Codorus State Park
Fat Bat Brewing Company
Outside of the borough of Hanover, PA sits Codorus State Park. It was built mostly as a lake (Marburg, so named for a village that was flooded) to supply water for a local paper mill that is still in operation. More than a 1000 acres of water and some 26 miles of shoreline are home to recreational opportunities ranging from fishing to kayaking to hiking trails and … mountain biking trails. All of this was made possible through collaboration and cooperation between local and state offices, as well as private enterprise, going back to the 1960s. This is not to negate the myriad challenges in making it happen, as well as managing it.
In 1994, I mountain biked it for the first time. Specifically, I rode the La Ho Trail, an almost 2 mile loop, getting in a few turns on an outing. Back then, there were no signs saying we couldn’t bike it. It didn’t take long, though, for those signs to appear. We kept riding it anyway. That’s how things were done then.
We would also ride the bridle trail system. In time, as expected, trail conflict became a more serious issue. It was unavoidable. Park managers had their hands full, to say the least.
Long story short, the La Ho Trail and all other established trails were off limits to mountain bikers. The good news is that a local bike shop (Kessler’s) and a few others took the lead in working with the park to set up a mountain biking trail system. In the early 2000s, that system was open to riding off of Bankert Rd.
If you link it all up, work your way around it, loop in and out and all around, and complete 2 laps or so, you can get in 10+ miles and get up around a 1000 feet of elevation gain. It’s trail systems like these that keep us sane, the places we go to before or after work, the hour or so we have to squeeze a ride in before a picnic, the pedal turning to burn off last night’s beers at the bar.
Hanover, PA is where the first skirmish of the U.S. Civil War occurred on northern soil, the day before the Battle of Gettysburg began. If you’re a Civil War buff planning to go to nearby Gettysburg, check out downtown Hanover, as well. While you’re there, check out Fat Bat Brewing Company.
There are three other local beer spots on/near the square: Something Wicked Brewing Company, Zeichen Des Pferdes Bierhaus, and The Circle. Not far away is another brewery, Aldus, and a restaurant/brewpub called Warehouse Gourmet. How does a little town support so many brew pubs/beer bars?
Kclingers, in my opinion, is the reason why. In its heyday, Kclingers was one of the best beer bars on the east coast and arguably the entire country. Two guys with a vision educated Hanover on beer, myself included, having one of the best selections (draft, cans, bottles) you could find anywhere. Alas, tax evasion did them in.
Hanoverians, though, never lost their love for a wide variety of beer. Hence, all of the offerings around town.
At Fat Bat, the vibe is super relaxed and the interior is pure class, to the point of keeping the markings on the walls noting which horses were stabled in which stalls, as the place at one point was a bit of an inn/stable.
Fat Bat? It’s the name of brew master’s pug. He, the human, along with his sister, are owners/operators of the brewery. Live music is a regular thing, spilling out onto the street and stopping passersby. Local beer = $ stays in the local economy. Studies prove it.
Hanover, PA. Small town America. Mountain bikes and beer. All across the country, there are these stories. In them, the trails and ales become memories that sometimes get translated into words.
We need more words.
Cheers, everyone.
