Bureau of Forestry

Forbes Forest District 4

1291 Route 30, P.O. Box 519

Laughlintown, PA 15655-0519

Tele: (724) 238-1200 • Email: FD04@pa.gov

Website: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/forbes/index.htm

In the event of an emergency, contact a state forest employee or dial 911.

If you become lost: stop, stay calm, stay put, & dial 911. The further you walk the longer it will take to find you.

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TRAIL INFORMATION

North Loop—This 4.5 mile trail is located on the remains of old logging railroad grades and old skid trails. Painter Rock Trail—Points of interest along this 1.8 mile trail include abandoned fields reverting to forest, and a prominent rock break offering numerous vistas of the Roaring Run Valley. Roaring Run Trail—Located in the heart of the Natural Area, this 3.3 mile trail follows Roaring Run for most of its length. The main portion of the trail is located on an old logging railroad grade. South Loop—Most of this 1.9 mile trail is located on old logging roads and skid trails. Birch Rock Trail—This is a short trail of 0.7 miles, providing access to Birch Rocks. During periods of leaf-off, the ski slopes at Seven Springs Resort are visible. McKenna Trail—This 2.8 mile trail connects the parking lot at Route 31 to the heart of the Natural Area. Hillside Trail— 1.3 miles connecting Firetower Road and Painter Rock Road Tower Road Trail—1.4 miles in length

ROARING RUN NATURAL AREA

Located on the west slope of Laurel Ridge in West-moreland County, the 3,593 acre Roaring Run Nat-ural Area features a complete mountain stream pro-tected within its watershed. Most of the area is wooded, with second and third growth forests. There are a few recently abandoned fields, and some old fields which have completely reverted to forest. Roaring Run is formed by numerous springs near the summit of Laurel Ridge. The stream drops 1,220’ in elevation, over a length of 5 miles, before ending at its confluence with Indian Creek in the village of Champion. Roaring Run is designated as a Wilderness Trout Stream (PFBC) and Exceptional Value Stream (DEP). A history of repeated logging has caused the forest here to be quite varied in age and composition. Northern hardwoods can be found on northern ex-posures, valley bottoms, and in protected coves. On southern exposures and broad western faces of the ridge, a mixture of oak species occurs. Narrow bands of old chestnut oak occur along rock breaks, left by loggers because of their poor quality and the difficult location. Roaring Run was first completely logged in the early 1900’s when a railroad was built along Indian Creek, to the town of Jones Mills by the Indian Creek Valley Railroad. This line was then extended to Kregar by the Blair Brothers Railroad Company. A logging railroad was built along Roaring Run circa 1912 to 1916 by the Indian Creek Lumber Compa-ny. There is no record of additional logging opera-tions until the mid-1960’s when a large area was clear-cut on Painter Rock Hill. After logging, the land was sold to the Western Pennsylvania Con-servancy, then to the Commonwealth. Natural suc-cession in this area will be allowed to occur, and the area will be maintained in a relatively undisturbed state. Please see the map for the location of parking areas. The only restroom locations are at the Route 31 parking area .

ROARING RUN NATURAL AREA

Pennsylvania con-tains about 17 mil-lion acres of for-estland. Of this to-tal, over two million acres are in the state forest system, which is publicly owned and man-aged by the Depart-ment of Conserva-tion and Natural Re-sources, Bureau of Forestry. The Forbes State Forest comprises about 60,000 acres located in Westmoreland, Somerset, and Fayette Counties.

Roaring Run Natural Area

Camping is prohibited.

Access is limited to foot travel only. Mecha-nized, motorized, and other forms of travel are prohibited.

Fuel wood cutting is prohibited.

This area is a designated reptile and amphib-ian protection area.

Revised 1/2016

For more information

Check out ‘Forbes State Forest’ on Facebook!

Red—shared-use trails, usually with a narrower corridor and rockier tread. Open to non- motor

ized use.

Yellow—trails open to foot traffic ONLY such as hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing,

and snowshoeing.

Blue/Yellow—those shown as blue/yellow on map are open to foot traffic only but maintained

with a wider corridor and flatter tread for cross-country skiing,

TRAIL BLAZES

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Run Trail

Roari

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Road

CountyLine

Road

Fire Tower Ro ad

North Loop Trail

South Loop Trail

Hills ideTrail

To Jones MillsTo Bakersville

Pike Run

County Line Road

McKenna Trail

Roaring Run Trail

McKenna Trail

Hillside Trail

BirchRoc k Tr a il

Mt. StreamsMap

North WoodsMap

Lookout Loop

Cherry Trail

Red O

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Laurel HillState Park

Koring Tr.

Lookout Tr.

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No rth

Loop Trail

Painter Rock Trail

Roaring Run Trail

Roaring Run

Pain ter Rock Rd.

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Fire Tower Rd

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HiddenValleyResort

Tower Road Trail

Kooser State Park

Camp Run Road

SevenSpringsResort

Beltz Rd

Gardner Rd

Cou nty Line Road

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Roaring Run Natural Area

LegendTrail_Foot_Traffic_OnlyFoot_Ski_OnlyTrail_Shared_UseForbes State ForestState ParksContour LineStream

Natural AreaBoundary

!j ParkingHard Surface RoadAdministrative RoadImproved Gravel RoadState Highway