The Making of the Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest Lizard Map

Some maps begin with a trail. Some begin with a road. Some begin with a place we cannot stop thinking about.

This one began with an invitation.

When Ta Enos and the team at the PA Wilds Center invited us to think with them about what a Purple Lizard Map series for the Pennsylvania Wilds could look like, we were immediately in. Not cautiously interested. Not maybe someday. In.

Because the Pennsylvania Wilds is one of the most remarkable outdoor recreation landscapes in the eastern United States, and for years we had been dreaming about how to map it.

We already knew pieces of the region well. We had explored and vacationed there. Camped there. Hiked there. Followed backroads into quiet hollows, wandered along mountain streams, stopped in small towns, stared up into impossibly dark skies, and wondered why more people did not understand just how much extraordinary outdoor recreation is available here.

Some places in the PA Wilds are better known, like Pine Creek and Cherry Springs, but much of the broader landscape can be harder to figure out.

The roads between those places. The forests beyond the obvious stops. The public lands stitched together across north-central Pennsylvania. The small towns that give the region its character. The trailheads, campsites, streams, scenic roads, overlooks, and unexpected places that can turn one destination into an entire trip.

That is where the big picture, and really well-made maps, matter. A great recreation map does more than show you where you are. It helps you understand the relationships between forests, parks, trails, towns, streams, ridges, roads, campsites, overlooks, and places you might otherwise miss.

These are the kinds of maps we love to make, maps that give people the tools they need and the confidence to dive in and explore special places. That is exactly why this partnership made so much sense.

The PA Wilds Center has long understood that outdoor recreation can connect people with public lands while also strengthening communities and locally owned businesses. Purple Lizard Maps has always believed that detailed, beautiful, field-ready maps can help make that happen. So when we sat down with Ta and the PA Wilds team, it felt like we were speaking the same language.

We talked about maps, but also about stories. We talked about public lands, gateway communities, stewardship, safety, small businesses, local economies, and how to help people understand the extraordinary scale and richness of the Pennsylvania Wilds.

The question was not simply, "What should go on the PA Wilds maps?"

It was: "How can a map help people experience this region differently?"

That shared question shaped the beginning of a big project.

Early conversations with Allegheny Outfitters and the PA Wilds Center helped shape a shared vision for mapping the region.

In 2024, the PA Wilds Center partnered with Purple Lizard on an assessment of what it would take to bring detailed Purple Lizard recreation maps to more of the Pennsylvania Wilds. Supported by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the early planning and stakeholder-engagement work allowed us to step back and look at the Pennsylvania Wilds as a whole, talk with partners across the region, and identify where new maps could make the biggest difference, helping visitors understand the recreation landscape, explore more confidently, connect with public lands, and support the small towns and businesses that make the region so special.

And so the Purple Lizard Maps team dove into the PA Wilds.

For a year we explored. Stakeholder meetings. Drives. Long hours in the design studio learning more about the topography, the access points and extraordinary recreational assets in the region. More conversations. Then more exploring. More thinking about how the pieces could fit together.

An early days meeting - one of many throughout the region, this one was with Piper and her staff at Allegheny Outfitters in Warren, PA, who is eager to see an Allegheny National Forest Purple Lizard Map series come to life.

A Plan, Unfolded

By 2025, that work had developed into a comprehensive vision: a seven-map Pennsylvania Wilds Purple Lizard Maps series.

To do justice to this beautiful landscape, it will take more than one map. The larger vision builds on the Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest map with dedicated maps of Sproul and Elk State Forests, a two-map series of Allegheny National Forest, a map of Route 6 through the PA Wilds and future maps covering other key public lands, gateway communities, and recreation landscapes across the Wilds.

It is a big plan, but in typical PA Wilds fashion, we wasted no time.

Michael showing the planned PA Wilds series to stakeholders at a PA Wilds Center stakeholder meeting, including Candace Hillyard from The PA Route 6 Alliance.

First Up: Dark Skies

Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest became the first map to move from that larger vision into production.

Development of the Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest Lizard Map was made possible through support from the PA Wilds Center and was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development, as well as financial support from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, via the Environmental Stewardship Fund.

That support made it possible to move beyond an idea on a planning map and do the work a project like this requires: field exploration, stakeholder engagement, research and verification, detailed cartography, design, production, and ultimately distribution into the communities the map is intended to serve.

The map covers the Susquehannock State Forest landscape, along with portions of Sproul and Elk State Forests and communities including Coudersport, Galeton, Emporium, Renovo, Smethport, and Port Allegany.

Dark Skies and Beyond

The Dark Skies landscape is about more than one famous night-sky destination. It is a whole sub-region of the Pennsylvania Wilds that includes forests, small towns, public lands, and places to explore.

Cherry Springs State Park is famous for its night sky, and deservedly so. There is a new Dark Skies viewing area near Emporium, PA, called the May Hollow Skyway, which is also featured on this map. But one of the most exciting things we discovered while working on this project is that the dark sky experience does not begin and end at Cherry Springs.

The entire surrounding landscape is special. 

This is a region of deep forest, winding backroads, quiet state parks, remote streams, wild areas, long-distance trails, scenic overlooks, small communities, campsites, gravel routes, and night skies that still feel vast. It is the kind of place where you can spend the morning hiking, follow a forest road simply because it looks interesting, stop in a small town for lunch, find a creek or overlook in the afternoon, set up camp, and spend the evening watching the sky open above you.

The map brings together places people may already know individually and lets them see the bigger picture.

And the bigger picture is extraordinary. This is not just a map for stargazing. It is a map for hiking, camping, gravel riding, scenic driving, wandering, exploring small towns, finding quiet water, getting out on public land, and discovering a part of Pennsylvania that still feels wild, spacious, and deeply real.

And to make a map that works in real life, we needed to get out and explore.

Into the Field

Making a Purple Lizard Map means following roads, checking access, and seeing how the landscape really fits together.

Before a Lizard Map becomes a map, it becomes a lot of days in the field.

We drove.

We camped.

We hiked.

We followed roads because they looked interesting.

We checked trailheads, access points, campsites, overlooks, intersections, forest roads, routes, and connections.

We spent time in the towns.

And sometimes we simply wandered.

That is part of the process.

A database can tell you that a road exists. It cannot tell you what it feels like to drive it, whether the turn is obvious, whether the trailhead makes sense when you arrive, what else is nearby, or whether a place that looks insignificant on a screen might become one of the most memorable stops of a trip.

You cannot make this kind of map from a desk; you have to feel the landscape.

You have to understand how the roads connect, where the public land begins, how someone unfamiliar with the region might move through it, what is obvious, what is hidden, and what needs to be clarified.

When cell service goes away and your GPS shows no roads, a Purple Lizard Map becomes more than useful. It becomes essential.

That field time is especially important in places like the PA Wilds. The Dark Skies landscape is big. It is remote. It is layered. There are state forests, state parks, wild areas, long-distance trails, gravel roads, backcountry routes, small towns, and plenty of places where cell service cannot be counted on.

And honestly, that limited cell coverage is part of the magic.

Sometimes these days, losing the signal can be an invitation to look around, settle in, and reconnect with the landscape, yourself, your adventure companions, and the real world. It can be a delightful break from the 24/7 noise we are so often in.

That is exactly why we knew a detailed, big-picture, high-quality recreation map would be especially important.

It lets you see the whole region at once.

At our campsite Mike makes some notes in preparation for the days exploration into unknown territory. 

A Purple Lizard Map is 2 feet by 3 feet, printed on two sides. It gives you far more context than a phone screen. It provides far more opportunities than following someone else's blue dot. It helps you plan your travels, but it also helps you improvise, and improvising is often where the best adventures begin.

 Mapping the Wilds means spending time there, following the roads, walking the trails, stopping in towns, and seeing how the pieces connect - and of course, discovering some truly special spots along the way. Loki watches sunrise illuminate the ridge from our campsite.

Building the Map Together

Fieldwork is only one part of the process.

Regional partners always help us see the landscape from different perspectives.

Purple Lizard’s job was to listen, explore, verify, and turn that knowledge into something useful to a visitor.

Throughout the project, we met with the PA Wilds Center team and gathered input from people who understood the region from very different angles: public lands, tourism, conservation, outdoor recreation, planning, community and economic development, and local experience.

Each perspective added another layer.

People who know a landscape well understand things that cannot always be found in a database. They know where visitors get confused. Which places are underappreciated. Which roads matter. Which communities visitors might miss. Where recreational opportunities connect across jurisdictions. What needs explanation. What should be protected. What stories deserve to be visible.

Our job is to listen to that knowledge, go out and investigate it, compare it with the available data, and then make thousands of decisions about what belongs on the map and how all of it should fit together.

That collaborative process is one of our favorite parts of the work.

Because a region is never just a collection of geographic features.

It is a living place.

From a Destination to a Journey

This is also where mapping can have an impact that extends beyond navigation. Imagine someone planning a trip to Cherry Springs. With the information people are used to relying on the internet, that trip might be simple: drive to Cherry Springs on paved highways, see the stars, drive home.

But when the surrounding landscape becomes understandable, the trip can change. Maybe they notice another state park nearby. Or a trail. Or an interesting dirt road that leads to a Lizard spot. Or a town they have never visited, and the curiosity behind wondering what that may be.

Maybe they stop for coffee, lunch, ice cream, gas, camping supplies, or local art. Maybe they stay another night. Maybe they discover somewhere they want to return to in another season. One of the quiet powers of a good regional recreation map is that it gives people the confidence to expand the trip.

A Purple Lizard Map inspires more than destinations, it inspires connection to place, and deeper journeys.

Some of the best dirt and gravel roads in Pennsylvania are in the PA Wilds!

For communities built around large landscapes and public lands, those additional stops matter. A visitor who explores more deeply has more opportunities to support local businesses, encounter local communities, and understand that a region is much more than its best-known attraction.

That does not mean sending people everywhere. Thoughtful outdoor recreation development also means helping visitors understand where recreation is appropriate, how public lands connect, and how to move through places responsibly.

Good mapping can help do both.

What We Hope People Discover

The goal is not simply to help folks find and get inspired to explore a particular destination, an overlook, or a Lizard spot. It is to help you see and explore the landscape, to connect with its possibilities, and make the adventure your own.

We hope this map helps people discover Cherry Springs, of course! But we also hope it helps them discover what lies beyond the more famous places. We hope they find quiet state parks, remote streams, gravel roads, overlooks, old forest roads, campsites, wild areas, and towns they might otherwise have driven past.

We hope they stop for coffee, food, supplies, ice cream, gas, local art, or a conversation. We hope they plan a trip and then add a side trip. We hope they drive a road they might have missed. We hope they stay for the stars, then come back for the trails, the water, the forests, and the feeling of being somewhere truly away from it all.

Mostly, we hope this map helps people see the Pennsylvania Wilds as a connected outdoor recreation landscape, not simply a collection of separate destinations. Because once you see it that way, the possibilities open up.

Dark Skies Has Launched

Almost immediately after launch, people began asking where they could buy the map, tagging people they wanted to explore with, planning trips, and telling us what they hoped to discover. One customer called it “the missing link.”

Another Great Map! Great job! Highly detailed map of my favorite places in PA. Now I have even more areas to explore! - David

Can’t wait to explore this map! I found it informative! I thought I knew the area pretty well having lived near there for over 20 years. I found a couple new sites I can’t wait to explore. - Rick

Amazing as always, the best maps you will find in PA! Thanks for giving us another reason to go out and explore the beautiful PA Wilds, always excited to see what you guys have coming up next! - Samantha and Bill

Dark Skys - Awesome map just like all of the others your firm has produced. A+. - Dennis

That’s a lot of big woods to try to fit on the two sides of any map you can carry and read. You did it somehow with this one. Well done! - David

Awesome map, lots of specifics. You know all your maps are very descriptive and surely full of authenticity! - Gary

Having a cabin in north central PA mountains, these maps are hands down the best. I have all my hunting buddies buying them as well water proof durable. - Mason

For us, those reactions mean more than a successful map launch. They suggest something we believed throughout the project: give people the right tools to understand a landscape, and curiosity can turn into a trip.

The First of More Planned Lizard Maps

The PA Wilds team with the finished Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest Map at the Outdoor Business Alliance Summit, a fitting milestone for the first completed map in the Pennsylvania Wilds Purple Lizard Map series.

This is the kind of outdoor recreation partnership we believe in: grounded in local knowledge, built around public lands and communities, and supported by detailed mapping that helps people explore responsibly.

The Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest Lizard Map is now out in the world, and watching people begin to use it has been one of the most rewarding parts of the project.

We are grateful to Ta Enos and the PA Wilds Center for inviting us into this work, for understanding the power of outstanding mapping, and for sharing a vision of maps as tools for exploration, storytelling, conservation, and regional vitality.

We are grateful to the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for supporting the early regional planning and stakeholder-engagement work that helped shape the seven-map vision, and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, via the Environmental Stewardship Fund, for supporting development of the Dark Skies map.

We are also grateful to the public-land managers, regional partners, stakeholders, local experts, and people across the landscape whose knowledge helped shape the map.

And we are grateful to everyone who is already taking it into the field.

For us, that is what makes projects like this exciting.

A map can be a practical tool for one person heading into the woods. But done well, it can also help a region tell its story. It can connect public lands with communities, help visitors move beyond the obvious destinations, and make unfamiliar landscapes feel possible to explore.

The map is the tool.

The real goal is helping people understand a place well enough to go experience it.

We hope the Dark Skies / Susquehannock State Forest Lizard Map helps you find your way into one of Pennsylvania’s most beautiful and rewarding landscapes.

And then take the long way home.

See you out there, under the stars and beyond.

By Justine Andronici

Justine Andronici is co-owner and counsel to Purple Lizard Publishing, where she helps guide the company’s partnerships, growth, and business operations.