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    David S Ammerman Trail

    4.0 (1 review)

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    14 years ago

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    Prince Gallitzin State Park - Water Tower on Headache Hill

    Prince Gallitzin State Park

    4.9(11 reviews)
    25.2 mi

    Growing up in an area, you never really understand what you have until you move away. You may have…read morethought that this was so boring to come here. You may think why are we going here. But when you move away, and come back for a visit, you want to revisit the area. First and foremost, nobody from this area ('locals' as the out-of-towners say) refers to this as Prince Gallitzin, Prince Gallitzin State Park, or PGSP. So stop it, it's not cute. We simply refer to it as Glendale. Yes, that is the name of the lake, but it is so much more simply to say Glendale than any form/combination you can come up with. The 'locals' here have it right, and you will not win an argument about it. What is appealing about this place is the many things you can do. Camping, swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, feed the deer, playgrounds, grilling, I could keep going. I spent many weekends here camping (to note: I am not a camper). With that, it was like I memorized a good portion of this park. When you camp, you hike, when you hike, you stumble upon a lot of the park. But, it is nearly impossible to see the whole park by foot, you will need a vehicle of some sort. The shoreline of the lake is 26 miles long. But there are so many more things to do in this area. Headache Hill is a favorite. Nothing more than a water tank tower on top of a highpoint. When open, you can climb the water tower and view the park in every direction. Uninterrupted views. The marina is a highlight. The "beach" is another highpoint. There can technically be a lot of beaches here. Be sure to check out the Killbuck Boat Ramp area. You can rent boats here to go out on the lake. You can also launch your boat here (one of very many places to do so). This is also where you can feed the deer. It is almost like clockwork. But be very aware of your surroundings. Feeding deer can draw other wildlife and a bear or two have been spotted here. If geocaching is your thing. There area a ton in the area. Hungry, check out Pirates Cove for sure, whether you want a meal or sweet treat. There are tons to do here. Not far from towns to grab items, it can serve as a nice little getaway. And please remember, it's Glendale.

    (To show how much Yelping means to me, our visit here was in January of '21 and I'm just getting…read morearound to thinking about this now.  Obviously I forget way more than I remember.) Who was Prince Gallitzin and why does he have a state park named after him? If you're so inclined feel free to skim this wiki on the Apostle of the Alleghenies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_Augustine_Gallitzin PGSP is another creation of the late great Dr. Maurice Goddard who aspired to have a state park within 25 miles of every PA resident. He never reached that goal but he did add 45 parks during his decades long stint in state government including PGSP which was formally dedicated in 1965. So what's here? In the trademark of a lot of western PA state parks, not much and that's the beauty of it. I mean sure you can camp, glamp, hunt, fish, boat, hike, fart, etc. but there is also a loooooooooooot of quiet. elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1737338&DocName=PRGA_ParkGuide.pdf What else do I remember: - We stayed in one of the ten cabins by the marina. Three of them allow dogs and obviously those book fairly far in advance especially on weekends. We stayed over a cold as hell weekend in January but I still needed to make the reservation two months out or else there would have been no availability. On the other side of Glendale Lake there are tons of spaces for camping year round but I don't camp so I can't testify about that. - If you need to pick up your cabin keys after the park office closes, head to the office and inside the foyer there are ten cubbies where they put the keys and a welcome/rules/map packet. Note that unless the process has changed, the email you get after you make a reservation does not mention this. Either you know, you guess or you'll have no clue. - IME, there is zero Internet capabilities in the cabins. Maybe that depends on the carrier but at the time, on T-Mobile, it was zip. - There are tons of houses selling firewood all around the area. I'm sure the park sells it somewhere but we bought a good bit from a stand a few miles away. - If you need provisions, there isn't much in the area. The town of Patton is ten minutes away and it has a Sheetz and one small store but past that you're probably going 30 minutes to Altoona for something more substantive. - The cabins are very, very nice. Full kitchens, good heating, nice enough bathrooms and it's usually a full bed with sets of bunks. - It snowed a few inches overnight and the park had their maintenance staff out salting and plowing the entrance roads very early in the morning which is good as most are narrow and winding. Overall the park is very nice. Lots of space/trails to spread out and explore on and the peaceful quiet is intoxicating. This one is definitely on our radar for a visit in the near future.

    Photos
    Prince Gallitzin State Park - Just walking right in the water.

    Just walking right in the water.

    Prince Gallitzin State Park - View from Headache Hill Water Tower

    View from Headache Hill Water Tower

    Prince Gallitzin State Park - View from Headache Hill Water Tower

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    View from Headache Hill Water Tower

    Cherry Springs State Park - Star gazing field

    Cherry Springs State Park

    4.5(25 reviews)
    55.6 mi

    Such a beautiful place with even more amazing views! The park lived up to the hype the stars were…read morejust beautiful and it was fun to see all the people enjoying a beautiful summer night together. I was impressed by the inclusion of park staff for educational programming and talks about the the galaxy stars and more. They had telescopes for people to use as well which was pretty cool. Neat place well worth the visit on a beautiful starry night! If I had one complaint and it isn't park related, people really need to abide by the red light rules. We were absolutely blinded on several occasions by people with cell phones and other white light sources and it definitely takes you out of the experience. It really is that dark and it matters!

    AMAZING TREASURE! This dark sky park has it all- space to camp, space to sky watch, forests and a…read morebasic hike trail, the main highway that borders the parks are very new and smooth. I went for the night sky programs and it was fantastic. The people running all seem like long time pros and ran a fantastic educational evening. The program on bats was very well researched and had good information to take home. The star tour was enjoyable and focused. They had very fancy telescopes for people to check spots out in. I was a bit worried about that but they repeatedly reminded people to keep hands in pockets. Bonus points- they even had safety goggles to use if you wanted! The grounds looked very well kept and there were plenty of camp spots open. However be warned- the true campfire spots are further away and book a year ahead. There are special programs you can pay extra for as well to give a deeper dive into star gazing. They had people come in from all over the country and lots of people brought blankets and a night time picnic. It was a truly glorious view and a wonderful treasure to escape from city life. Parking is plentiful but I recommend arriving by sunset. Bathrooms are constructed latrines but were very clean and stocked with sanitizer.

    Photos
    Cherry Springs State Park - Waiting for the stars

    Waiting for the stars

    Cherry Springs State Park - Cooking awesome steaks at the campsite

    Cooking awesome steaks at the campsite

    Cherry Springs State Park - Cherry spring

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    Cherry spring

    David S Ammerman Trail - hiking - Updated May 2026

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