National and State Parks - Recreational Areas
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Gouldsboro State Park
State Park Information
State Park Overview
Trails
Trails at Gouldsboro
The rugged terrain of Tobyhanna and Gouldsboro state parks makes for challenging but rewarding hiking. All trails are blazed. Double blazes indicates a change of direction or a junction of two trails.
Follow these rules for a safe hike
An adult should accompany children.
Be sure to wear hiking boots.
Motor vehicles are not permitted on the trails, except snowmobiles are permitted on designated trails.
Prospect Rock Trail 5.8 miles, blue blaze, difficult hiking. This large, loop trail begins in the day use area. Some sections follow the old entrance road and Old Route 611, which are suitable for bicycling and cross-country skiing. But, there are several very rocky sections.
Old Route 611 1.25 miles, blue blaze, easy hiking. This flat, wide trail runs along the western side of Gouldsboro State Park, paralleling I-380. Part of the trail is Prospect Rock Trail. This trail is excellent for hiking, bicycling and cross-country skiing.
Picnicking
Boating
Boating electric motors only
The 250-acre Gouldsboro Lake has overnight mooring at 50 seasonal mooring spaces, which requires a state park mooring permit -vailable at most state park offices.
Motorboats must display a boat registration from any state. Non-powered boats must display one of the following boat registration from any state launching permit or mooring permit from Pennsylvania State Parks that are available at most state park offices launch use permit from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Swimming
Fishing and Hunting
Fishing
The common fish in Tobyhanna and Gouldsboro lakes are bass, pickerel, yellow perch, catfish and sunfish. Tobyhanna Lake also has brook trout. Gouldsboro Lake also has muskellunge, walleye, crappie, sucker and fallfish. An accessible fishing pier is available at each park.
Ice Fishing
Both lakes are popular ice fishing spots. Ice thickness is not monitored. For your safety, be sure the ice is at least four inches thick and carry safety equipment.
Hunting
Most of Tobyhanna and Gouldsboro state parks are open to hunting, trapping and the training of dogs during established seasons. Common game species are white-tailed deer, black bear, snowshoe hare, squirrel and turkey. Furbearers include beaver, muskrat, mink, fox, coyote and raccoon. Hunting is also permitted in nearby State Game Lands 127 and 312.
Hunting woodchucks -lso known as groundhogs, is prohibited. Dog training is only permitted from the day following Labor Day through March 31 in designated hunting areas. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission rules and regulations apply. Contact the park office for accessible hunting information.
Use extreme caution with firearms at all times. The park is used by other visitors during hunting seasons. Firearms and archery equipment may be uncased and ready for use only in authorized hunting areas during hunting seasons. In areas not open to hunting or during non-hunting seasons, firearms and archery equipment must be kept in the owners car, trailer or camp.
History of the Area
The name Gouldsboro comes from the village north of the park that was named for Jay Gould (18362892). A native of New York, Gould acquired a very large fortune that by 1892 included ownership of ten percent of all railroad track in the country. One of the railroads he owned was the Erie-Lackawanna. This rail line parallels the eastern boundary of the park and is now a part of the Steamtown, USA railroad excursion route between Scranton and Pocono Summit.
Gould was a co-owner of a leather tannery at Thornhurst - small village 9.5 miles west of Gouldsboro. Raw hides shipped from Australia and the western United States came to Gouldsboro by railroad and then were taken in two-ton loads by horse drawn wagons over a plank road to Thornhurst for tanning.