Allegheny Front Trail
Hiked this trail? Rate it.
The Allegheny Front Trail, or the AFT as it is commonly called, is a relatively new addition to the trails of Pennsylvania. The trail encircles Black Moshannon State Park and offers a number of vistas as well as excursions down off of the Allegheny Plateau along some very scenic mountain streams. Being 40 miles in length, it is a nice trail for backpacking that could be done in as little as three days but more typically done in four or five.
A 7-mile cross-connector passes through the park, while most of the orange-blazed trail is outside the park’s boundaries. The northeastern portion intersects with several blue-blaze cross-country ski trails, known as the Rock Run trails. The trail crosses many roads, both paved and dirt, with ample parking at most crossings. Choose your trailhead and start your adventure. If 40 miles isn't something you can manage, there are many smaller hikes possible, utilizing many of the side trails and forest roads. The terrain, though challenging in places, lends itself to novice hikers and this trail is a great way for those new to backpacking to get their feet wet. More information is available on the official Allegheny Front Trail website.
My Hikes @ Allegheny Front Trail
Topo Map - Allegheny Front Trail
Trail Ratings
 Reviewed by Ironboots of Landenberg, PA 06/14/2009 |
| Hardcore, Ironboots, and Harley hiked the West Loop (some say North Loop) in April of 2009. Hiked in along Moshannon Creek (from state park parking lot next to lake) and camped right along the creek outside of the park boundary. The next day we hiked about 8 miles or so and camped next to a small run. The third day we hiked about 17 miles back to the starting point. Enough water sources were available. Hiking/camping along Moshannon Creek was the best part of the whole loop. Nice hike, no other hikers seen, average rating. If you want to see some pictures check out the post on Youtube - do a search: Hiking with Harley Allegheny Front Trail. |
 Reviewed by CRCR of Cross Roads, Pa 05/22/2009 |
| We hiked the north west corner of the AFT from May 15-17. The primary goal of this trip was to do some fishing. We ended up hiking back the shingle mill trail the morning of the 17th. Overall, we really enjoyed our time on the AFT. Six mile run as well as Black Moshannon provide plenty of opportunities for Trout fishing. We followed a leisurely pace and covered roughly 16-18 miles from the Six Mile run bridge at 504 back to the parking lot at Black Mo state park.We only saw a total of three other hikers, one of which was a trail maintainer. At times we really felt like we were in the wilds of Pa. We saw three turkeys and two grouse. That being said the only real draw back of our hike was most of the fishing is relatively accessible by roads and the occasional car or truck would remind us of this. Even at that we only saw around ten vehicles all weekend. On the trip we caught a total of six trout ( 1 rainbow and the rest brook ranging from 4" to 12") and enjoyed the challenges of using the trails to transport us between streams. We only crossed 2 overlooks, and they were both beautiful. We found campsites to be fairly plentiful, and the settings were good--scenic. We highly recommend this trail and I am looking forward to coming back in the near future and hiking the rest of the trail circuit without the additional 7 lbs of fishing gear. |
Reviewed by rl2000 of Providence, RI 10/17/2008 |
| the ascents are pretty easy on this trail and I was able to hike it in 2.5 days (15+19+6 miles). But most of the time you will be in a dense forest and there are only a handful of places on the trail where you can make good photos. Also, beware that during the dry season (I did it over the Columbus day long weekend) water is a problem in the southern half of the trail (south of Road 504) and there are literally only three or four points over 20+ miles trail where you can filter some water. The GPS track posted here on pahikes.com is extremely useful. It is very detailed and accurate, so you will not get lost and will be prepared for ascents ahead. However you will need to do some track-filtering with www.gpsbabel.org before you can upload it to your GPSr. Cons: terrain is not very interesting, drinking water could be a problem Pros: the trail is a loop, and is sufficiently long for a multi-day hike, there is a good GPS track |
Rate This Trail
Have you hiked this trail? If so, share your thoughts with others by posting a review. Please complete all information. Your e-mail address is collected for recording purposes only
and will not be displayed on web pages.