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Whittaker Lodge District (3)Photo: Apc106 · CC BY-SA 3.0
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Palmyra Township

36% of Palmyra Township’s land is conserved: 7,848 acres

600 acres are parks and preserves, 181 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Delaware State Forest (8.8 mi), Bruce Lake Natural Area (6 mi), State Game Lands Number 183 (3.7 mi). 26 miles of mapped trail cross Palmyra Township, 0.8 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns · #331 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Conserved land
36%
7,848 acres · of 34.1 sq mi of land
Trails
26 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
600 ac
181 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
5%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,736 ft
Bear Trap Mountain
Lakes & rivers
9
1 beach · 2 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Palmyra Township?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Land that stays wild36% of the land is conserved; a typical Pennsylvania town, 8%.Room to roam181 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.History along the way3 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Palmyra Township have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Palmyra Township is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #331 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Palmyra Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land36% of the land · typical PA town 8% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (26 mi) · PA 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land181 acres of park per 1,000 residents (600 acres) · PA 14 · U.S. 13AParks close to home5% of residents within a half mile of a park · PA 73% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 78%
LessMore
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,037)Ahead of 68%

Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so Palmyra Township’s 36% is ahead of 94% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 69% of them.

Water is 14% of Palmyra Township’s area (5 of 40 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 31%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Delaware State Forest, with 8.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Delaware State Forest

Managed by Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
4,592 acres8.8 mi of trail
Kleinhans TrailBear Wallow TrailCross Cut TrailBoundary Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto KleinhansWebsite ↗

Bruce Lake Natural Area

Managed by Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
917 acres6 mi of trail
Egypt Meadow Trail(overgrown, 2016-8-10)Bruce Lake TrailBrown Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto Bruce Lake Parking Area

State Game Lands Number 183

Managed by Pennsylvania Game Commission
2,218 acres3.7 mi of trail
Cattail Swamp TrailRifle Range TrailDecker Hollow Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Promised Land State Park

Managed by Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks
572 acres2.3 mi of trail
Boundary TrailTree Tower TrailBear Wallow Trail1800 Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Who protects it

7,848 conserved acres

36% of Palmyra Township’s land. Water is left out: Palmyra Township has 34.1 square miles of land and 5.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Palmyra Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State natural resources8,403 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits4,783 ac
State fish & wildlife2,220 ac
State parks574 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government23 ac
Not recorded973 ac
State Resource Management Area · 10,624 acConservation Easement · 3,936 acState Conservation Area · 917 acForest Stewardship Easement · 781 acState Park · 627 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 268 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Delaware State Forest
State Resource Management Area
State natural resources7,486Open
State Game Land 183
State Resource Management Area
State fish & wildlife2,220Open
Delaware State Forest - Bruce Lake Natural Area
State Resource Management Area
Not recorded919Open
Bruce Lake Natural Area
State Conservation Area
State natural resources917Open
Promised Land State Park
State Park
State parks627Open
Palmyra Township Beach
Local Park
Other or Unknown Local Government12Open
Palmyra Township Park
Local Park
Other or Unknown Local Government11Open
Fairview Lake Access
State Other or Unknown
State fish & wildlife1Open
Things to do

11 places to go in Palmyra Township

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Campgrounds in Palmyra Township
Ironwood Point Recreation Area CampgroundFee
Directions
Pines CamgroundIn Promised Land State Park
Directions
Wilsonville Recreation Area CampgroundFee
Directions
Trails & water

21 named trails and 9 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Open to bikes · 10.2 miHorses · 7.2 miUnpaved · 18.8 mi
Kleinhans Trail2.6 mi
Bear Wallow Trail2.3 mi
Boundary Trail2.1 mi
Cattail Swamp Trail1.8 mi
Egypt Meadow Trail1.7 mi
Cross Cut Trail1.6 mi
(overgrown, 2016-8-10)1.5 mi
Bruce Lake Trail1.2 mi
Lake Wallenpaupack Trail1.0 mi
Brown Trail0.9 mi
11 more trails
Rifle Range Trail
0.8 mi
Hemlock Hill Trail
0.7 mi
Panther Swamp Trail
0.6 mi
Ve Trail
0.6 mi
Tree Tower Trail
0.5 mi
Rock Oak Ridge Trail
0.4 mi
Decker Hollow Trail
0.4 mi
1800 Trail
0.3 mi
Lower Lake Trail
0.2 mi
Big Dam Ridge Trail
0.2 mi
Telephone Trail
0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Decker PondreservoirEgypt Meadow LakereservoirFairview LakereservoirLake WallenpaupackreservoirMill Brook PondreservoirRobinson LakereservoirTanglwood LakelakeLackawaxen RiverWallenpaupack Creek
Biking & sports

0.0 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

Courts & fields
3Tennis
3Baseball
3Soccer
1Football

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

3 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
Promised Land State Park Whittaker Lodge DistrictDistrict
About it
Promised Land State Park Whittaker Lodge DistrictDistrict · listed 1987
About it
Paupack SchoolBuilding · listed 2016
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Palmyra Township: May, July and August

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.510.611.813.314.515.214.913.812.411.09.89.2
High (°F)333644576976817972604837
Rain (in)3.12.63.63.73.84.84.14.24.44.43.13.6

February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.8 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Palmyra Township →

Next door

Palmyra Township and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Blooming Grove Township67 miLackawaxen Township32 miGreene Township32 miPalmyra Township26 miPaupack Township12 miSalem Township2.8 miHawley1.0 miWallenpaupack Lake Estates0.0 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Palmyra Township36%0.81815%A−
Paupack Township7%0.412524%B+
Lackawaxen Township20%0.42358%B+
Blooming Grove Township46%0.9621%A−
Wallenpaupack Lake Estates— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Greene Township18%0.562816%A−
Hawley7%1.72999%+A
Salem Township4%0.12317%C+

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Palmyra Township

Where can I hike in Palmyra Township?

The longest trail networks: Delaware State Forest, 8.8 miles; Bruce Lake Natural Area, 6 miles; State Game Lands Number 183, 3.7 miles; Promised Land State Park, 2.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Palmyra Township is conserved land?

36% of its land, against a typical 8% for a Pennsylvania town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Palmyra Township’s trails?

Delaware State Forest and Bruce Lake Natural Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Palmyra Township?

82,015 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Palmyra Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 7,634 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Palmyra Township have?

Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #331 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Palmyra Township neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →