State Game Lands Number 57
Managed by Pennsylvania Game Commission
6,252 acres15.4 mi of trail
Red Blazed
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Ross Township
34% of Ross Township’s land is conserved: 9,591 acres
1,401 acres are parks and preserves, 509 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: State Game Lands Number 57 (15.4 mi), Ricketts Glen State Park (2.9 mi). 21 miles of mapped trail cross Ross Township, 0.5 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 72% of U.S. towns · #431 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Conserved land
34%
9,591 acres · of 43.4 sq mi of land
Trails
21 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
1,401 ac
509 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
2,274 ft
North Mountain
Lakes & rivers
7
What kind of outdoors town is Ross Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Ross Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Ross Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #431 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Ross Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land34% of the land · typical PA town 8% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (21 mi) · PA 0.4 · U.S. 0.4BPark land509 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1,401 acres) · PA 14 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home0% 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 72%
LessMore
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,037)Ahead of 58%
Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so Ross Township’s 34% is ahead of 93% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 55% of them.
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.
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 State Game Lands Number 57, with 15.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Ricketts Glen State Park
Managed by Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks
1,121 acres2.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
State Game Lands Number 206
Managed by Pennsylvania Game Commission
1,504 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
PFBC Harris Pond
Managed by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
240 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
9,591 conserved acres
34% of Ross Township’s land. Who manages Ross Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State fish & wildlife8,316 ac
State parks1,135 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits263 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)18 ac
Not recorded124 ac
State Resource Management Area · 7,780 acState Park · 1,135 acState Other or Unknown · 554 acForest Stewardship Easement · 199 acConservation Easement · 178 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 88 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 25 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Game Land 057 State Resource Management Area | State fish & wildlife | 6,297 | Open |
| State Game Land 206 State Resource Management Area | State fish & wildlife | 1,504 | Open |
| Ricketts Glenn State Park State Park | State parks | 1,135 | Open |
| Mountain Springs Lake State Other or Unknown | State fish & wildlife | 293 | Open |
| Harris Pond State Other or Unknown | State fish & wildlife | 238 | Open |
| Bierly Conservation Easement Conservation Easement | Not recorded | 95 | Closed |
| Route 115 Recreation Park Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
| Sylvan Lake Access State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
Things to do
5 places to go in Ross Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Scenic views in Ross Township
4 scenic views without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Peaks in Ross Township
North Mountain2,274 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails and 7 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 3.0 mi
Mountain Springs Trail0.2 mi
Red Blazed0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
1Basketball
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Ross Township: May to 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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.5 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.1 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 35 | 44 | 57 | 68 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 71 | 59 | 47 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.9 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Ross Township →
Next door
Ross Township and its neighbors
Ross Township has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Township | 34% | 0.5 | 509 | under 1% | B+ |
| Lake Township | 13% | under 0.1 | under 1 | under 1% | D |
| Fairmount Township | 34% | 0.9 | 8,880 | 17% | A |
| Lehman Township | 15% | 0.1 | 44 | 16% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Ross Township
Where can I hike in Ross Township?
The longest trail networks: State Game Lands Number 57, 15.4 miles; Ricketts Glen State Park, 2.9 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Ross Township is conserved land?
34% 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 Ross Township’s trails?
State Game Lands Number 57 and Ricketts Glen State Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Ross Township?
118,410 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Ross Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 9,467 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Ross Township have?
Ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #431 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 Ross Township neighbors.
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 →