Linn Run and Laurel Summit State Parks

 Linn Run State Park is beautiful but tiny.  There's a small village of cabins for rent, two picnic areas, a few miles of trails, and that's it.  It's mostly just the pretty woodland adjacent to Linn Run Road, pictured above, but it also serves as the jumping-off place for backpacking adventures into this segment of the Forbes State Forest.

And yet, Linn Run State Park is deluxe compared to Laurel Summit State Park.  This second park is exactly what its name implies: the summit of Laurel Ridge, the long, low hill that stretches southwest to northeast from Maryland almost to Johnstown.  Laurel Summit State Park is only six acres in size and consists of nothing but two parking lots, a primitive latrine, and a picnic pavilion, seen here.  Like, Linn Run, this place is little more than a trailhead for some great hikes in the Forbes.  I secretly collect state parks.  We've got 120 in the state, and these tiny sections of the forest make two more to add to my collection.  (To wit, there are four state parks named "Laurel," and they're all on this ridge.  There's a Laurel Hill State Park, which is big and beautiful and featured somewhere below on this blog.  There's a Laurel Ridge State Park, which is mostly just a long, narrow collection woodlots that have been patched together on the ridgeline of this hill so that the storied Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail can pass through trees instead of strip mines.  There's a Laurel Mountain State Park, which apparently consists mainly of a ski lodge and slopes.  And finally there's this little place, Laurel Summit State Park, a very remote picnic area.)