Archbald Pothole State Park — Attraction in Archbald

Strictly out of curiosity, we stopped to see what our "Pothole" was all about. Since this was our first time there, we were unaware that there is a closed gate across the drive to get into the parking area(which isn't very large). Apparently there is a problem with a culvert that runs under the roadway, possibly some subsidence. It looks as if it's been like this for some time however, and there's plenty of broken fencing as evidence that quite a few trees have fallen and damaged the old wood over the years. No matter, I parked across the road, as there aren't any "no trespassing" signs, I was already here, it was worth a look. It's a quiet area(if you aren't counting the traffic), nice for a quick stop. But this is not a typical "state park" setup. There are no bathroom facilities, no clearly marked trails, and no maintenance. We are interested in our past involving history of natural formations as well as man made, such as mining, and this fits in with the description. There is some signage about when the hole formed many decades ago, I'm betting it probably scared the heck out of a lot of the people back then. I like the picture- it shows dozens of men gathered around to gawk at the newly formed danger, and some cautious ladies in dresses up toward the back on the rocks. If you look closely at the boulders nearby, some have carvings from the late 1800's but they are barely legible. I understand that whoever is in charge of this area won't put fixing the road to the parking area high on their list of priorities, probably because it is not a huge "attraction" but if you are into geology it's interesting. If I lived close by I'd probably hang out and just enjoy nature, it isn't the type of area meant to be decked out with...

Before anything- if you are making this a destination be careful it may take you to Ed Staback Memorial Park which is a local park on the back side of the Archibald Pothole State Park Property and for the so.e if the parking lot and hold it is a bit of an irritant to try to figure out why you are at a soccer field.

This is an interesting historic curiosity and I’m glad that DCNR is protecting it….nice stop to stretch your legs and read about the history of locating the hole in terms of recent history and the theories of geologic formation. Not one of the larger parks with days of exploring.

In addition, if the map gets you to the correct parking lot the nondescript entrance comes up very quickly so pay attention to your tenths of miles....

Pretty underwhelmed by this place. It gets cool points for history and discovery. Literally less then 20 feet from the parking area. Website states there are hiking trails, which there are, but none of them are marked or have much distance. We used the Gaia app to follow the trails, but they are not maintained and there’s not much to see but plenty to hear as it borders the roadway - definitely not the place to nature bathe. Parking area was completely covered in trash…I picked up as much as I could but stopped short of the dirty diapers thrown on the ground (come on people 🤬) as I do have my limits. Stop if you need to burn 5 minutes otherwise I’d say you aren’t...