Welcome Autumn with all the latest news from R. B. Winter State Park!

An Autumn View from the overlook above R. B. Winter State Park on October 11th, 2020.

It feels like just a week or two ago that Summer was beginning, but Autumn has begun to arrive at Raymond B. Winter State Park! Already, the days grow shorter and the nights cooler. Make sure to keep an eye out for DCNR's Fall Foilage Reports, which are published weekly on DCNR's website beginning on the last week of September.

With the return of Autumn to Central Pennsylvania, the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park will be participating in a number of events as well as holding our Annual Autumn Clean Up of Route 192 on Saturday, October 21st! For full details, read more below or check out the events page on our Facebook page.

Walk With A Doc!

Saturday, September 16th

10:00 am - 11:00 am

Walking and spending time in nature are both low-impact ways to help promote good health. R. B. Winter State Park’s Rapid Run Nature Trail offers an excellent opportunity to do both!

The Friends of R. B. Winter invite you to join Dr. Becky Tanner on a mile-long hike around the Rapid Run Natural Area. The trail has some uneven surfaces caused by rocks and tree roots, but it is primarily flat and rated as an easy hiking trail. We will meet in the back parking lot off Sand Mountain Road.

The Rapid Run Nature Trail is an easy 1-hour, 1-mile trail surfaced with grass and wood chips. Bathrooms are available at the trailhead. The trail is not ADA-accessible.

Friends of R. B. Winter Lewisburg Fall Festival Display

Saturday, October 7th

10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Join the Friends of R. B. Winter at the annual Fall Festival in downtown Lewisburg!

Stop by our table to learn more about the Friends and to check out some of Pennsylvania's native reptiles and amphibians! The Festival will also feature the Woolly Worm Winter Weather Prognostication, many food and craft vendors, Ryan the Bugman, Airweaver balloons, face painting, and more!

For more information, check out the Lewisburg Downtown Partnership's website.

Friends of R. B. Winter October Board Meeting

Thursday, October 12th

6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Join the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park at our next board meeting on Thursday, October 12th, 2023

The meeting will be at 6:00 pm at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC). As always, our board meetings are open to the public - whether you have loved R. B. Winter State Park for years or have just discovered this special place, we welcome you to join us.

Friends of R. B. Winter Display at Reeds Gap State Park's Fall Festival

Saturday, October 14th

11:00 am - 3:00 pm

Join the Friends of R. B. Winter at the Annual Fall Festival at Reeds Gap State Park!

We'll have several of Pennsylvania's native reptiles and amphibians on display for you to check out. Activities include pumpkin painting, candle dipping, primitive fire starting, and more. Join The Falconry Girl for a live Falcon display, the Mifflin County Conservation District for a stream study, fly casting with the Penns Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited, a woodturning demonstration by the Nittany Valley Woodturners, hayrides, music by the Brush Mountain Band, concessions, and more!

For more information, check out Reeds Gap State Park's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ReedsGapStatePark!

Friends of R. B. Winter Annual Autumn Clean Up of Route 192

Saturday, October 21st

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Join the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park's annual Autumn Clean Up of Route 192! This year's Autumn Clean Up will be on Saturday, October 21st, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. After the clean up, the Friends will provide lunch to the volunteers, so we ask that you register before Wednesday, October 18th at www.friendsofrbwinter.org/cleanup.

The Friends will be providing gloves, trash bags, and safety vests. Make sure to bring a water bottle and weather-appropriate clothing. As we'll be working in grassy areas along the road's edges, insect repellent and checking for ticks afterward is highly recommended!

We'll meet at the Environmental Learning Center at 9:00 am and then split into groups for the clean up.

Friends of R. B. Winter Annual Meeting

Saturday, November 18th

9:00 am - 11:00 pm

The Friends of R. B. Winter State Park will hold our Annual Meeting on Saturday, November 18th. As with all of our board meetings, this meeting is open to all members of the public. Please join us as we look back at the Friend's activities over 2023 and make our plans for 2024!

The meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC).

Friends of R. B. Winter December Board Meeting and Volunteer Work Day

Saturday, December 16th

9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Join the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park at our December Board Meeting on Saturday, December 16th, 2023.

The meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC). Afterward, we will hold a volunteer work day for those wishing to help as we begin preparing for SnowFest 2024. As always, the Board Meeting is open to the public - whether you have loved R. B. Winter State Park for years or have just discovered this special place, we welcome you to join us.

SnowFest 2024

Sunday, February 25th, 2024

12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

SnowFest returns on February 25th, 2024!

Check our Facebook page and website soon for more information about the trail race, silent auction, environmental education displays, children's activities, and more!

Autumn Camping at Raymond B. Winter State Park

With its crisp autumn air, changing leaves, and milder weather, Autumn is the perfect time to go camping and enjoy the great outdoors! If you still need to make your Autumn camping reservations, do so soon! Campsites are still available throughout the Autumn season but are going fast!

Hunters, remember that the campground is open to the end of the regular firearms deer season on December 9th. The Friends will continue to offer firewood for sale in the campground through the end of the camping season.

Friends of R. B. Winter State Park Merchandise Available Now!

The Friends are happy to offer multiple items for sale in the park office, including children and adult-sized hoodies, RV-sized cutting boards, tumblers, various Purple Lizard maps, Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation Passport books, children's toys, pocket knives, vehicle decals, stickers, magnets, jewelry, hats, Mid-State Trail guide books and maps, and much more!

Proceeds from the sale of these items stay directly in the R. B. Winter State Park complex and help the Friends further our mission to conserve, support, and protect the park's resources by promoting education, responsible recreation, and stewardship for present and future generations.

The Park Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on select times during the weekend —payment for items sold by the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park must be made via cash or check only.

Looking Back… and Looking Ahead - Thank You for Your Support!

Dear Friend of R. B. Winter State Park, Thank you for choosing to get involved with the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park. Through the generosity of our supporters — like you — the Friends Group has been able to advance its mission and provide resources that enhance the Park we all care about so deeply. Here are just a few examples of the types of things that have been accomplished through Volunteer Work Days, financial contributions, event attendance, and fundraising since the Group was established in the summer of 2021:

• A new AED and pads were purchased, allowing park rangers to respond swiftly in the case of an emergency facing a visitor of R. B. Winter State Park

• A four-mile stretch of Route 192 has been adopted, and three litter clean-ups have been held

• An excavator/digger toy was purchased for the Park playground and mulch has been replaced

• Several benches were purchased to increase accessibility to prominent trails and a maintenance project was completed on the Rapid Run Nature Trail

• Many people have found camaraderie and connection among members of the surrounding communities who have attended programs, hikes and events

You can help us keep up the good work, and achieve even more, by continuing to support the efforts of the Friends of R. B Winter State Park. If you have already shown your support by taking the steps below — THANK YOU! If you are looking for opportunities to increase your involvement, we invite you to:

• Attend a future Volunteer Work Day. We will meet for the next one at the Environmental Learning Center on Saturday, May 20, 9am-noon.

• Make a tax-deductible donation or become a lifetime supporter by visiting: friendsofrbwinter.org/donate.

• Follow us on Facebook or Instagram, read our blog and share our posts.

• Encourage friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors to subscribe to our email list.

• Join us for upcoming events such as R. B. Winter State Park’s annual SummerFest which will take place on Saturday, June 24, from noon-4pm. The Friends Group will be sponsoring several programs, selling merchandise and greeting visitors during SummerFest 2023.

Also, did you hear?

• The Friends Group is now handling the sale of some of the merchandise in the Park Office. There are stickers, magnets, vehicle decals, hats, nature-themed jewelry, Purple Lizard Maps and more!

• The Friends Group has just begun offering firewood for sale in the family campground. Bundles of firewood are $8.00 each and can be purchased at our firewood shed across from campsite #60 near the campground entrance.

• Proceeds from the sale of merchandise and firewood, as well as donations, will allow the Friends to further our goals of providing resources for projects and promoting education, responsible recreation and stewardship for present and future generations at the R. B. Winter State Park Complex.

We are grateful for the collective efforts of our many supporters and look forward to what we will accomplish together in the year ahead! Thank you for being a Friend, Mary Marshall Chair, Friends of R. B. Winter State Park P.S. As Friends, we already know that R. B. Winter State Park is a special place, but it was exciting to see the news of its recent recognition from the Pennsylvania Park & Forest Foundation (PPFF).

R. B. Winter Selected as the 2023 Pennsylvania State Park of the Year!

On Tuesday night, at the 14th Annual Parks and Forests Awards Banquet the staff of R. B. Winter State Park were presented with the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation Park of the Year Award!

If you were unable to attend the banquet read you can read the write-up from the award ceremony below.

The Park of the Year Award is designed to recognize a park for their exemplary or innovative work in any or all of the following: customer service; education, programming (e.g., events), or recreation; stewardship of the natural, cultural, or historic assets; and/or accommodation of special needs of visitors.

Raymond B. Winter State Park is a picturesque state park that encompasses 695 acres at the western edge of Union County. The park is rich in history and is surrounded by thousands of acres of Bald Eagle State Forest. This is a visitor-friendly park that has boundless recreational opportunities and a staff focused on customer service.

The park was purchased in 1905, and some recreational amenities were constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), along with a dam that created Halfway Lake, the focal point of the park. The lake is stocked with trout and is filled by spring-fed mountain streams. The lake features a 300-foot white sand beach popular with visitors wanting to escape the heat of the Susquehanna Valley. A total of 8.58 miles of hiking trails and a 61-site campground also entice the more than 137,000 annual visitors. The park is also complexed with Ravensburg, Sand Bridge and McCalls Dam state parks.

In late May of 2019, a microburst snapped off hundreds of trees in the park, closing the trails and even destroying buildings, but because of the hard-working staff and the help of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps the storm damage was quickly cleaned up and the park made ready for visitors.

Speaking of visitors, the park plays host to family reunions, school groups, college groups, and others, being conveniently located in the Susquehanna Valley. Park staff can be seen about the park, making all visitors feel welcomed and addressing needs.

This winter the park once again experienced storm damage, bringing down numerous trees that resulted in multi-day power outages. Again the staff quickly got to work on the cleanup process. More recently, the park decided to advance their volunteer program by working with PPFF to start a new friends group. Together they are working to improve the park and host programs, such as the snowless 2023 winter festival.

We applaud the park (and their friends) for being stewards of this iconic park, R.B. Winter State Park.