Little Pine State Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Little Pine State Park
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
a view of the park in winter
Little Pine State Park Location in Pennsylvania
Location	Cummings, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States
Area	2,158 acres (8.73 km2)
Elevation	710 ft (220 m)
Established	1937
Named for	Little Pine Creek
Visitors	87,418
Governing body	Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Website	Little Pine State Park

Little Pine State Park is a fun place in Pennsylvania, covering about 2,158 acres. It's located in Lycoming County, right next to the Tiadaghton State Forest. The park gets its name from Little Pine Creek, which flows for about 4.2 miles through the park.

A dam on Little Pine Creek created a 94-acre lake. This lake is perfect for fishing, boating, and swimming. The park is easy to find on Pennsylvania Route 4001. It's about 4 miles northeast of Waterville and 8 miles southwest of English Center. The closest town is Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles south.

History of Little Pine State Park

Early People and Native Americans

People have lived in what is now Pennsylvania for a very long time, at least 12,000 years! The first people were Paleo-Indians, who were nomadic hunters. They used stone tools to survive. Later, during the Archaic period (7000 to 1000 BC), people used more advanced stone tools.

Around 1000 BC to 1500 AD, during the Woodland period, people started living in villages. They also began to grow plants for food. Archeologists have found pottery, burial mounds, bows and arrows, and other items from this time.

The Susquehannock people, who spoke an Iroquoian language, were the first known inhabitants of this area. They lived in villages surrounded by stockades, which were walls made of tall wooden posts. They lived in large long houses and sometimes used the mountains around Pine Creek Gorge for hunting.

Sadly, many Susquehannocks died from diseases or wars with other tribes. By 1675, most had either disappeared or joined other tribes. After they left, the Iroquois encouraged other tribes, like the Shawnee and Lenape (also called Delaware), to move into the area.

The valleys of Pine Creek and Little Pine Creek were important hunting grounds for these tribes. Some historians believe there might have been a Shawnee village and burial ground near where Little Pine State Park is today. After the French and Indian War (1754–1763), many Native Americans moved west. By the early 1800s, most had left Pennsylvania.

The Lumber Era

The first European settlers arrived in the Little Pine valley in 1782. The English brothers built two sawmills on Little Pine Creek in 1809. Their business grew, and by 1816, the village of English Mills was created for the loggers and their families.

In the mid-1800s, there was a huge demand for lumber. The mountains around Little Pine were covered with tall white pine and hemlock trees. Lumbermen cut down these trees and sent them down the creeks to the West Branch Susquehanna River. The logs floated to Williamsport, where they were turned into lumber.

The lumber era in Little Pine lasted until 1909. You can still see signs of this time in and around the park today.

Building the Park

In 1933, a picnic area was built along Little Pine Creek. This work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a group of young men who worked on conservation projects during the Great Depression. Their camp was called CCC Camp S-129.

The CCC camp closed in 1937, and the picnic area became part of the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks. In 1950, the dam was built to help control floods and for fun activities. A swimming area, beach, and more picnic spots were added in 1958.

In 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused a lot of damage to the park. But the park was rebuilt with new and improved facilities. In 2005, the lake was drained for maintenance work on the dam. Staff from Little Pine State Park also help maintain Upper Pine Bottom State Park nearby.

Nature and Wildlife

Forests and Animals

Before the forests were cut down, the Little Pine Creek area was mostly covered by hemlock and white pine trees. The Pine Creek watershed, which includes Little Pine Creek, was home to many large animals. These included wolves, lynx, wolverines, panthers, fishers, bobcats, and foxes. Today, only bobcats, fishers, and foxes are still found here.

There were also herds of American bison, elk, and white-tailed deer. Many black bears, river otters, and beavers lived here too. Rattlesnakes were also common.

Since 2004, Bald eagles have been nesting at the park! A pair of eagles returns every year to a nest near the lake.

Changes to the Environment

The original forests helped keep the land and streams cool. The soil in these forests absorbed rainwater slowly, which kept the creeks flowing steadily all year. Pine Creek and its smaller streams had many fish, including trout. However, dams built downstream on the Susquehanna River stopped fish like shad and eels from migrating here.

Cutting down the forests destroyed the homes for many land animals. There was also a lot of hunting, with rewards paid for hunting large predators.

Even though the original white pines were cut down, new trees started growing by 1925. In the 1920s, a disease called chestnut blight killed almost all the American chestnut trees. Later, oak trees were damaged by moths in the 1950s and 1960s. Gypsy moths also caused damage to the state forest between 1978 and 1982.

Today, the surrounding state forest has many different kinds of oak trees. You can also find ash, beech, birch, cherry, maple, hemlock, and pine trees. The Pine Creek Gorge area is home to over 225 types of wildflowers, plants, and trees. It also has 40 kinds of mammals, 245 types of birds, and 26 types of fish. Common animals you might see include deer, squirrels, bears, eagles, wild turkey, and ravens.

Land and Weather

How the Land Was Formed

The rocks you see in Little Pine State Park are very old, at least 300 million years old! But the gorge itself, the deep valley, formed about 20,000 years ago during the last ice age.

Before that, Pine Creek flowed northeast. But a huge glacier blocked the creek with rocks, soil, and ice. This created a lake. When the lake overflowed, the water carved a deep channel as it rushed south towards the West Branch Susquehanna River. This is how the gorge was formed!

The land where Little Pine State Park is now was once the coastline of a shallow sea about 300 million years ago. Over time, mountains to the east eroded, and sediment (like clay, sand, and gravel) built up. This sediment was pressed together over millions of years, forming the rocks we see today: sandstone, shale, conglomerates, limestone, and even coal.

The park is about 710 feet high on the Allegheny Plateau. This plateau formed about 300 million years ago when huge landmasses collided. Even though the area looks like mountains, it's actually a "dissected plateau." This means that erosion has cut away the softer rocks, forming valleys, and left the harder rocks on top of ridges, making them look like mountains.

There are five main types of rock formations in the park from the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. The youngest is the Pottsville Formation, which can contain anthracite coal. Below that are the Mauch Chunk Formation, Burgoon Sandstone, Huntley Mountain Formation, and the oldest, the Catskill Formation. The Catskill Formation is soft and easily eroded, which helped create the Pine Creek Gorge.

Park Climate and Weather

The Allegheny Plateau has a continental climate. This means it has cold winters and warm summers. The temperature can change a lot between day and night, especially in winter.

The area usually gets about 36 to 42 inches of rain or snow each year. January is the coldest month, July is the warmest, and June is the wettest. The highest temperature ever recorded at the park was 104°F in 1988, and the lowest was -19°F in 1982.

Fun Things to Do at Little Pine State Park

Camping and Hiking

You can go camping at Little Pine State Park from early April to mid-December. The park has 104 modern campsites. Twenty of these are for tents only, and the rest can fit travel trailers up to 30 feet long. All of these sites have electricity.

The park also has three cottages that can sleep five people each. There are two yurts (round tent-like structures) that sleep six people. For larger groups, there are four group tenting sites. Two of these can hold up to 40 people, and two can hold 20 people.

You can enjoy hiking and cross country skiing on several trails in the park and the nearby Tiadaghton State Forest. The 5-mile Lakeshore trail goes around the lake, and you can cross-country ski there in winter. Part of the 261-mile Pennsylvania Mid State Trail also runs through the park.

Hunting and Picnicking

Hunting is allowed in season on about 1,700 acres of the park, plus the nearby state forest lands. You can use rifles, pistols, archery equipment, and traps. The park also has ranges for firearms and archery. Improvements are being made to the shooting range, including a pavilion, restroom, benches, and a bigger parking area.

Common animals to hunt include bears, white-tailed deer, fox, ruffed grouse, eastern gray squirrel, and wild turkey. However, hunting groundhogs is not allowed.

For picnicking, the park has four picnic areas. Each has a pavilion that you can reserve, along with many picnic tables and grills. There's also a volleyball court. One picnic area is a bit separate, about 0.5 miles below the dam and campground.

Winter Fun

You can go sledding and tobogganing on the shores of the lake in winter. Just make sure the lake ice is at least 4 inches thick for safety!

Little Pine Lake Activities

Boating on Little Pine Lake is allowed, but only with electric motors. There's one boat launch area and 25 places to moor your boat from April 1 to November 1. You can also rent paddleboats, canoes, and rowboats from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Fishing is popular here! You can fly fish on 4.2 miles of Little Pine Creek, fish from the bank on 3.3 miles of lake shoreline, or fish from a boat on the 94-acre lake. You might catch smallmouth bass, catfish, pickerel, perch, sunfish, and native or stocked trout (brook, brown, and rainbow). You can also go ice fishing on the lake in winter. Remember to follow the rules of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Swimming is open from late May to mid-September, from 8 AM to sunset every day. The beach is sandy with a grassy area next to it. Just know that there isn't a lifeguard on duty.

Nearby State Parks

If you want to explore more, here are some other state parks within 30 miles of Little Pine State Park:

• Bald Eagle State Park (Centre County)
• Bucktail State Park Natural Area (Cameron and Clinton Counties)
• Colton Point State Park (Tioga County)
• Hyner Run State Park (Clinton County)
• Hyner View State Park (Clinton County)
• Kettle Creek State Park (Clinton County)
• Leonard Harrison State Park (Tioga County)
• McCalls Dam State Park (Centre County)
• Ole Bull State Park (Potter County)
• Ravensburg State Park (Clinton County)
• R. B. Winter State Park (Union County)
• Sand Bridge State Park (Union County)
• Susquehanna State Park (Lycoming County)
• Upper Pine Bottom State Park (Lycoming County)

A wide view of the park from on top of the dam. Little Pine Lake is on the left, the road on the dam is in the middle and far right, and the campground and Little Pine Creek below the dam are on the right.

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