Buffalo Ridge Trail - Little Buffalo State Park

This is a fairly difficult trail if you do the entire route out and back.  Confident walkers/climbers only.  This trail runs from East Picnic Area to the Newport and Sherman’s Valley Railroad trace by Main Picnic Area.  If you walk along the rail trail in the East Picnic Area you will see the trail that goes up with hill with white blazes.  It winds up Buffalo Ridge and offers glimpses of the industrial history of the area. A mixed hardwood forest with scattered hemlock giants covers the area today, but before it was timbered, the ridge was covered in giant oaks, hickories, and American chestnut. Colliers scoured the ridge to make charcoal for the Juniata Iron Works. Look for flat areas of dark ground where wood was stacked, covered with soil and leaves, and burned slowly to make charcoal. If you hike the entire trail it is 1.5 miles one way.  We usually climb the ridge and take the ridge to the overlook over the dam and take the stairs down to the dam and back to the playground.  It makes for a much shorter loop.