In the open
Park naturalists offer learning and fun outdoors this month.
Ben Moyer
Our seven regional state parks of the Laurel Highlands offer endless options for recreation and learning. If you were confined to never travelling beyond this region, you could still enjoy a lifetime of outdoor experience by visiting Laurel Ridge, Laurel Hill, Laurel Summit, Kooser, Keystone, Linn Run, and Ohiopyle state parks. When Laurel Caverns becomes the eighth state park of the Laurel Highlands, as planned, few regions east of the Mississippi River will offer such a dense and diverse concentration of conserved public space for outdoor recreation and education.
Laurel Hill State Park near Somerset is offering two instructional sessions that will enhance participants’ understanding and enjoyment of the region, especially in winter, a time when the Laurel Highlands surpasses other parts of the state in outdoor experience.
You’ll need to make up your mind and hurry for the first of these programs. At 11 am. on Saturday, Jan. 10, park naturalists at Laurel Hill State Park will lead a 1.5-mile hike along Hemlock Trail through the park’s unique old-growth hemlock stand. Some of the immense hemlock trees within this stand may be more than 400 years old. These trees were seedlings when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in present-day Massachusetts.
“Old growth forest makes up a very small portion of our forest type in Pennsylvania. We are working toward more stands of old growth, but that takes significant time,” said Kim Peck, environmental education specialist at Laurel Hill. “We are very protective of what we have at Laurel Hill. It is unique to find a stand of old-growth that is so accessible for hiking.”
Nearly all of Pennsylvania’s original hemlock forests were logged during the 19th century, but the 6-acre old-growth stand at Laurel Hill escaped cutting because of rough surrounding terrain and a last-minute effort to conserve some hint of Penns Woods’ past grandeur.
Beginning in 1935, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration began buying “sub-marginal” farm and forest land so that it might be saved for better use than the wasteful logging practices of the time. In 1936 the National Park Service assumed responsibility for some of these lands as Recreational Demonstration Areas. The land that would become Laurel Hill State Park was one of five areas in Pennsylvania targeted for reforestation, camping, and picnicking. The surviving old-growth hemlock stand was within that tract.
Soon after, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Forests and Waters (now Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources-DCNR) invited the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC, which provided work during the Great Depression) to build trails and camping facilities at Laurel Hill. Two-hundred young men worked there when there was little work to be had elsewhere. Eventually the 4,512-acre tract became Laurel Hill State Park.
Saturday’s Hemlock Hike is an opportunity to learn more about Pennsylvania’s official state tree-the eastern hemlock. As an evergreen conifer, hemlock provides vital winter cover to wildlife, and more than two-dozen native birds rely on hemlock stands for sheltered nest sites. Shade from hemlock’s dense foliage and its habit of growing along stream corridors keeps creeks cool enough in summer to support wild trout that were never stocked from a hatchery.
Sadly, this valuable tree is in trouble throughout its range in eastern North America, including the Laurel Highlands. An invasive insect pest-hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA)-has already killed most hemlocks in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and the scourge is advancing northward. Most hemlock stands in western Pennsylvania are now infested with HWA, but fortunately our region has not yet seen the widespread mortality among hemlocks that has ravaged southern regions. The only natural defense against HWA is extremely cold weather, so hope for the Polar Vortex.
Naturalists will explain hemlock’s ecological importance and attempts to conserve hemlock in western Pennsylvania during the hike. Interested hikers should meet at the Hemlock Trailhead, near the bridge across the upstream limit of Laurel Hill Lake, at 11 am. There is no charge for attending, but participants are advised to wear sturdy footwear and dress for the weather along the trail.
“I hope participants find an appreciation for the habitats in their local parks and their own backyard,” Peck said. “I also hope that folks connect to the space and bring others to enjoy it and maybe share a new idea they learned while hiking with me.”
Even if you can’t attend the formal hike, the Hemlock Trail is always open to hiking, at no charge.
There’s more time to plan for Laurel Hill’s Cross-Country Ski Demo Day on Saturday, Jan. 24. From 1-3 pm, park naturalists will offer instruction in Nordic (cross-country) skiing, which always enjoys an upswing in popularity around the Winter Olympics, and 2026 is an Olympic year.
Ski equipment will be provided for participants (no charge, but first come, first served). Laurel Hill’s naturalists advise attendees to dress for the weather and to meet at the Trent Pavilion at the Trent Picnic Area immediately south of the main park entrance along Copper Kettle Highway (SR 3029) any time between 1 and 3 pm. If there is no snow, there’s no skiing.
Laurel Hill State Park’s address is 1454 Laurel Hill Park Road, Somerset, PA 15501. For more information about these programs and other park offerings call 814-445-7725. A complete list of winter educational programs at state parks is available on DCNR’s website: www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr.