William H. Kain County Park

Abby and I went for a walk today at the William H. Kain County Park in York, PA.  From the brochure at their pavilion, it was established in 1976 from an agreement between the County of York and the York Water Company and named after the water company president at the time.  The park offers Fishing at both Lake Redman and Lake Williams, boating, pavilion rentals, picnicking, a playground, volleyball, horseshoe pits, hunting and a stage.

We hiked several pieces of different trails, some of them could be done independently.  The trails that receive the most use were well marked and mostly cleared of fallen trees.  Some of those that did not appear to be well used were not marked well, or at all, and not cleared of fallen trees.  Following is the route we took (minus those areas which we walked that ended up being very long wrong way's).

We parked at the Water Street parking area (if you only want to do trail loop 1 or 2, use the parking area on George Street across from Redman Dam).  This is a large area with parking for vehicles with boat trailers attached and standard size vehicles.  There are also restrooms and picnic tables.  When you arrive, drive around the area for boat parking.  When you get to the far end and turn back toward where you started your loop, if you look to the left, there is the trail head you are about to use marked with a 4.  Return to where you started your loop, cross the road and park near the restrooms.

Walk back to the trail head and start up the hill.  Before long, you come to an open area and have the option to go straight, turn right or turn left.  Turn left here and follow the trail along Lake Williams.  When you come to the fork, you will see a very confusing trail marker with a 3 and a 4 -and the both appear to go two directions.  Stay left here, continuing around the lake.  Trust me, if you go right, you climb a hill that you really don't want to climb.

As you make your way around the lake, you will begin to hear the traffic on George Street and start to climb a hill.  When you get to the top, turn left and walk along George Street.  About half way down the hill, you have a choice.  You will see a yellow gate across the road from you that connects to a stone path leading up to the dam.  You can cross the road here and do the balloon loop or continue down the road to the parking area.  We chose to do the balloon loop, so we crossed the road and walked across Lake Redman Dam.

When you get to he far end of the dam, bear right and proceed up trail 1.  Going up this side allows for a fairly straight walk on a wide path up the hill.  You will pass a trail marker for Trail 7 - do not take that branch.  Continue up the hill under the power lines and around the left turn, where you will see the power lines again.  Even though it is a climb, the view at the top is worth it.

Continue following trail 1 down the other side of the ridge line through a series of switchbacks and you will end up across from where you started.

 Walk back across the dam and return to your starting point.  Hubby was goose hunting this day, so he was unable to join us.  We took this picture so he knew we found what he was hunting for:

When you get back to George Street, cross the road and turn right.  Walk until you come to a parking area.  You will see a path behind the guardrail marked with a 2 - follow this trail across the end of the lake and turn left into the grass.  Follow the edge of the lake until you see a left turn with a number 2 trail marker.  Follow this trail up the hill and around the end of the lake - you should not bear right onto 2 C.  Going up the hill allows for a nice view from above the lake and Abby found lots of things to sniff.

You will go back down hill to lake level and bear right, continue to parallel the lake.  At this time, you can see the bottom of the dam you crossed to take trail 1.

Continue to enjoy the easy walk around the lake until you find Belle's Bench.

Just Past Bell's Bench, you find the trail marker for 2A.  Continue past this entrance, staying on trail 2.  According to the map provided at the pavilion, trail 2A is a loop.  By continuing on trail 2, we did pass the next connector of 2A, but I cannot vouch for the trail quality or if it has been cleared of fallen debris.  If you take this trail, let me know.  After you pass the second marker for 2A, you will come to a right turn marked 2.  You can make this turn, but it is a rocky climb.  I suggest going straight here and taking the next trail on the right marked 2.  CAUTION - while you could, according to the map, travel straight to trail 2B, I found that this area is not well marked, found several dead ends where the trail was blocked by trees and ended up doing a big circle just to climb hill 2 again.  What started as a 6.2 mile hike ended up at about 9.5.

Sorry, back to hill 2, climb the hill to a T and turn left.  Follow trail 2 until you see the yellow gate.  Here, you can turn left and it will take you to water street OR you can go straight through the gate to water street.  Either way, turn left onto water street.  There is no sidewalk and people were not driving the posted speed limit, but it is not a horribly busy road and I did not feel uncomfortable, even walking a dog.  Cross the dam at the bottom of Lake Williams (labeled 'One Lane Bridge') and continue walking on Water Street for about 3/4 mile until you see a picnic area on your left.  Walk along the top of the picnic area, staying on the road past the guardrails at the end of the area.  Shortly, you will see a break in the guardrail and a path through the trees to the left.  Take this trail to the next road, turn left onto that road and follow it to the parking area.

I believe there is a path from the top of the picnic area to this same road, but I did not travel that way, so I cannot say for sure.  If you have been there, or if you take this hike, let me know.