Near the Cambria County line, PA 36 has the first of five wrong-way concurrencies with PA 53 for a block in the hamlet of Ashville. West of the hamlet, PA 36 proceeds on a northwest direction into Clearfield County. Between the county line and the village of Mahaffey, PA 36 mostly runs parallel on the eastern banks of the Chest Creek. From Mahaffey to McGees Mills, PA 36 is overlapped with U.S. Route 219 along the northern banks of the West Branch Susquehanna River.