Where can I ride horses on Pennsylvania State Game Lands?

Many of Pennsylvania’s State Game Lands have trails open to horse riding, hiking, and mountain biking. They call these “designated routes”. Access is restricted during hunting seasons. It’s probably always a good idea to wear hi-viz colors when using these areas!

WARNING!

In fall 2024, Game Commission removed numerous designated trails from their online mapping, and the text which listed areas is being removed. It’s pretty obvious the Game Commission does not want horse riders and is making efforts to eliminate them, at least in certain areas.

Riders were recently fined for using SGL 33 outside State College, which was listed for horse riding as recently as the end of August, then it suddenly disappeared from the state website. No notice of changes was posted at the property.

BE SURE that trails you are using are marked as open to horse use. DO NOT trust word of mouth, past rules, maps, or brochures.

Notice!

In fall 2024 there is again a push to allow Sunday hunting at ALL times of the year. That would pretty much end State Game Lands as a safe place for non-hunters!

Please contact your state legislators and Governor Shapiro and tell them you think non-hunters deserve one day each week they can safely use State Game Lands for outdoor recreation.

Online Maps

The online map of Pennsylvania State Game Lands shows designated routes, but it’s not the easiest site to use (can you believe it?):

PA State Game Lands Mapping

We’ve mapped many of the SGL trails which are open to horses into…

Waymarked Trails: Horse Pennsylvania

…which is probably a lot easier to use than the state’s map.

Best State Game Lands for Horse Riding

A few Pennsylvania state game lands have a large number of trails and seem like they are really worth visiting for horse riding. As time permits, we’ll add more info on these.

Other State Game Lands with Horse Trails

We started adding pages on specific game lands:

Rules

Rules for riding horses on State Game Lands trails are confusing. We’ve read the actual PA code and try to clarify:

  • You can always ride on roads which are open to public travel
    (it may not be very safe during hunting seasons!).
  • You can ride on Sundays year-round except the new Sunday-hunting days
    (which are currently only in the fall)
  • NO riding from…
    last Saturday in September through the third Saturday in January
    (but is permitted on non-hunting Sundays).
  • NO riding before 1 pm from…
    second Saturday in April through the last Saturday in May
    (but is permitted on non-hunting Sundays).
  • Designated trails which allow horse riding should be marked
    (see example of sign above)

Does that make sense? Argh.

More Info

The state also has info on “Designated Routes for Horses and Bicycles” including trail descriptions (which are often poor and sometimes totally wrong) and even a few maps (which are often fairly useless) at:

State Game Lands designated routes (scroll down the page)