Trail Overview

Henstep Valley Trail, also known as Henstep Jeep Trail, is a drivable trail located at the eastern end of Bald Eagle State Forest near the East Kettle ATV Trails. As with all drivable trails in the forest, vehicles must be licensed to travel on it. The east end of the trail is accessed from PA-235 and the west end is accessed via Hunter Road just east of the intersection with Weikert Run Road. This trail is one vehicle wide with very few places to pull over or pass. Expect to get many pinstripes when completing this trail. It is a very rocky, rugged trail with a few deep mud holes, and ruts. While the mud holes have rocky bottoms, enter carefully as they can drop off quickly and the water can be hiding large rocks. After the leaves fall, there are several places to catch nice views across the valley. Late spring is a colorful time to drive this trail as mountain laurel covers both sides for a majority of the trail.

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Difficulty

Even though there are only a few mud holes they can be deep with very large rocky bottoms and steep walls. During the wet season these holes could have 2-3 feet of water.

Technical Rating

Joshua Thompson

Dec 08, 2025

Open

Tight trail with nothing difficult, but expect pinstriping. Two decent puddles roughly 20” deep.

Douglas Zeiders

Oct 26, 2025

Open

This trail will leave it's mark. You can't avoid the mountain laurel on this one. There were several deep water crossings, several of them had hidden obstacles. Overall a very capable trail with a decent 4x4. There was one rocky climb that I needed 4lo to navigate.

John S

Oct 10, 2025

Open

i took my 2018 tacoma down and it's tight you'll get some pinstripes, rocky and bumpy throughout definitely need good clearance beware of the water holes there's one that's deeper then it seems. overall a decent trail it was dark for most of it for me cause of how late we got there but it's a sweet ride. Definitely gonna come back in the day time and do it again.

Michael McGuire

Sep 27, 2025

Open

Nice trail narrow at spots but a good ride with some slower sections to walk over the rocks this the vehicle.

Ron Karper

Sep 01, 2025

Open

Relatively dry today, large pools of standing water. I got followed all the way out to the main road by several horse flies, seems to be a lot in the region this time of year. Rocky for more than half the trail, narrow and hard to pick a line to avoid larger rocks here and there.

Marc Murach

Aug 03, 2025

Open

Plants are full grown and hanging over onto the trail, nothing than can't be managed, but expect lots of pinstripes! This also makes it difficult to stop and get out of the vehicle in many places. All the mudholes are full of water, but are crossable. Be careful as the water is standing and there does not appear to be much use on this trail, so you can't see what is beneath the surface. Heading from the Hunter Rd access to PA-235 you will be gaining elevation most of the way. Some areas are steep and most of the trail is very rocky.

Isaac g

May 31, 2025

Open

Stephen Arnold

May 26, 2025

Open

Trail is very tight, didnt need to folder mirrors but you will pick up pinstripes in a full size vehicle. 4lo will handle the track with ease but the easternmost mudhole was silty enough to need lockers on in the rear

Justin Bruch

Apr 19, 2025

Open

Matthew Fretz

Apr 18, 2025

Open

Definitely a tight trail so you’ll get some scratches, there were two mud puddles that were about 18” deep, otherwise a few rocky sections and a rocky climb.

Odalis Espinal

Dec 23, 2024

Open

Looks to be a fairly easy trail but the snow and ice definitely added to the difficulty. Stock Bronco Sasquatch was able to handle everything. Had to lock both front and rear diffs to get out of an icy mud hole.

Ron Karper

Nov 03, 2024

Open

Deepest mud hole was about a foot with a silty bottom in one spot but it was able to be bypassed. Overall not too bad, a lot of rocks, brush on both sides.

andy thomas

Oct 26, 2024

Open

henstep is very tight. from the start you'll be hitting the foliage on both sides of you vehicle. there are quite a few water holes. this time of year they were 18" or less deep except for one near the end that was still 24"+. there are multiple climbs that have 12-18" rocks.

PJ Ruggiero

Oct 22, 2024

Open

John Robert

Sep 08, 2024

Open