There's still a few spots left in our teen camp!

Protecting Birds

The Mansion fire escape has recently acquired a new feature: bird-strike deterrent decals!


These decals help prevent harm to birds that would otherwise strike the windows, believing that they can fly through.

Have you met our two summer interns?

Alyssa (left) is from Greensburg, PA, and attends Shippensburg University, where she is studying biology with a concentration in ecology. She wants to do as much as she can here this summer, and she is really looking forward to working around the park and helping with all of the programs!

Minna (right) was born and raised in PA, and grew up visiting state parks. This fall, she'll be a senior at Shippensburg University, studying Ecology, Environment, & Conservation. She enjoys hiking, gardening, and spending time with her friends and family. She's most excited to learn more about how a park is run and being involved upcoming events. Long-term, she hopes to be a Park Resource Ranger. 

Please join us in welcoming Minna and Alyssa to Kings Gap!

DIY DiscoverE Activity Guides are here!

We’ve partnered with Little Buffalo State Park and Colonel Denning State Park to bring you this summer’s activity guide!

Pick up your free copy of the guide from the park office at any participating state park, or by downloading the guide here!

Complete 3 activities at a participating state park to earn a park stamp. Collect all 3 park stamps by September 4th to complete the guide, earn a prize, and become a Junior Naturalist!

Virtual Student Film Festival

Kings Gap has partnered with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Arts in Education program through the Capital Area Intermediate Unit. With resident artist Rand Whipple of Box Of Light Studio, local Carlisle students were able to connect to nature and history through multi-media art.

Join us for a virtual film festival featuring their works. Each day at 6:00 PM, enjoy a short, (1-2 minute) film on our Facebook page created by the students.

📷: Betsy Leppo

 Vernal Pools Project

Through a multi-faceted partnership, Kings Gap is one of the newest sites as part of exciting research on the effects of climate change on the cycles of seasonal vernal pools.


In the Vernal Pool Phenology and Crowd Hydrology Projects, participants (volunteers as well as public visitors) monitor the life cycles of amphibians and trees, as well as the water levels at small, forested ponds across time to identify potential shifts and emerging disconnection in the timing of important life history events.

Thank you to the Western PA Conservancy, Penn State Mater Watershed Steward Volunteers, Ecological Research as Education Network, Growing Greener, The Giant Company, PA Parks and Forests Foundation, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, PA Natural Heritage Program, and the students of Diakon for helping us to get this project off the ground!

This project has been a great opportunity to engage our volunteers, and will have a significant impact on our educational programming with school-age students and community science. These stations will help us gain important data and provide a launch point for hands-on, inquiry based learning with our school groups!

Join our park rangers at the Bosler Memorial Library for this Storytime series. Two options each month.

Water Line Repairs and the Mansion View

Park staff finished the substantial effort that was initiated last year to clear the water line supplying the top of the mountain. This is the first effort to maintain this utility (which brings water from the pumphouse halfway down the mountain, to the water tower atop the mountain), since its installation in 2000. The final length leading up to the Mansion was cleared this past month, revealing a part of the Cumberland Valley viewshed that has not been seen from the Mansion terrace in years!

Thank you, Volunteers!

Our trail crew volunteers have been hard at work making improvements to the Watershed Trail. In addition to getting trails out of the mud, they've laid down rocks,  and built boardwalks and bridges.

To become a DCNR volunteer, visit: Volunteer Application