Laurel Highlands Trail, the Disappearing Overlook at about Mile 7.7

Such a beautiful day to spend in the Laurel Highlands.  It’s been a dry April, and the temperatures have alternated between unseasonably hot and unseasonably cold, but today was perfect. The trees are just beginning to bud in the uplands.  This is a shot of Sugarloaf Knob—which I’ve climbed—as seen from a certain disappearing overlook between miles 7 and 8 on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail.

I call it “The Disappearing Overlook” because it doesn’t seem to have any other name, and I’m sure it’s only visible November through April.  It disappears for sure in the high summer, when the trees are in full leaf.  And yet, it’s a better view than the one you get from Brent’s Overlook, which is both year-round and named.

I began at Jersey Hollow Road and passed from mile marker 11 southward well beyond mile marker 8, at the narrow Augustine Road through the state game lands.  I turned around just before the long, steep descent into the Ohiopyle shelter area.  With the extra little distances I walked here and there, it ended up an 8-mile hike today, about four miles out and then back.

Actually, I stopped just short of the southernmost 8 miles of the Laurel Highlands Trail, which are the craziest and most difficult stretch of all 70 miles--enormous elevation changes in very short distances.  The rock formations between miles 11 and 8 are pretty impressive.  In fact, I came through this area some years ago to explore one of the rock cities.

Just behind this large boulder, there’s a vast field of enormous stones with crevasses and craggy canyons in between.  

But the highlight of this trip by far was the view of Sugarloaf Knob from a very short side trail just south of mile marker 8.  As I’ve explored the Laurel Highlands Trail, it’s occurred to me that I’ve already covered most of its 70 miles in day hikes.  Much of it will feel familiar when I do the whole thing in one fell swoop in July.