Purple Lizard Maps

Are you an outdoor enthusiast or just looking forward to some more camping, hiking, cycling, paddling or driving adventures in the Mid-Atlantic in 2022? Check out these 15 ways to squeeze every last drop of adventure from your Purple Lizard Maps - your key to planning and enjoying fantastic outdoor adventures.

The Tuscarora State Forest in central Pennsylvania sprawls across six counties between Huntingdon and Lewistown in the north and Carlisle to the south. You’ll find remote roads and trails, mountain creeks, long ridgetop views and quiet waterside rests - everything you need for fantastic outdoor adventures. There is also a tremendous amount of Native and Colonial history on this map. You’ll find roads that follow Native footpaths developed thousands of years ago, covered bridges from the 1800s, springs built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and some of the most beautiful farm valleys in the state.

Every trip has its ups and downs, no matter how much planning you put into it, so why not take advantage of an unexpected opportunity to get outside with your kiddos! No matter what lizard they choose, there will always be lessons learned and memories made. 

As winter makes one last stand with a few more inches of snow and some blustery winds, we sit back to reflect on lessons learned from this season's outdoor adventures. One of these lessons is the methodology of deciding whether or not to cut a trip short. We experienced this scenario in real time during a two-day (planned as a three-day) weekend backpacking trip on the Black Forest Trail near Slate Run, Pennsylvania.

Winter is a fantastic time for fun in the outdoors, but small mistakes can add up to big problems for explorers who aren't prepared for winter weather.

Lizard Adventure Lists are a great tool for diving deep into your Lizard Map: include brief descriptions of the trails organized in three sections:Trails, Special Designated Areas & Destinations, and State Parks, to help you explore all your Lizard Maps have to offer!

Every map we make presents new challenges and the Ohiopyle-Laurel Highlands Lizard Map was no exception. About 7 months after we started field work, the Ohiopyle-Laurel Highlands Lizard Map was published. We really like this map, it opens up a lot of territory and will help people see the area in a way they haven't been able to. Put away your GPS, grab the Lizard Map and get out there to see what lies on the backroads of the Laurel Highlands!

We take our mapmaking pretty so seriously over here at Purple Lizard Maps, that we often hike and bike most of the trails found on our maps. We also drive 98% of the roads that are found on our maps. For our most recent project, we truly went overboard by renting an off-the-grid cabin in the middle of Monongahela National Forest for a full week of recon fieldwork. Learn all about our adventures and discoveries below!

Spending time outdoors is fundamental for human happiness, health and well-being. As our modern lives present constant opportunities for distraction you realize that as we unplug from our screens and plug into the outdoors we are creating a powerful connection for ourselves, our communities and our planet. Your commitment to spending time in our beautiful public lands and enjoying real-world experiences is what makes our work special. Thank you for being a part of that connection and for sharing your love of the outdoors with Purple Lizard.

We have a new tool in our mapping kit, and it's quickly becoming our favorite. BH Easy Motion Bicycles asked us to test one of their Mountain e-bikes this season. We didn't know anything about e-bikes, but we use several types of bicycles in our field work, so this was a perfect opportunity to learn about this new ride in the world of cycling.

As part of my training to attempt the Tour Divide mountain bike race in June, I planned on riding 215 miles from my home in Centre County, PA to several vistas overlooking the Pine Creek Gorge in the Tiadaghton State Forest, camping along the way. Combined with about 15,000 feet of climbing, this trip would closely match typical days on the Tour Divide.