page_title: Worlds End State Park
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: Worlds End State Park / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: Landslides and erosion after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee flooding along Loyalsock Creek in Worlds End State Park, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, USA
context_page_description: Worlds End State Park is a 780-acre Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley on Pennsylvania Route 154, in Forks and Shrewsbury Townships southeast of the borough of Forksville. The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain. Although it was founded as Worlds End State Forest Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot in 1932, the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943.
  The park's land was once home to Native Americans, followed by settlers who cleared the forests for subsistence farming and later built sawmills. The second growth forests in and surrounding Worlds End State Park are partially a result of the efforts of the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. They helped overcome the clearcutting of the early 20th century, and built many of the park's facilities, including the cabins that earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
  A wide variety of wildlife is found in the park, which is also part of an Important Bird Area.
context_section_description: Since the CCC finished their work at the park in 1941, Worlds End State Park has continued to develop and change. In 1951 the Loyalsock Trail, which passes through the park, was laid out by Explorer Scouts. This trail has been maintained and extended by the Alpine Club of Williamsport since 1953. While the park was always popular in Pennsylvania, by the 1960s it began to attract attention from outside the state. The park was home to the first annual whitewater slalom race on Loyalsock Creek in 1964, which attracted over 100 competitors in 1965. A 1964 The New York Times article featured Worlds End park and its "excellent trout stream", and one in 1967 mentioned the park's "peerless wilderness views", "half-acre swimming pool carved into cool Loyalsock Creek" and "public campsites".
  In 1980, a 900-square-foot (84 m²) trailer was added as a temporary park office. The accomplishments of the CCC at Worlds End State Park were recognized in 1987 by the inclusion of the Family Cabin District on the NRHP. In 1997 the park's Important Bird Area (IBA) was one of the first 73 IBAs established in Pennsylvania. On November 12, 2002, a new 4,300-square-foot (399 m²) visitor center and park office was dedicated, which included 1,680 square feet (156 m²) of public space for environmental education and public programs. The building, constructed with an "energy-efficient design and recycled materials", was part of a $1.1 million project that included the park's first flush toilets and sewage treatment plant. In 2003 a $2.7 million project added flush toilets and running water to all the park's wash-houses, renovated the cabins, and made major improvements in the day use area.
  In 2004, the Loyalsock Creek Watershed Association installed a fence on the creek's banks near the cabins to limit pedestrian access and erosion. The association planted shrubs and trees in the same area to stabilize the creek's banks in 2008, and in September 2010 replaced more than 1,500 feet (460 m) of fence with a less visible version. On January 25, 2010 flooding caused by heavy rain and melt from 20 inches (510 mm) of snow "washed out a bridge" leading to the cabin area and destroyed 86 feet (26 m) of road there, leaving the park looking like "the set of disaster movie". The cabin area road needed $72,120 in repairs, the park was not fully restored until Memorial Day. Two floods hit the park in 2011, the first from Hurricane Irene on August 29, and the second from Tropical Storm Lee on September 8. Lee washed away about 20 to 22 short tons (18 to 20 t) of gravel used to make emergency repairs to roads in the park from Irene damage. Loyalsock Creek reached 20.4 feet (6.2 m) south of the park, and campers in the park had to be evacuated. Worlds End and Promised Land State Park had "significant damage to roads and bridges", damage to Loylasock State Forest roads was also heavy, and the DCNR estimated the two storms caused $3 to $4 million of damage to its forests and parks. Worlds End was closed for two weeks after the Lee flood.
  As of 2012, post-war facilities include the park office, five wash-houses and other modern restroom facilities, beach house with concession stand, chapel, amphitheater, and modern camping areas. Worlds End State Park is one of twenty-one chosen by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Parks for its "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks" list. The DCNR describes it as "[v]irtually in a class by itself, this wild, rugged and rustic area seems almost untamed". It goes on to praise the opportunities for camping and hiking at the park, and its scenery and vistas.
caption: Landslides and erosion along Loyalsock Creek in the park after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee flooding
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