Mount Nittany Trailhead — Attraction in College Township

It's a great trail with awesome viewpoints. You do need appropriate equipment to enjoy the mountain, however. This is especially true during the winters when the trail is covered with ice. I saw a lot of people stuck on the way up and also on the way down.

At a minimum, you need to be dressed in layers and be wearing cleats (yaktrax or something similar) to not slip while walking up the steep slope at the trailhead start. Wearing yaktrax is especially important when descending the mountain, because the slope there is steep too.

I feel like this is important for me to mention here, because in the trailhead brochure it says the trail is for beginners. This is true, as I am a beginner myself, but the right equipment is needed for wintertime, because the trail remains busy throughout the year and the fallen snow gets compacted over the trail quite fast. Wearing bald trainers (as I did once) will guarantee you a bad time.

Heavy snow also brings about another great activity: show-shoeing on the mountain top! Not recommended for beginners, of course, but I saw lots of people have fun with that after a heavy snowfall, especially when the snow gets more...

Nutshell: Be prepared to HIKE, not just trail-walk!

Hiked on 10/15/2021. Started up the White Trail. It was pretty rocky, and very vertical, but well-marked with several rest spots. Stopped for lunch at the Mike Lynch Overlook, which is an impressive view, although narrow--you have to move around the whole overlook to really take in the whole scene. Next was a hike across the top of the ridge, also on the White Trail. I was surprised how rocky it was for being flat, but I think that was mostly coming from it being a more natural environment than, say, a standard State Park style trail. Finally descended via the Blue Trail. It wasn't as steep as the White Trail ascent, but the rocks were intense, which made navigating much more challenging. Having a good pair of hiking boots should be the top of the equipment list for this trail! All in all, it's a very pretty area, a good workout, a challenging hike, and the trail head is extremely easy to...

One of the best marked trails I have hiked on. There are two options: the blue route and the white, though the two routes converge and split at regular intervals, allowing the hiker to easily switch back and forth between them. There are numerous “stations” on the trail with maps that mark where you are, these are often (though not always) located where the blue and white trails converge, making it easy to check where you are and determine which route to go forward on from there. Lastly, trees on the trails are commonly marked with white or blue to remind you which route you are on.

It was a foggy and rainy day when we hiked, so we were unable to see far and couldn’t tell if the overlooks give good views or not. But the hike itself is very fun, and you can take one route when you start and...