Hemlock Trail Natural Area

Hemlock Trail is a part of Laurel Hill State Park over in Somerset County - take the turnpike to the Donegal exit and follow the signs. If you enter via to the main park road from S.R. 3037, the trailhead is just past a small parking lot that is just before the bridge over Laurel Hill Creek. It's in kind of a trough, so watch the winter visits (I thought I was going to have to call a tow truck...).

The Natural Area itself is only about six acres, but is certainly worth the mile or so walk, as it is just about the only major stand of pre-European, old growth Eastern Hemlock in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Its existance is one of those great accidents of history - the rest of the original trees in what has become the park were clearcut, but the six acres in question were just too difficult for the loggers to access. Now the 400 year old trees are huge, and there's always something special about old growth areas. Of course, this is the Laurel Highlands, so mountain laurel and rhododendron thickets are abundant, and Laurel Hill Creek itself is quite a site to behold.