About LakePA 100
Who publishes it.
LakePA 100 is an independent, commercial publication of WeldonPC, based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is not run by, affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency, park, lake owner, club or the Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation's Passport or See Them All Challenge. The “.org” is just the address; LakePA 100 is not a nonprofit, society, association or foundation.
Why it exists.
Paddlers piece lake details together from the Fish and Boat Commission, DCNR state park pages, Corps of Engineers pages and county parks. LakePA 100 puts the put-ins, parking, boat-traffic rules and permits for each lake on one page, with the source and the date for every fact.
How the 100 were chosen.
We started from every Pennsylvania lake that public data shows with a public access area, state park lake, Corps of Engineers lake or Game Commission lake with a Fish and Boat Commission access point. A lake stays in only if unpowered boats are allowed, a source documents a public put-in you can use with a hand-carried boat, a source gives its size as 20 acres or more, it is an inland Pennsylvania lake, and it has no dated closure or drawdown for the season. From those, each of the six regions gets at least 12; at least 50 must be Quiet Water and no more than 25 Big Water. Ties go to lakes with more put-ins, then quieter water, then a shorter distance to the nearest city. Up to 30 more qualifying lakes become alternates, including lakes with a closure notice. The list is numbered west to east within each region, and the numbers don't change during a season.
This season: 100 list lakes and 29 alternates; 79 list lakes are Quiet Water and 15 are Big Water.
What "Checked" means.
“Checked” and a month, such as “Checked Oct 2026”, is when we last compared a lake's facts with the cited sources. We don't visit lakes. If a lake goes more than 12 months without a re-check, its page shows an amber “Due for a re-check” badge. Notices expire on their own date, and lake pages never print prices or say a lake is open or safe.
How it makes money.
The list, lake pages, tracker and rules are free. We sell printable PDFs — a Field Log, a wall map, certificates and a group pack — and that's all. No ads, no paid placements, no affiliate links, no data sales.
Where the shapes come from.
Lake silhouettes are drawn from the U.S. Geological Survey's National Hydrography Dataset, and the maps from U.S. Census Bureau county boundaries — both public domain.
Contact.
We don't run an inbox: every order task is self-serve on the Help page, and payment problems go to PayPal's Resolution Center.