Linn Run & Laurel Hill State Parks
Road Trip Through Pennsylvania | Hiking in Linn Run & Laurel Hill State Parks | Camping on Tuscarora Mountain in Buchanan State Forest | April 2025
Today was our last full day on the road before checking in to Curtis’ next assignment, and we had just under 4 hours of driving to do. We enjoyed a slow start to our morning before getting on the road and heading East into West Virginia. Our route through Eastern Ohio and the tiny sliver of WV between OH and PA was very efficient in that we ended up filling in a large gap that included 5 OH counties and 2 in WV — and we relished that feeling, knowing that we wouldn’t be getting any more new counties while in PA since we finished the state last year. We entered PA, then made our way around the South side of Pittsburgh and met up with I-76.
Since we had so much time on our hands and had a reserved campsite for tonight, we decided to get off the interstate to visit a couple of state parks on the way. We knew we needed some time in the mountains and forests now because we would be in the greater Philadelphia area for almost a month after this! We decided to explore more of the Laurel Highlands region of PA and made our way North of the interstate to Linn Run State Park for our first little hike. The parking area was a bit busier than we expected for a Monday morning, but the trails weren’t busy at all. At first we started going up to the trail that went to Adams Falls, but Charlotte changed her mind and decided she instead wanted to walk to Slide Rock. I let Curtis continue to Adams Falls and go look for a letterbox while I accompanied Charlotte on her chosen hike. Curtis met up with us not long after and reported that we didn’t miss much, that the view point for Adams Falls wasn’t in the ideal and location and the falls themselves weren’t that impressive. So I guess Charlotte knew what she was doing in changing our plans!
The hike to Slide Rock was easy on a wide, mostly flat trail, and passed by some ruins on the way. While it wasn’t called a waterfall, Slide Rock was almost like a long cascading set of falls going over the large rocky area. It was so cool, and we enjoyed wandering around and letting Charlotte wade in the water. Maybe if it were a little warmer, we would have joined her. This whole area was just gorgeous, between the rushing stream and the greenery. We stayed for a while before eventually making our way back to the van.
Our next stop was Laurel Summit State Park, though we mostly just stopped at the pavilion here to have a quiet lunch, and Curtis went in search of a letterbox. The road from here back to the interstate was a little rough, not quite what we were expecting, but we made it back down safely. We got back on I-76 and continued to our reserved campsite for the night.
We had reserved a spot on the top of Tuscarora Mountain, which featured a great overlook to the North and East, and was conveniently on Curtis’ list of prominent peaks. When we reached the overlook, we spread out a blanket in the shade and sat outside enjoying the rest of the afternoon. We read, walked Charlotte, and had dinner here before driving over to the ‘official’ campsite near the communications tower. We’ve stayed in Buchanan State Forest before, and felt very fortunate to be able to reserve this specific site up on the mountain for the night!
The next morning, we completed our morning routine and then hit the road for our final 3 hours of driving. We made it to Southeastern PA and checked in to our new home for the month, which was actually in a different area from where we had stayed before More on that, coming up next!
