Wolf Rocks Trail in Laurel Summit State Park in Westmoreland County, PA is an enjoyable hike to an overlook with stunning views. Let’s take a closer look at the last time my family hiked here.

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Summary

  • Trailhead- Large trailhead parking area with bathrooms and picnic areas.
  • Distance and Difficulty – The specifics of this hike are not listed on the park’s website. But according to my Strava app (see below) we hiked about 2 miles to the overlook and looped back (a little over 4 miles round trip), but you can return on the same trail. The trail was rocky and had roots as expected, but it was fairly flat and wasn’t a very strenuous hike.
  • Kids Ages- 3 years and 1 year
  • Taking the Kids- My 3-year-old hiked some of the trails on his own but he wasn’t feeling himself that day and we ended up carrying him a good bit. We carried my 1-year-old so we took two backpacking child carriers.

Directions and Parking

Laurel Summit State Park is located fairly close to Ligonier, PA. Coming from Fayette County where we live, take 711 N and make a right on Darlington Rector Road. After about a mile, make a right on Linn Run Road continuing about 7.7 miles (passing Linn Run State Park). Keep left at the entrance to the park near the sign and continue to an open lot for parking at Wolf Rocks Trailhead.

The trailhead has bathrooms, picnic areas, and a map with information.

The Hike

It’s always a good idea to have a map on you. The route that we took is in pink (map from Laurel Summit State Park Hiking Map).

From the parking area, head toward the well-marked trailhead.

The trail is fairly flat but is rocky and has lots of roots. I always appreciate ankle support from my hiking boots.

It was about 2.0 miles to the overlook.

After we took in the view, we backtracked a short distance to a campsite to have our snacks so we could get the kids away from the cliff. Check out my recipes for peanut butter energy balls and pepperoni rolls, some of our go-to adventure snacks.

My three-year-old hiked some of the trail on his own. However, we ended up carrying him for the most part because he wasn’t feeling too well that day. We carried my youngest for the entire hike, so we took two backpacking child carriers with us. We have some old hand-me-down carriers.

It’s always a good idea to wear hunter orange during hunting season. We picked up some orange vests at Dick’s Sporting Goods and my kids wore orange reflective vests which we use all the time for hiking and playing outside in the dark in our neighborhood. I’ll also mention I love hats with ponytail holes so I wear this orange hat a lot when hiking during hunting season.

We could have easily hiked back the way we came on the Wolf Rocks Trail, but we decided to loop back. I would say the loop trail had some more ups and downs and the main trail was flatter, but I didn’t find the loop too strenuous.

Here is a breakdown of our hike for reference.

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I only have winter pictures here, but I must mention that Linn Run State Park might be worth a stop on before or after this hike. There is a playground at the Adam Falls Parking area, and it’s a short hike to beautiful Adams Falls (a 1-mile loop hike).

PA State Parks and State Forests Passport

Did you know there is a passport to track your travels in Pennsylvania’s State Parks and State Forests? They are usually for sale at a state park visitor center, or you can purchase them online. You can get a stamp for Laurel Summit State Park in addition to Linn Run State Park, and Laurel Mountain State Park at the Linn Run Visitor Center which is located 4 miles back down Linn Run road from the Wolf Rocks Trailhead.

I’m slightly obsessed with passports. If you missed your stamp for some reason, like if you didn’t know about the passports, the visitor center was closed, etc. please check out another post I created, National Park Passport Overview and What To Do When You Miss Your Stamp. This post describes how I track down stamps in the mail for our National Park Passports, and the same method has worked for tracking stamps for our PA passports.

We really enjoyed this beautiful overlook at Wolf Rocks on a gorgeous fall day.

If you found this post helpful, please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram (@adventureswkelly). I’d love to hear about and see your adventures at Wolf Rocks in Laurel Summit State Park!

Nearby Attractions

Here are some of our other favorite nearby hikes: