Take yourself to the old growth Forest Cathedral
Cook Forest State Park is a great option for camping and hiking (with your dog!) in Pennsylvania
Like a lot of people, I’m struggling with the boredom and loneliness of quarantine. For the first month or so it was all dog walks and trips to the grocery store. The nearby parks were crowded all the time by April, so at that point I allowed myself to venture further afield for day hikes. Places where it was easy to give everyone plenty of space.
Then last Wednesday that intense derecho storm rolled across Philadelphia and knocked down a ton of trees in my neighborhood. We lost power around noon and were still out on Friday morning. At that point it was like 90 degrees inside my house so we decided to flee to the mountains with our pug Chimichurri. I was not-so-secretly excited to have a good excuse for finally spending a couple of nights away from Philly.
A few years ago I found the Old Growth Forest Network when I was researching places to photograph in Pennsylvania. I keep a file of all the forests near me I want to visit and pulled this out when looking for a spot to camp. As luck would have it, Cook Forest State Park had a pet-friendly campsite available and was an easy five hour drive from Philly.
As always, we opened up Atlas Obscura to see what else was in the region and found Scripture Rocks Heritage Park along the way to Cook Forest.
Between 1908 and 1915 a local character named Douglas Stahlman carved Bible verses into boulders in a section of forest he came to often for prayer. As you walk the trails you can view the aged carvings now partially covered in moss and lichens, and you can read about Stahlman’s life on the park signage.
Then we stopped in nearby Brookville for groceries where I snapped this photo of the old Geo Reed Mining Co. building.
We were at our campsite at Ridge Campground by late afternoon. The campground has several loops of pull-in spots, most sites with some shade. All sites have a picnic table and fire ring. Some sites are electric, some allow pets. The bath houses have hot showers, a laundry room and a dish washing station.
What makes this campground special is the accessibility to some lovely, dog-friendly trails for evening or morning walks. From the campground, the Camp trail and the Corduroy Trail offer serene forest hikes just a few feet from your campsite.
We hopped on the Corduroy Trail our first evening and saw just one other person during our stroll.
On Saturday night we hiked about 1.5 miles on the Camp Trail and didn’t see another soul even though the campground was almost full.
Of course, the main reason we came to Cook Forest State Park is the Forest Cathedral, a stand of Old Growth white pine and hemlock trees. On Saturday morning, we were the only car to park in a little lot on Forest Road where we walked down some stairs and across a stream to stand inside the Cathedral.
The Forest Cathedral has several interconnecting trails weaving through it so you can make your hike as long or as short as you wish. In total, there are 47 miles of trails in the park, varying in difficulty.
We started off on the short Toms Run trail and hiked for about 6 miles total in the Forest Cathedral area. Stop at the park headquarters at the junction of Route 36 and Forest Road to pick up a trail map.
Since Cook Forest State Park is right on the Clarion River, we noticed that most people there were tubing, canoeing or kayaking. This was great because we had the trails mostly to ourselves, but next time we go we’ll try one of the paddling trips with an outfitter like Pale Whale.
Cook Forest is a beautiful place and well worth a weekend trip, especially during Covid when you need to stay socially-distant from others. Enjoy!
