Parking in Pine Grove, Pa.

[Debbie]

Does anyone know of safe parking areas near Route 501 in the vicinity of Pine Grove, Pa? I've heard that the 501 trailhead has had vehices broken into recently.

[shelb]

I left my car there 2 years ago. I let the local sheriff know that it would be there for 5 days and had no problem; however, I was careful to make sure nothing of value was inside the vehicle. In fact, I left the last day's fast food wrappers from our travels and 3 pair of dirty socks strewn about. That might have helped!

[Debbie]

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm sure we can come up with dirty socks and food wrappers!

[Wolf - 23000]

I lived not to far away from that area several years ago. I never had any problems with my car getting broken into. Most of the people in that area were friendly but I do have to warn you. There is some weird guy that lives in the area just south of there that visit the trail on a normal basic. At least he did back then. I don't know what he looks like or had any personal run in with him. I only read some of his entries. It was some pretty weird stuff. He like to hang out just south of Rt 30 a lot.

Wolf

[redseal]

I have parked there several times for different amounts of days ranging from 1 - 3. I never had a problem FWIW.

[Wise Old Owl]

There are two key things you can do to discover this information.

1. goto the ATC webpage and click on Pennsylvania http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hiking/trail-updates#PA
2. Upon arrival look down for broken safety glass amongst the stone gravel, if there is a lot of it - MOVE.