Cook Forest geotrail feature

Cook Forest State Park is one of 25 stops on Pennsylvania’s new America250PA GeoTrail, putting one of the state’s best-known old-growth forests into a statewide scavenger hunt tied to the 2026 semiquincentennial. (pa.gov) The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said the GeoTrail launched on April 11, 2026 and runs through March 2028. The program uses geocaches — hidden containers found with coordinates — to guide visitors through parks while teaching state history. (pa.gov 1) (pa.gov 2) Cook Forest sits in Clarion and Forest counties and covers 8,500 acres, with another 3,136 acres in the Clarion River Lands. The park’s Forest Cathedral, a stand of white pines and hemlocks, is listed by the state as a National Natural Landmark. (pa.gov) The site fits the GeoTrail’s history theme because Cook Forest was bought in 1927 after the Cook Forest Association raised $200,000 toward a $640,000 purchase from A. Cook Sons Company. The state says it was Pennsylvania’s first state park acquired to preserve a natural area. (pa.gov) The park also gives casual visitors easier ways in than a backcountry hike. State trail pages list more than 47 miles of hiking trails, 4.3 miles of multi-use trails in the park, and a quarter-mile paved sensory trail designed for visitors with disabilities, including low or limited vision. (pa.gov) That sensory trail includes braille and raised-letter signs, a guide cable, benches, and a picnic area near the trailhead. The state calls it the first sensory trail in Pennsylvania’s state park system. (pa.gov) Cook Forest’s history extends beyond trees and trails. State records say John Cook arrived in 1826, settled there in 1828, and built sawmills that tied the area to the Clarion River logging economy; later, the Civilian Conservation Corps built cabins, roads, and trails that still shape the park. (pa.gov) The park’s better-known historic stops include Seneca Point and the 87.5-foot fire tower built in 1929, which the state says once gave firefighters a 15- to 20-mile view. Those landmarks help explain why Cook Forest works as both a nature stop and a history stop on the GeoTrail map. (pa.gov) For Pennsylvania’s 250th-anniversary campaign, Cook Forest offers a stop where the assignment is simple: find the cache, walk an easy trail if you want, and read the landscape as both preserved forest and preserved history. (pa.gov 1) (pa.gov 2)