Karen and I take social distancing seriously and have not been out of the house much since March. We do go camping as often as we can fit it in and have had less than a handful of meals at outdoor locations. Since we aren’t visiting shops or restaurants (or breweries) when we travel, we have turned our attention more to hiking. These are typically between 2 to 6 mile hikes at State Parks near our campsite.
While camping in Somerset, Pennsylvania in October, we tried to visit a different park every day. We did end up making two trips to Ohio Pyle since we felt we had more we wanted to explore after our first visit, but every other day was a new location. I think we hiked a total of 20 miles over 6 days. We aren’t hard core hikers, and we prefer loop trails the most. Don’t get me wrong, we do enjoy the occasional climb or rocky path, but we did meet our match once trying to reach a waterfall in New Hampshire.
One hike we really enjoyed was at Laurel Summit State Park. The park is off of Linn Run Road near Ligonier, PA and has a few trails to pick from with two that make a nice loop with a scenic view of the valley half way through.
We approached the park from the Somerset side of the mountain (most people probably come from the Donegal side) so our drive was mostly rough dirt roads that have no winter maintenance (the road was so bad that Karen insists I have a “Jeep” mode on the GPS – I wish).
The “Wolf Rocks Trail (or “Wolf Rocks Loop”) is rated moderate and is a little over 4 miles long. There is not much of an elevation change but several very rocky areas to transverse. There are a few small side trails that we also explored. The view at Wolf Rocks is obviously the star of this hike but you will also enjoy an intimate path though thick rhododendron. We found a couple large rocks to climb on that where almost placed like a basement foundation, but the surprise was a small campsite within several feet of the trail that included stone seats around the fire pit.
One of the things we love as we get older is seeing older couples still sharing their time together. On this hike, there was an elderly couple who decided to attempt the loop. We were on the way out, they were on the way in. The woman was handicapped. Her partner forged ahead to ensure the footing was safe for her. It was obvious that this wasn’t their first rodeo.
There are lots of comments in other trail reviews about keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes and fortunately it was a brisk October day and we didn’t see any of those. I think overall this is a favorite and we will visit again.
Oh, and can’t forget Karen’s encounter with a toad. Not sure which (Karen or the toad) enjoyed the moment more. (Still learning how to include video, sorry if it is slow, click below to view)
