Teddy and I disagree which of the counties we grew up in is the better county. I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which is one county over from his roots in York County. The counties are divided by the Susquehanna River. Until meeting Teddy, I really hadn’t spent much time “across the river” other than visiting a few antique stores or doing a few hikes. Over the last two years, we’ve been able to adventure in York County together and I wanted to share some of our favorite winter hikes with you below.
Mason Dixon Trail – Lock 12 to E. Posy Road (4 Miles)
The entire Mason Dixon Trail is about 200 miles long, but this route in York County is about 9.4 miles out and back. We didn’t do the entire 9.4 miles. We instead parked near Lock 12 and went North on the trail until it met back with River road and then went south on the trail for about 1 mile. In total, we did about 4 miles of hiking along the trail. The waterfall along the trail right off river road is beautiful in the winter.
Spring Valley – Teal Trail (1.5 Miles)
This park is near Winterstown. We parked off of Potosi Road and took the teal trail out to the white marked maintenance road. It was about a mile and a half of hiking but you could make this shorter or longer since quite a few trails connect.
Lake Redman Loop – Trail 5 (3.3 Miles)
There’s plenty of parking on the large lot off Hess Farm Road. We parked there and started our hike by going south on Trail 5 and under the pass at Interstate 83. This was an interesting feature on a hike as it’s a little tunnel with water you have to go through to get to the other side. We then hiked along the East Branch of the Codorus and crossed Log Road. It was an easy but beautiful hike in the snow.
Urey Overlook (1 Mile)
This is an easy 1 mile roundtrip hike. The parking lot is small, so get there early or wait for a spot. Walk a short and easy tail out to a beautiful overlook of the Susquehanna River. Great for dogs too!
Appolo County Park – Boyd Run Trail (2 miles)
This trail overlaps with part of the Mason Dixon Trail mentioned in an earlier hike, but this is in another spot in York. We went further than it shows on this trail map so we could get overlooks of the river before heading back to the car. It was about 2.2 miles for our roundtrip.
Samuel L Lewis State Park – Hilltop Trail (1.6 Miles)
This trail has beautiful views from the top where you can see the Susquehanna River and into Lancaster County in the distance. It’s quite windy up there, so dress accordingly in the winter. What we liked about this trail was you get to go through an open field, through a small forested area, and then through tall pines. Although a short hike, toward the end if you go counter clockwise, is about 250 feet of elevation gain in about .4 miles so a great workout. We took both dogs and they had a great time.
Tips
These hikes were all in January or February months. We didn’t wear any special cleats or spikes to hike. We just dressed in layers and wore our hiking boots. If you end up doing anything steeper than we did, you may want cleats, especially if it’s icy out. These trails when we went are also dog friendly. In case something changes, just check the All Trails or website prior to going. We took Bailey, our black lab, along with us on 5/6 of these trails. She’s a good snow hiker and loves to lead the way.
