Tuscarora State Park

Tuscarora State Park has all the classic elements which make the PA state park system arguably the best in the United States.
* Over 250 picnic tables and two pavilions which can be reserved up to 11 months in advance. (Although for the sake of full disclosure, a fair number of the picnic tables not in or around the pavilion areas are buried in the trees/​bushes and are in various stages of disrepair.)
* A sand beach and lake swimming available from May-​September.
* A boat launch and seasonal boat rentals for fishing on Tuscarora Lake.
* 1,100 of the park’s 1,600 acres are open for deer, pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, turkey, grouse and dove hunting.
* Six camping cottages and four yurts which can be reserved up to 11 months in advance.
* About eight miles of hiking trails of which most are pancake flat but parts of the Spirit of Tuscarora Trail and Locust Mountain Trail can get steep but the diversity of the terrain, trees, flowers and water here is amazing.
The Sunday that we visited found the beach and picnic areas to be very busy as well as the boat rentals but in the four hours we were on various hiking trails we only saw two other people so my take is that like at most PA state parks the hiking end of things is more or less ignored.
As a brief bit of FYI trivia, the park got it’s name as a tribute to the Tuscarora Indians who by legend supposedly inhabited the Locust Valley area including the land that the park is on for a brief time during the 18^th century. Most of trees in and around the park are not original to the area as the area was almost fully deforested during the early 20^th century by logging operations. The dam which created Tuscarora Lake was built in the 1960’s and the park opened in 1971.
While not my favorite state park, Tuscarora provided a great visit and hopefully we’ll be back for a visit or two in the not too distant future.

I am so sad to be writing a more negative review of one of my favorite summer spots. This park has gotten very busy in the past few years, and I guess funding cuts mean no more lifeguards or snack bar. What it means is a lot of people on top of one another, kids rough-​housing in the water and cigarette butts and trash all over. Hurts my heart. I hope that the state of Pennsylvania takes notice of the heavy park use and does something about it.