Clarion River at Cook Forest

The place that I run very often, within a stone's throw from my home, is along the Clarion River along a road that follows the river or along backcountry roads from Cook Forest to Ridgway in northwestern Pennsylvania. It is a good place to stretch one's legs – and spirit – in a land that the local's affectionately refer to as God's Country. It is the land of my parents and a good place to run out the end of my days.

Before Europeans found this beautiful country it was the home of the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. The introduction of Anglos to the region was by a Moravian missionary who ventured here in 1757 to attempt to enjoin the forces of the Seneca peoples with the efforts of the British in the French and Indian War. The locals declined the offer and joined with the French instead. The English prevailed in the war and eventually purchased the land from the Iroquois.

The first permanent non-native settler in the area was John Cook in 1826, who established a one-story log home with his young wife along the Clarion River at the mouth of Tom's Run in what is now Cooksburg, a part of Cook Forest State Park. I run past the site of the old homestead frequently on my forays in the park. John purchased 765 acres in the area and built the first of many water-driven sawmills. Logging with oxen, he worked his mills, rafting logs down the Clarion River to the Allegheny River and ultimately to Pittsburgh until his death in 1858, whereupon his son Anthony continued the business.

My father came to this part of Pennsylvania in 1931, and was raised by two men who had made a life as rugged raftsmen on the Clarion River – Bill and Dave Henderson. I grew up as a little boy hearing stories of life in the 1800's on the river. It was enough to keep a wide-eyed kid awake half the night listening to adventures of a time long gone. It is often I reflect on this historical perspective as I make tracks where pioneers once labored to tame the land.

The Cooks and others mainly harvested giant white pine trees in the mighty “Black Forest”, as it was called. Second growth forests that followed lumbering contain a richer diversity of hardwoods today than the original white pines and hemlocks. Red, white, black, and scarlet oaks, chestnut, and lesser amounts of red maple, cherry, birch, beech, and tulip trees made up most of the new growth. Out of respect for the beauty of the forest, much of the original Cook property was never forested and remains virgin to this day, donated to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the public to enjoy the way it was in perpetuity.

Cook Forest State Park now encompasses 8500 acres and along with its sister, Clear Creek State Park of 1444 acres, provides me many miles of pristine trails and backroads to run and hike. Most days, I can run outside my back door and enjoy the wildness of long ago in both parks in just a few steps. There is no place I travel to that I enjoy more than the world outside my own back door. I call it paradise. I'd tell you more, but the trails are calling... and I must go!