Evansburg State Park — Attraction in Skippack Township

I've been meaning to write a review of this park for ages since I live relatively close and have spent quite a bit of time on the hiking trails or fishing.

Before writing my review and as an experienced hiker and outdoorsman, I'd like to address some of the negative reviews.

First, bees and ticks. Yes, you'll find them both at Evansburg. If you leave the bees alone, they usually leave you alone with the exception of being buzzed occasionally. For ticks, use insect repellent and make sure to check yourself thoroughly when you get home. I won't mention exactly where I found one on me but let's just say it's not a place that gets much sunlight. Ticks are everywhere, especially after mild winters like we had last year (2016-2017). It's part of being in the outdoors, either you properly prepare and learn to deal with it or stay inside. For those of you who spend more time in the outdoors than the occasional hiker, treat your clothes with permethrin as an added line of defense against these vampires.

Horse manure...yep, it's there since the trails are open to horseback riding, but it's not so bad that you'll need a canoe to get through the piles. I've hiked the trails at Evansburg numerous times, never had difficulty avoiding it.

Water fountains on the trails. Really? Bring water with you, the park is long and narrow so depending on where you park, you may end up walking a few miles before reaching the water fountains.

No signage on the trails...this is somewhat accurate. The trails are marked but in some areas the markers are few and far between. There are also a number of unmarked side-trails that split off in different directions. To some degree, I can understand how people can get lost. If you're new to visiting Evansburg, pick up a trail map, mark where you park, keep your eyes open for the kiosk stations with the park maps and the "you are here" signs located in the numerous parking lots. If you stick to the main trails and stay close to Skippack Creek, you'll be more likely to have a good experience. Some of the main trails do stray a distance from the creek so there will be areas where you won't be close. Don't panic, they eventually loop back to the creek.

With all this said, here's my review. As already stated, I've been to Evansburg several times over the years so that should tell you it's worth the visit if you enjoy hiking, fishing, and if you're a hunter, the park is also open to hunting. The main trails are well maintained but if you stray off the more popular ones, some can be overgrown, especially in the northern end between Kratz Rd. and Skippack Pike. They're passable but during the summer, they can be a bit difficult to find and/or navigate. The terrain at Evansburg is relatively easy with only a few hills to climb and even those aren't that much of a challenge. If you're looking for a leisure stroll, Evansburg would be a good fit for you. If you're looking for more challenging terrain, it would be best to look elsewhere.

For those of you who enjoy fishing, there are plenty of spots to choose from and usually some decent fishing to be had. It's been a number of years but I once pulled a 5LB brownie out of there. My suggestion would be to explore the entire length of the creek to find what you're looking for and have fun! My favorite area to fish is south of Ridge Pike but there are plenty of other spots well worth fishing.

Ok, those are my likes, what are my dislikes? One glaring issue I have with Evansburg is the trash. No fault of the park or those who work to maintain it but there's a lot of it. I try to pick up what I find when hiking but at Evansburg, I'd fill a 50 gallon bag in a short period of time and have to turn back to find a dumpster. Seriously folks, this park is provided as a place to enjoy the outdoors and with open space being more and more scarce here in southeast PA, please keep it clean and take your trash with you on the way out, it's not...

Comprehensive Review: Evansburg State Park is an elongated park that protects over eight miles of the Skippack Creek. The park is nestled among a wide variety of suburban homes, such as the quaint town of Skippack to big, beautiful properties on Grange Ave west of Germantown Pike. I started at the Point Park Section which is actually a local park adjacent to the state park. this park has a picnic pavilion, practice fields, playground, a wooded trail and restrooms. Next along Evansburg Road is the Cedar Lane Entrance which bends and becomes Lewis Road. Access to the Overlook Trail at the end of Lewis Road has a parking area for a picnic grove and handicap accessible fishing pier and porta potty. Along the road is also a nice bridge and some old ruins. Going back out to Evansburg Road and in on Ridge Pike, you'll come to the Fern Avenue parking lot. This is the main start of the five mile mountain biking trail. Back to Evansburg Road again and in on Germantown Pike, you'll come to the old Keyser Mill at the Eight Arch Bridge. Turn onto Skippack Creek Road and you'll come to parking for horse trailers, playing fields and a cricket facility where the club meets every Thursday night during the season after 5pm. Skippack Creek Road becomes May Hall Road and this leads you into the main park. You can also enter from Mill Road off Evansburg Road. Organized group tenting is in the Oaks area here. There is no other camping in Evansburg State Park. Next along the road, is parking for Pavilion B, which is listed for up to 200 people. Nearby pavilion A is for up to 60 people. The main park area also has a playground, a visitor's center, dozens of picnic tables, the park office and four restrooms two of which are ADA accessible. You can also find the start of the Mill Race Trail and the Skippack Creek Loop Trail off the southern parking area. The Friedt Visitor Center nearby has, unfortunately, been closed for some time now. There's no marked park access beyond route 73, but there is a spot off rt 73 to access the creek for fishing. Turn on Stump Hall Road to get to the 18 hole par 71 Skippack Golf Course. Listed as part of the park, it also features a practice range and clubhouse. Ahead on Krantz Road is parking to access another part of the Skippack Creek Loop Trail. Stump Hall Road will take you to Grange Ave and then Water Street Road. Here's where you'll find Sebastian's Riding Academy, Sebastian's is in the park, but there are other riding businesses in the area. Evansburg State Park has 15 miles of horse riding trails that go through large sections of the park. While Old Baptist Road is at the southern end of the horse trails, I found it too rough for a horse trailer, and better suited for access to hiking. There is no swimming in the park. When it comes to fishing, just find a spot along the creek. Trout are added in spring, but this is mostly warm water fishing. Hunting is allowed in about one-third of the park in season, so you are cautioned to wear orange when using the park at that time of year. Cross-country skiing is allowed on most trails. For more information: pa parks and forests Look for my you tube video at...

This is probably the worst state/ national park that I have seen during my travels. And it pains me to say this because this park is only about 15 minutes from where we live in Phoenixville. My wife and I found this park very, very underwhelming primarily for two reasons: There is close to no signage on the trails and my wife and I were lost for 30-45 mins. in the park trying to figure out a way to get back to the visitor center where we had parked our car. On nearly every single trail one can walk, we saw tons and tons of horse manure lying all around us. Yes - you read that right; horse manure and that's because nearly every single walking trail is also open to horses and you know what horses do - they manure. And unlike dogs where owners are asked to pick up, horse riders can hardly be expected to pick up after they have gone galloping past. And hence for us, even as we were trying to look for our way back to the visitor center, we were trying to gingerly avoid the ton of horse manure all around us. In addition to those two big (yuge, really) complaints, my wife and I found little else to recommend the park. There were no bike trails that we saw, no restrooms, no water fountains on the trails. There are a few picnic spots and swing sets and perhaps those are redeeming features of the park but all in all, I doubt we will be going back there anytime soon. Finally, consistent with our dismal view of the park, we also saw very few people in the park even though we were there for about 3 hours between 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. and that too on a warm (80 degree weather) day over...