Backpacking the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail

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Backpacking the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail

A view in Ohiopyle State Park

Length: 70 mile linear trail from Seward, PA to Ohiopyle State Park

Time of my hike: Late June, 2025

Blazes: Yellow. Side trails are blue.

Governing office: Laurel Ridge State Park

The state park offers a quality map with mileage, elevation profile, and parking areas.

Parking: The trail has well-developed parking areas and trailheads at most major road crossings. Seward parking area is at about 40.408911, -79.005835 . Ohiopyle is at about 39.872430, -79.494002 . There is a registration kiosk at both of those trailheads.

Trail conditions: Overall, pretty good. Trail was easy to follow. There are brushy sections, and others were mowed. There are some wet and muddy areas. Most trail junctures have signs and the trail has small concrete mile markers.

Camping: Camping is restricted to the shelter areas, which require reservations.

Shelters: There are eight shelter areas, each with five shelters, pit toilets, tenting areas, fire rings, bear poles to hang food, and garbage receptacles. Shelters have a fireplace and are not huge; they can hold four people. Cut firewood may also be available. By backpacking standards, the LHHT is a full-service trail.

Reservations: This trail is unique in that you must make reservations to camp at the shelters or tent sites. When making your itinerary, select all your dates and sites and make one reservation, do not make a separate reservation for each night. This will save you money with the reservation fees. Website for reservations.

Water: Generally plentiful, but the northern 20ish miles can be dry depending on conditions. Creeks and water become more common as you head south. There is a water pump at each shelter area (except Grindle Ridge, which was broken at the time of my hike). However, it can be a challenge to operate and fill your water bottles using the pump by yourself. Route 31 shelter area’s pump had iron in the water. You need to filter water from all pumps. There is also a spigot on the trail near Seven Springs with potable water, which I’m sure is not operational in winter. There is a creek south of Seven Springs that is contaminated (Blue Hole Creek, I believe) and should not be drank from, even if filtered. There were signs on my hike.

Amenities: Besides the shelters, the trail goes through Seven Springs and there was a sign telling hikers about a restaurant and lodge, so I presume those are things hikers could utilize.

Resupply: There is one store near the trail, and near the mid-point. Highlands Market has food and I heard may even accept resupply boxes. Backpackers should try to support local businesses, as they will then be more likely to support trails.

Difficulty: Moderate to challenging.

Terrain: You’d think a ridgetop trail would be easy, but the LHHT is not quite that. It has sneaky elevation gain and loss with hilly terrain. There are also long cruisey sections. The section through Ohiopyle State Park is the most challenging and the trail does get steep.

What direction should you go? I think there is no question you should go north to south. The climb out of Seward is more forgiving than the one out of Ohiopyle. You save the best scenery for the end. And you get to end your hike in beautiful Ohiopyle.

Forests: Primarily open hardwoods with ferns and laurel. Forests become more diverse as you head south with some areas of hemlocks and rhododendrons.

Bridges! I never hiked a trail with so many footbridges. Almost any creek, large, small, or even a ditch, had a wooden footbridge. Some were rather large and impressive. I’d even call the bridges a feature of the trail.

When to hike: Mid June for mountain laurel blooms. May to early June for wildflowers. October for fall colors. If you’re up for the challenge, the shelters make this trail a good winter hike.

Best section: Don’t want to hike the whole thing? I’d say the southern 32 miles, from Route 31 to Ohiopyle has the best and most diverse scenery.

Highlights: A few views, rock formations, giant boulders, rock grottos and mazes, scenic streams, good isolation in parts of the trail, a pond, small cascades and falls. Shelter areas and amenities as discussed above. Bridge over the turnpike. Fern glades. The rock features, beginning south of PA 271 and becoming more common in the south, might be the finest highlights of the trail. Best views are in Ohiopyle State Park.

Issues: Some shelter areas have road noise, few views for a trail this long, no sizeable waterfalls. Trail has some pointless ups and downs. Few creeks in the northern part of the trail. Some areas have nettle in the summer.

Brief Description: The Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT) is the most famous backpacking trail in western Pennsylvania. It is unique in that it offers a lot of amenities and also requires reservations for camping. It definitely holds a special place among hikers in the western part of the state.

We went from Seward to Ohiopyle. The climb from Seward was long but not too hard. We went into some rhododendron tunnels, had a view at a powerline and another over Johnstown. The trail became cruisey with hardwoods and fern meadows. South of PA 271, we saw the first rock mazes, which were a highlight. They seemed to appear suddenly on the trail. The terrain became more hilly with small stream valleys.

The huge rock face of Beam Rocks appeared through the trees and we took the side trail to the top to enjoy the view. Hiking over the turnpike was a cool experience, and the trail became hillier to PA 31. Hiking the ski slopes at Seven Springs offered fine views and reminded me of hiking across ski resorts on the Colorado and Long Trails. Seven Springs seems to be hiker friendly. We missed Lake Tahoe, a ridgetop lake just off trail.

After some hills, the trail became very cruisey after Grindle Ridge Shelter Area. There are two fine views from cliffs, looking west. These are the second-best views on trail. Lower hills return and the trail passes a serene, isolated pond. The scenery picked up with beautiful streams, hemlock and pine forests, and boulder cascades. As we hiked through State Game Lands 111, there were many boulders, ledges, and rock grottos. Springs trickled and cascaded from the mossy rocks. It was very scenic and a highlight of the trail.

There was a very steep descent to the Ohiopyle Shelter Area, possibly the most scenic and isolated. The shelters are in a gorge above a tumbling creek. The trail through the state park was more rugged, with steeper climbs and descents, and several creek crossings on wooden plank bridges. The LHHT then ends with a bang–superb views over the Youghiogheny River with mountains towering in the distance. The trail descended and ended in Ohiopyle.

For our hike, we wanted to end at Ohiopyle Falls. So, we hiked to the falls, making that our southern terminus.

Ohiopyle State Park is an amazing place that you should explore. And the town has restaurants and cafes, making it perfect for an end-of-hike celebration.

Overall, the LHHT was a great hike. It was nice to return and thruhike it. If you haven’t backpacked it yet, get out there!!