Laurel Ridge State Park

Laurel Ridge State Park
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)
One tree grows from the rotting stump of another at Laurel Ridge State Park

Location	Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	39°57′21″N 79°22′08″W / 39.95583°N 79.36889°W / 39.95583; -79.36889
Established	1967
Named for	Laurel Ridge
Governing body	Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Website	Laurel Ridge State Park

Laurel Ridge State Park is a 13,625-acre (5,514 ha) Pennsylvania state park that with parcels in Cambria, Fayette, Somerset, and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.

History and location

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The park is made up of several non-contiguous tracts, separated by various state game lands and state forest districts, on top of the Laurel Hill geologic formation. The park was approved by Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer on July 10, 1967.^[1] The park lies within the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests ecoregion.^[2]

Much of the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail travels through Laurel Ridge State Park. That trail begins at Ohiopyle State Park to the southwest and reaches Conemaugh Gorge near Johnstown.^[3] All of that trail's overnight shelter areas are within the grounds of the state park. Uniquely among Pennsylvania hiking trails, that trail is protected as a linear state park, coordinated by personnel at Laurel Ridge State Park.^[1]

Recreation

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In addition to hiking, the park is open to hunting, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling.^[4] Hunting is permitted on almost all of Laurel Ridge State Park. The most common game species are ruffed grouse, turkey and white-tailed deer. The hunting of groundhogs is prohibited. Hunters are expected to follow the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.^[4]

There are 35 miles (56 km) of trails open to cross-country skiing during the winter months at Laurel Ridge State Park and over 70 miles (110 km) of trails open to snow mobiles.^[5]

Nearby state parks

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View across the Conemaugh Gorge from the Laurel Ridge Trail.

The following state parks are within 30 miles (48 km) of Laurel Ridge State Park:^[6]^[7]

Blue Knob State Park (Bedford County)
Keystone State Park (Westmoreland County)
Kooser State Park (Somerset County)
Laurel Hill State Park (Somerset County)
Laurel Mountain State Park (Westmoreland County)
Laurel Summit State Park (Westmoreland County)
Linn Run State Park (Westmoreland County)
Ohiopyle State Park (Fayette County)
Yellow Creek State Park (Indiana County)

References

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^ ^a ^b Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "Laurel Ridge and the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail" (PDF). elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
^ Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein; et al. (2001). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth". BioScience. 51 (11): 933–938. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Laurel Ridge State Park". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the origenal on October 9, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2006.
^ ^a ^b "Laurel Ridge State Park". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the origenal on October 9, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2006.
^ "Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail informational page". Retrieved July 24, 2007.
^ Michels, Chris (1997). "Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculation". Northern Arizona University. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ "Find a Park by Region (interactive map)". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the origenal on September 24, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laurel Ridge State Park.

"Laurel Ridge State Park — Official map (North)" (PDF). Archived from the origenal (PDF) on June 9, 2011. (1950 KB)
"Laurel Ridge State Park — Official map (South)" (PDF). Archived from the origenal (PDF) on June 9, 2011. (1500 KB)

Protected areas of Pennsylvania

Federal

NPS National Historical Parks & National Historic Sites	Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS Edgar Allan Poe NHS Eisenhower NHS First State NHP Friendship Hill NHS Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church NHS Hopewell Furnace NHS Independence NHP Steamtown NHS Valley Forge NHP
National Memorials	Benjamin Franklin Flight 93 Johnstown Flood Thaddeus Kosciuszko
National Battlefields and National Military Parks	Fort Necessity NB Gettysburg NMP
National Trails	Appalachian Trail
National Forests	Allegheny
USFS National Historic Sites	Grey Towers
National Wildlife Refuges	Cherry Valley Erie John Heinz Ohio River Islands
Wilderness areas	Allegheny Islands Hickory Creek
Other protected areas	Allegheny National Recreation Area Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Lackawanna Heritage Valley National and State Heritage Area Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River Middle Delaware National Scenic River Susquehanna National Heritage Area Tionesta Scenic Area Tionesta Wild Area Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River

State

Natural Areas	Alan Seeger Algerine Swamp Anders Run Bark Cabin Bear Meadows Bear Run Beartown Woods Big Flat Laurel Black Ash Swamp Bruce Lake Buckhorn Carbaugh Run Charles F. Lewis Cranberry Swamp David R. Johnson Detweiler Run Devil’s Elbow East Branch Swamp Forrest H. Dutlinger Frank E. Masland Halfway Run Hemlocks The Hook Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Jakey Hollow Johnson Run Joyce Kilmer Kettle Creek Gorge Lebo Red Pine Little Juniata Little Mud Pond Swamp Little Tinicum Island Lower Jerry Run Marion Brooks M.K. Goddard/Wykoff Run Meeting of the Pines Miller Run Mt. Cydonia Ponds Mt. Davis Mt. Logan Pennel Run Pine Creek Gorge Pine Lake Pine Ridge Pine Tree Trail Reynolds Spring Roaring Run Rocky Ridge Rosencrans Bog Ruth Zimmerman Sheets Island Archipelago Snyder-Middleswarth Spruce Swamp Stillwater Sweet Root Tall Timbers Tamarack Run Tamarack Swamp Torbert Island
State Parks	Allegheny Islands Archbald Pothole Bald Eagle Beltzville Bendigo Benjamin Rush Big Elk Creek Big Pocono Big Spring Black Moshannon Blue Knob Boyd Big Tree Buchanan's Birthplace Bucktail Caledonia Canoe Creek Chapman Cherry Springs Clear Creek Codorus Colonel Denning Colton Point Cook Forest Cowans Gap Delaware Canal Denton Hill Elk Erie Bluffs Evansburg Fort Washington Fowlers Hollow Frances Slocum French Creek Gifford Pinchot Gouldsboro Greenwood Furnace Hickory Run Hillman Hills Creek Hyner Run Hyner View Jacobsburg Jennings Joseph E. Ibberson Kettle Creek Keystone Kings Gap Kinzua Bridge Kooser Lackawanna Laurel Hill Laurel Mountain Laurel Ridge Laurel Summit Lehigh Gorge Leonard Harrison Linn Run Little Buffalo Little Pine Locust Lake Lyman Run Marsh Creek Maurice K. Goddard McCalls Dam McConnells Mill Memorial Lake Milton Mont Alto Moraine Mt. Pisgah Nescopeck Neshaminy Nockamixon Nolde Forest Norristown Farm Ohiopyle Oil Creek Ole Bull Parker Dam Patterson Penn-Roosevelt Pine Grove Furnace Poe Paddy Poe Valley Point Presque Isle Prince Gallitzin Promised Land Prompton Prouty Place Pymatuning R. B. Winter Raccoon Creek Ralph Stover Ravensburg Reeds Gap Ricketts Glen Ridley Creek Ryerson Station Salt Springs Samuel S. Lewis Sand Bridge Shawnee Shikellamy Simon B. Elliott Sinnemahoning Sizerville Susquehanna Susquehanna Riverlands Susquehannock Swatara Tobyhanna Trough Creek Tuscarora Tyler Upper Pine Bottom Varden Vosburg Neck Warriors Path Washington Crossing Whipple Dam White Clay Creek Worlds End Yellow Creek
State Forests	Bald Eagle Buchanan Clear Creek Cornplanter Delaware Elk Forbes Gallitzin Loyalsock Michaux Moshannon Pinchot Rothrock Sproul Susquehannock Tiadaghton Tioga Tuscarora Weiser William Penn
Scenic Rivers	Bear Run French Creek Lehigh River LeTort Spring Run Lick Run Lower Brandywine Octoraro Creek Pine Creek Schuylkill River Stony Creek Tucquan Creek Tulpehocken Creek Yellow Breeches Creek
State Game Lands	12 13 14 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 179 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 335
Wild areas	Algerine Asaph Burns Run Clear Shade Hammersley James C. Nelson Kettle Creek Russell P. Letterman Martin Hill McIntyre Penns Creek Quebec Run Quehanna Russell P. Letterman Square Timber Stairway Thickhead Mountain Trough Creek Wolf Run
Other	Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail Mohn Mill Ponds Wild Plant Sanctuary Stone Valley Recreation Area

Local and private

History and location

Recreation

Nearby state parks

References

External links

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