Explore the Area
Cowans Gap State Park is located near the town of Fort Loudon, so named for the fort built there during the French and Indian War. It is also near Fannettsburg. Both towns offer shops and places to eat.
Learn about some of the area businesses and things to do from the Tuscarora Area Chamber of Commerce.
Nearby State Parks and Forests
Cowans Gap State Park is close to three state parks and one state forest, where visitors can enjoy recreation, education, and other activities.
Big Spring State Park
Tucked in the side of Conococheague Mountain, Big Spring State Park is a quaint picnic and hiking spot. A short loop trail leads to a partially completed railroad tunnel with historic information at the trailhead. The park also provides access to the Iron Horse Trail for day and overnight hiking.
Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park
The 18.5-acre Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park is nestled in the gap of Tuscarora Mountain in Franklin County. The park and the surrounding forested mountains offer an abundance of beauty throughout the year.
In addition to the president’s memorial, the park features two picnic pavilions, picnic tables, restrooms, and drinking water.
Colonel Denning State Park
The 273-acre Colonel Denning State Park is located in northcentral Cumberland County. The park features a 3.5-acre lake and serves as the gateway to the 96,000-acre Tuscarora State Forest, which surrounds the park.
Recreational activities include hiking, picnicking, swimming, boating, fishing, hunting, and camping.
Buchanan State Forest
The 71,683-acre Buchanan State Forest is named in honor of James Buchanan, fifteenth President of the United States. The Buchanan State Forest covers land in Franklin, Fulton, and Bedford Counties. The 19 tracts of the forest occupy upper slopes in the southern portion of the ridge and valley region of Pennsylvania. The forests are generally mixed oak communities interrupted here and there by groves of pine with hemlock or red maple dominating cooler ravines.
The forest offers the opportunity for many recreational activities including hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, ATV riding, picnicking, fishing, hunting, and camping.
Other Nearby Outdoor Spaces and Natural Places
The park is located near State Game Lands 53, 81, and 235, which offer additional areas for recreation.
Pennsylvania Heritage Areas
Heritage Areas protect, enhance, and promote Pennsylvania’s historic, natural, cultural, and scenic resources.
Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor recognizes our nation’s first coast-to-coast highway, which stretched from New York City to San Francisco in 1913. It’s a route that changed the U.S. forever, marking the birth of popular American tourism -- vacationing by automobile.