mile 62.1
Natural area with large stand of yellow poplars is also the site of the Big Blue Trail dedication on October 11, 1981. That afternoon, Fred Blackburn painted the final blaze to open the Trail; Blackburn began planning the Big Blue in 1967. The Big Blue was renamed and combined with the (Pennsylvania) Tuscarora Trail in 1997.
Jemina’s Gravestone, mile 69.2
The solitary grave of the wife of Dennis (or Davis) Farmer. According to the 1880 census, Farmer was a mail contractor. The ruins of their 19th-century homestead are in the vicinity.
West Virginia & Virginia Map F Edition 6, October 2004 Elevation Profile
George Washington & Jefferson National Forest
The Trail is within the Forest from mile 2.2 to mile 30.9.
Pond Run, mile 16.6 to mile 18.5
Natural area of pools, cascades, hemlock, fern, and moss.
Trout Run Valley Overlook, mile 18.7
Prominent view of valley and mountains to west 0.1 mi on white-blazed trail.
Halfmoon Run, mile 18.8
Natural glade of cinnamon and interrupted fern.
White Rock Cliff, mile 22.3
Prominent view of Shenandoah Valley, Massanutten mountains, and the Blue Ridge 0.3 mi east on white-blazed trail.
Virginia Map G Elevation Edition 8, May 2006 Profile
Spiker’s Hill Civil War Battle, mile 1.8 to mile 2.8
Site of Confederate cavalry defense on October 9, 1864 during the Battle of Tom’s Brook. The fighting on Spiker’s Hill pitted two former West Point roommates against each other. Union general George Armstrong Custer, attacking from the north, routed Confederate cavalry commanded by Tom Rosser. The Confederates fled down Back Road.
US Route 11, mile 5.6
Now replaced by Interstate 81, US Route 11 followed the track of the old Valley Turnpike, the main highway between Tennessee and Pennsylvania. The Turnpike replaced the Great Wagon Road that improved conditions for settlers moving up the Valley to Tennessee and Kentucky in the 18th century. Cattle were herded and produce carried in wagons north to the Philadelphia market prior to the Revolutionary War. The Great Wagon Road roughly followed the trace of what became known as the Great Indian Warpath, used by Indians prior to the Colonial period. Indeed, the Tuscarora Indians passed down the Valley as they migrated to New York after their last fort was destroyed in Green County, North Carolina, in 1713.
George Washington & Jefferson National Forest
The Trail is within the Forest from mile 10.9 to 29.9.
Elizabeth Iron Ore Furnace, mile 19.6
The remains of a pig iron furnace used between 1836 and 1888 that was once surrounded by a village of workers with a post office and store.
Shenandoah National Park
The Trail is within from mile 7.4 to southern terminus with Appalachian Trail.
Big Falls View, mile 38.7
Big Falls at 93 feet is the highest falls in Shenandoah National Park.
Overall Run Valley View, mile 38.8
Prominent view from rock outcropping.
Home 
Welcome!
Documents 
Links 
Schedule 
