Summary
Beautiful park and lake offers a good number of horse trails with good footing, reasonable slopes, a blend of woods and meadows. Plenty of parking in a few areas, and amenities like restrooms. running water, and plenty of places nearby to get lunch, snacks, or even an adult beverage!
Prince Gallitzin state park offers approximately 16 miles of beautiful horse riding trails around Glendale Lake up on the Allegheny plateau. Adjacent State Game Lands also offer trails. Hopefully this up-to-date guide written specifically for horse riding will give you accurate and thorough information you need to know for horseback riding there! Since quite a bit of information floating around is sadly outdated, we hope this helps.
People are always asking about Glendale Stables. There is no horseback riding concession at the park where you can rent horses; it closed years ago.
Custom Trail Map for Prince Gallitzin
We are experimenting with a new “slippy” map of horse trails at Prince Gallitzin using MapBox. This is an excellent map offering a variety of basemaps including aerial view and OpenStreetMap.
GeoJson Map – Prince Gallitzin
Parking areas for horse trailers are marked with the following key:
- official horse-trailer parking areas
- horse trailers fit, best for off-peak/off-season use
- usable but not ideal (small, tight access, noisy, etc.)
Other Trail Maps
The park’s own trail guide is pretty good, better than average, and the brochure contains descriptions and distances for all the horse trails. You can view it from the park webpage:
Better yet, pick up a physical brochure at park headquarters on the south side of the lake (or stations at most parking areas) and disconnect from your phone for a little while.
Also see our custom trail maps further down the page!
Riding Areas
Broadly speaking there are two horse riding areas in the park:
- North – Shomo Fields – north of Beaver Valley Road
- East – Bater Patch trails – west of Fiske Road
Shomo Fields is north of Beaver Valley Road and Beaver Valley Marina. Bollinger Trail parallels the road and gives access to loop trails in the Shomo Fields area. This is nice because it gives options for varying riding distance. The downside is Bollinger Trail can be a little noisy because of the road. Be careful crossing the road and pulling onto it with your trailer! In good weather it gets quite busy, visibility is poor, and people often drive too fast. The park is working with PaDOT and the township to improve trail crossings, thankfully.
Bater Patch is on the lake’s east side, and west of the villages of Fallen Timber and Fiske. It has longer trails, including some which were once part of a hire-a-horse concession at the park (which closed years ago), but there are few parking options to get near this area. The main loop is Old Glendale Road and Hagarraty Trail; see below for more information. There is also a section of Shomo Run Trail which loops, but most of that trail is out and back.
Note: At the village of Fiske where you turn back to Bater Patch there is a small church where you might park to ride back the dirt road to the actual trailhead. Be warned that there is a house along the access road with large and obnoxious dogs which are not contained. It’s easy to mistake their driveway for the road. You were warned!
Horse Trailer Parking
Please see our new slippy map (at the top) for parking suggestions!
There are several areas suitable for parking horse trailers at Prince Gallitzin:
- Beaver Valley Marina
- Beaverdam parking lot
- Bater Patch trailhead
- Firing Range access road
Beaver Valley Marina is the “official” horse trailer parking area. It’s primarily for boat launching with lots of parking for boat trailers. The upper lot is gravel and grass and best for horses. It is a bit close to the road–which can be busy–but there is a bank separating them a bit. There can be a lot of traffic in the marina, with boats coming in and out and many people. Don’t expect it to be the quietest place on earth to get tacked up and on your way. One Sunday in late October, six horse trailers pulled in after us! More typical is one or two, and many visits we don’t see any other riders at all.
McKees Run has plenty of space for parking a little closer to the dam, but no facilities at all. You can get to Bollinger trail from here, but the snowmobile trail which connects is often overgrown in summer.
Beaverdam parking lot is closest to the actual dam, nice if you want to cross to trails in the east of the park. Officially it is said to be too small for trailers. In reality, the lot was extended in recent years (may not appear on all maps or aerial views) and can certainly take one smaller trailer on slow days. At busy times you should not park here, as it is mainly for kayakers and fishy people.
Bater Patch trailhead is a tiny and remote dirt lot accessible via the village of Fiske on the east edge of the park. You might squeeze in two small horse trailers, but not much more. This is a convenient access to Old Glendale Road, Haggaraty Trail, and the trails which used to be used by the hire-a-horse operation. Just understand that it’s small, there are NO facilities, and it is back a 1/2 mile long one-lane dirt road that’s quite rough. If you get back there and it’s parked up, you may get plenty of practice backing your trailer! As of 2024 there is a bench at Bater Patch, handy if you need to hop off and remount for any reason.
The game commission Firing Range (southeast corner of lake) has a small gravel parking area just off Marina Road. It appears you could park a horse trailer there to access Shomo Run Trails from the south end. There is significant gun noise, so it’s not a particularly peaceful spot. You can connect to Shomo Run Trail directly across the road from this parking area, but that’s not shown on maps.
Mounting
When you have a big horse, it’s nice to have easy mounting spots!
Most parking areas have at least one picnic table. But at busy times it may not be easy to find a place to mount your horse.
Picnic tables at Beaver Valley Marina are in the congested area near the water and not great for mounting.
It sure would be nice if the park or local volunteers (Scouts take note!) could build a proper mounting stand at Beaver Valley. Ohio state parks can teach you how it’s done 🙂
Grazing
There is plenty of grazing at Beaver Valley Marina, or any of the bigger parking areas. Headache Hill would be a good grazing stop with plenty of parking, and you can take in the view from the overlook, but it doesn’t access any horse riding trails.
Bater Patch is deep in the woods with little grass.
Bridges
The biggest “bridge” issue may be the dam itself: the overflow at the east end is crossed by a high span with a concrete deck and open chain-link fence sides. Moving water is visible far down on both sides. The span makes strange ringing noises with steps. If your horse isn’t an experienced trail horse, crossing this could be interesting. There is a bench on either side of the dam where you might remount if you have to walk this one, but the west one is quite a hike from the overflow bridge–the dam is 1/3 mile long.
A snowmobile bridge crosses the overflow stream down off the dam breast to the north. It is wooden decked with gaps between the planks and no railings. It is five feet wide, approximately 40-50 feet long, and about six feet above the stream. It’s not what I’d call an easy bridge for horses!
If you use the snowmobile bridge… riding straight across at the base of the dam is difficult, if not impossible (due to a swamp). If you cross the snowmobile bridge you will then have to climb the face of the dam. There is a ledge half way up so you can do the climb in two steps.
Bollinger Trail has a small covered bridge west of Beaver Valley marina. It is 30 feet long with a wooden deck, and crosses Pickerel Pond. The roof is less than 7 feet high, not much for a rider on a tall horse! You can easily bypass it on land just north of the bridge.
There are a few small and easy bridges scattered around that have a mostly wooden deck (metal ends) and metal railings. They are in good shape and unlikely to be an issue for most horses.
Trail Conditions
We’ve not been on every trail, but most are dirt or grass, with minimal rocks. Small gravel is spread in a few high-traffic areas like gates and washouts. Overall the trail surfaces are just about ideal for horse riding.
Expect to encounter a few swampy areas, but most are small enough to be skirted or bypassed easily.
Trail grades are generally easy. Most grades we’ve seen are no more than 10%, and no hills are really long. Westrick and Gates have some hills. Bollinger has a couple steep spots but they are short. Haggaraty is more hilly than most.
Trails are blazed (colors are listed on the website trail descriptions but not the printed brochure). Park management has nicely marked most junctions with posts indicating where each branch takes you (but as of 2023 some are missing).
Woods tend to be a mature mix of deciduous and conifers. There are a few open areas, mostly along the lake, though most of the pastures are grown up with bushes and some trees. As you can see from our pictures, it’s a really pretty place to ride, especially in spring and fall.
Bugs
We asked the park naturalist how bad horseflies and biting flies are in the summertime and got a noncommittal answer. Expect that they are sometimes bad due to wet areas. Since the park is high, there may be enough wind to limit fly problems at times, but spring and fall may be your best bets.
In late July after several fairly wet weeks, biting flies (deer flies?) bothered the horses’ ears in many areas, a few greenheads were around, and a few larger horse flies were seen. Not horrible, but a rump cover and fly mask while riding are recommended. And lots of fly spray. And a fly whisk.
After extended wet periods, clouds of gnats can be a problem in the woods. We had issues on a couple rides in September. Again, a riding fly mask is probably a good idea.
In the fall, I picked up a tick in just a short time walking only on mowed paths. So check you and your animals after a visit.
Loop Trails
In 2024 we’ve added better trail maps for riding horses in the park. From the live maps links you can download a GPX track to follow with your navigation device.
Beaver Valley Dam Loop
This very popular and scenic 6.1 mile balloon loop from Beaver Valley marina takes Bollinger Trail to the dam crossing, then loops in the east woods of the park on Haggaraty Trail and Old Glendale Road. Haggaraty is ridden first as it’s a little hilly. An easy 550 feet of vertical (1100 up/down) should take about 2 hours. The only real challenges are crossing the dam or nearby snowmobile bridge (see bridges section). Crossing the dam has no shade so maybe avoid at hottest times.
For a 5.3 mile version, park at McKees Run lot. Note there are no facilities there. You will have to walk up the access road to the snowmobile trail (which can be overgrown in summer) to get on Bollinger trail.
West Balloon Loop
This 5.6 mile balloon loop takes in the best of the trails in the north of the park, with a little backtracking down the beautiful trail to Wyerough Branch of lake. Bollinger Trail along the lake gives nice water and boat views, while the sections on Westrick, Rhody, Gates trails are mature woods. Herman Fields intermingles some open areas and pastures. An easy 550 feet of vertical (1100 up/down).
Beaver Valley – Gates Trail East Loop
This easy 3 mile loop should take about an hour, with a mix of meadows and woods. Start at the marina, follow Bollinger Trail northeast to pick up the east branch of Gates Trail. The trail climbs away from the road, but it’s not very long. After meeting the west branch of Gates trail continue west across Swartz Road and straight ahead onto Rhody trail. After climbing a hill you turn left on Herman Fields Road (trail). There is a slight climb in woods then it’s pretty level through overgrown pastures to an easy descent back to the road across from parking. There are a couple damp spots.
Be careful crossing Beaver Valley road back to marina! We have repeatedly asked the park to mow a path directly across from Hermann Fields road, but it hasn’t happened.
Beaver Valley – West and East Loop
A pleasant 4 mile ride with meadows and woods, with a shorter option. Start at the marina, follow Bollinger Trail west through Pickerel Pond fields. Pick up Westrick Trail and cross Beaver Valley Road. Stay on Westrick up to Herman Fields trail, go left and continue through overgrown pastures and then woods down to Rhody trail. Turn right, cross Swartz Road onto Gates trail (take either branch of Gates trail at the top of hill; left branch gives 4 miles, right branch 3.4 miles). Either branch takes you down to Bollinger trail again. Follow it west back to Beaver Valley Marina. An easy 470 feet of elevation (900 up/down).
For variety, swap out Reed Trail (and a little of Rhody trail) for Westrick.
Trail Notes
Gates trail: The trail jogs a bit where it crosses Swartz Road. Swartz Road can be a little busy, use caution when crossing. Gates does climb a good bit if you head east from Swartz Road. Mature woods, lots of shade.
Reed trail: Nice woods trail with a number of damp spots. Most can be skirted. A little bit of a climb, not bad.
Herman Fields trail: Most of it is a double track former farm lane through some overgrown pastures. The north end narrows in mature woods, with a modest hill near the junction with Rhody trail. A few damp spots around one meadow.
Westrick trail: Nice path through mature woods. Bit of a climb off Beaver Valley road but nothing crazy. Connects with Herman Fields at some pastures.
Rhody trail: Beautiful path with ups and downs through mature woods. One small and easy bridge on the spur to the lake. Ends abruptly at the lake shore; it’s a bit steep getting down to water.
Bollinger trail: Acts as a connector spine trail along Beaver Valley road. Fairly sunny and is unfortunately a bit noisy at times due to traffic. Be careful crossing the road! There are a few steep hills but they are short. Some stretches are a bit squishy, both in the woods and in open fields, thanks to poorly drained soils. In 2024 they placed stone to fix some areas. Nearby Patton once had a massive brick factory (Patton Pavers are all over the world), so you can guess that soils tend towards clay and don’t drain the best.
Old Glendale Road: Mostly a very easy wide trail, as you’d expect from a previous road. It does climb a bit at the Bater Patch end. Footing is a mix of dirt and gravel. Shaded with beautiful mature woods and a few stands of hemlocks, with glimpses of the lake.
Haggaraty trail: Compared to most of the trails, this one is hilly and a bit rocky. It’s not bad… it’s just most of the trails are very easy! The dam end is a bit overgrown compared to most of the trails.
Water
It may be best to bring your own drinking water for you and your horse. You probably will not find a water hydrant. Water fountains were turned off due the the plague, but seem to be back on in 2024. None of them seem to have faucets for filling buckets, however.
At Beaver Valley Marina, volunteer hosts have a hydrant at their RV with great water pressure. If you ask nicely you can probably use it… assuming they are there and it isn’t turned off for the winter.
With all the boat launches, you can easily wade your horse in and bathe in the lake, but the launches can be very busy on weekends in nice weather.
Hunting
Something that should be emphasized on the park website and is NOT: most of the park is open to full hunting. In fall weather you will likely encounter hunters and gunfire on your ride (and should obviously wear hi-viz orange!). We’ve seen blinds set up right along the trails.
Hunting in PA is prohibited on most Sundays, meaning Sundays may be popular with trails users trying to avoid being shot.
Facilities
Beaver Valley Marina has real restrooms with running water which are open even out of season. There are a modest number of picnic tables, some benches, and a peninsula with benches out in the lake.
Beaverdam has pit restrooms and no running water. One picnic table.
Pickerel Pond has real restrooms, a water fountain, a playground, picnic pavilions, plenty of picnic tables, and a wide open field, but may be crowded in warmer months. The park does not list it for horse trailer parking, but at slow times there is plenty of space.
Bater Patch has no facilities. The east end of the park is undeveloped compared to the rest.
Supplies in the Area
Noel’s Drive-In is southeast of the park at the intersection of Marina Road and St Augustine Rd. It’s across the lake from Beaver Valley Marina, so maybe 10-15 minutes. They claim the “area’s best soft serve” and it is good (probably Galliker’s). Unfortunately they seem to consistently goof up every food order and prices are a little high! The highlight is a shady, wooded area in back with picnic tables. There is usually space to park at least one horse trailer in shade, making Noel’s the spot for lunch and snacks with your horses on a hot afternoon.
Pennywren’s Store has gas and diesel and food and ice cream at the intersection of Beaver Valley Road and Rt 53, northeast of the park. Open 7 days. Good size parking area. Ready-made sandwiches, varied hot food menu at decent prices. Soft serve and Galliker’s ice cream are a bit expensive. Very convenient if you are going to Beaver Valley Marina parking. Unfortunately no shade at all, no place to graze.
Houser’s Subs is a recommended stop if you come off of I-99 at Bellwood. They have great subs at fair prices, friendly service, offer breakfast, Ritchey’s ice cream and snacks, and are open 8-8 on weekends (they close on holidays). Sometimes they get pretty backed up; call 15-20 minutes ahead to pick up sandwiches on the fly (814 742 8721). Parking lot is small, but pull around the corner onto side streets to park your rig. Definitely give them your business instead of wasting money at overpriced chain convenience stores with lousy food.
Mac’s Grid Iron is a great local choice for subs and pizza if you are coming off I-99 through Tyrone. It’s just two blocks off Rt 453 and you can usually find parking around the corner. Tuesday-Saturday, 9a-8a.
Pirates Cove is southwest of the park and has ice cream, food, and beer! Haven’t tried it yet. Fairly large parking, probably no shade, no grazing. There is a distillery next door, if your ride didn’t go so well 😉
[CLOSED as of July 2024] Route 53 Country Store near Fallen Timber east of the park has gas (no diesel), a small food menu, and Hershey’s ice cream. Sadly, as of fall 2023 they seem to be having major staffing issues and hours have been trimmed dramatically, so it’s hard to recommend them if they aren’t predictably open. They have the mild/medium/hot hoagies which for some reason are a staple of the area–if you like onions! It’s just south of the intersection of Rts 253 and 53 . No shade, no grazing.
There are also options in the town of Patton west of the park, but the intersection of Glendale Lake Road and Rt 36 is bad if towing a trailer. You may just want to support the local businesses closer to the lake.