Hiking the Geisinger Stewardship Forest (Danville, PA) — April 2020

5 min readApr 21, 2020

As I have started hiking more regularly over the past few months, the location that I’ve visited more frequently than others is a series of trails known as the Geisinger Stewardship Forest behind the Geisinger Medical Center complex in Danville, PA.

Why have I returned here time and again? First and foremost, there are some practical reasons for this: it is the series of trails that is probably closest to my home, it features a wide range of trails of varying difficulty and terrain, it offers both well-marked paths and more exploratory sections, and — especially in the time of a global pandemic — it is typically possible to hike there for a few hours without seeing anyone at all. These are all attractive features of the forest’s trail system, and it is possible to plan your visits so that every time you go you can hav e a significantly different hiking experience.

The quickest and easiest trail at the forest is a wide gravel-lined path that slowly ascends a couple of hundred feet up towards a cell phone tower at the top of the hill. One can easily complete this trail in a half an hour or so, which makes for a quick walk in the woods without the need for hiking shoes, following blazes, or otherwise doing anything too intensive. First time visitors or amateur hikers would be well to start with this trail, though the more interesting parts of the forest lie on either side of this more central route.

On the east side of the main gravel trail are a series of more rugged trails that all circle around one of the two firebreaks that frame out the forest. The trails here (and all around the forest) have recently been given medically-inflected names like “CPR,” “Coronary,” “Broken Clavicle,” and “Stent”, and the names are somewhat analagous to what parts of the body are being worked on for each trail and/or what kinds of challenge the trail provides. For example, “Coronary” requires some of the most challenging uphill portions of the trail system, whereas “Stress Test” is a fairly low-key and short trail with just a small hill to climb at the start. By following the trails that are a bit more demanding, hikers are rewarded with some beautiful vistas of downtown Danville, the Susquehanna River, and the surrounding countryside.

Other than the vistas on the east side of the forest, I regularly encounter an interesting variety of birds (e.g. woodpeckers) and small critters (e.g. chipmunks), interesting plant and fungi life, and, on one of the trails, a babbling creek to walk alongside. At the time of this writing, much of the forest is starting to show signs of Spring, and it makes for a great opportunity to go experience the change of seasons.

The forest’s west side is defined primarily by its longest trail — the aptly named “Life Flight” trail which crosses over the other firebreak and begins and ends its loop near the hospital’s Life Flight helicopter medic station. As a result, it is not uncommon to have your peaceful hike interrupted by the whir of helicopter rotors and the sight of the crafts flying overhead.

Also on this side of the trail are some interesting landmarks — a pine tree that is decorated for Christmas year round, some older closed-off eroded trails (there are some remaining signs of the prior trail marking system still around the forest), and access to an access road used to service the nearby utility infrastructure.

This is a great place year-round to spend a few hours hiking, taking pictures, and just enjoying nature.