Welsh Mountain Preserve Mountain Biking Trails

This area is owned and maintained by two separate entities. The pride of Money Rocks County Park is a rocky spine of boulders called Money Rocks, so-named because farmers in the Pequea Valley allegedly hid cash among the rocks. The ridge offers beautiful views of farmland, towns, and distant wooded hills. Cockscomb is another appropriately named outcropping of rocks a bit farther along the ridge. In the winter, the view from this precipice is equal to that of Money Rocks. The Money Rocks Overlook Hiking Trail follows a line of spectacular boulders overlooking some cliffs. The rocks are patched with lichens, mosses, and ferns. Black birch trees dominate the surrounding woodland with a thick understory of mountain laurel, Pennsylvania's state flower. Ruffed grouse, the state bird, also lives here. The Welsh Mountains harbor the second-largest continuous forest left in Lancaster County, superseded only by Furnace Hills. Money Rocks County Park preserves a nice part of that forest, which is in various stages of natural plant succession. A network of trails make much of this wooded park accessible to nature lovers. There are many side trails in this region, most of them overgrown. Please stay off of these trails and allow them to "return to nature". Due to an old liability law, all trails are "unsanctioned", use at your own risk.

The Welsh Mountain Nature Preserve has an abundance of rare ferns and wildflowers, including carrion flower, pink lady slipper, striped wintergreen, white Campion, and many more. ! PLEASE STAY ON ESTABLISHED TRAILS !! The Preserve has designated hunting hunting zones where all Pennsylvania Game Commission Rules and Regulations apply.

Hopefully SAMBA, Lancaster County Parks & Recreation, and the Lancaster County Conservancy will get together and coordinate some much-needed trail work!