Ben Moyer

Our seven regional state parks of the Laurel Highlands offer endless options for recreation and learning. If you were confined to never travelling beyond this region, you could still enjoy a lifetime of outdoor experience by visiting Laurel Ridge, Laurel Hill, Laurel Summit, Kooser, Keystone, Linn Run, and Ohiopyle state parks. When Laurel Caverns becomes the eighth state park of the Laurel Highlands, as planned, few regions east of the Mississippi River will offer such a dense and diverse concentration of conserved public space for outdoor recreation and education.

Friday brought us what we call “the first day of spring.” But announcing spring is an arbitrary declaration, as we saw by last week's weather. The latest date I've seen snow flurries in our local mountains is June 2, 1977. Spring, like all the seasons, can be hard to pin down.

Friends of Jim Tobal, in cooperation with South Union Township, will again offer a youth fishing experience this spring at the township’s Community Park, Hutchinson Recreation Area. The event honors Jim Tobal venerated local educator, outdoorsman, and conservationist. Youths aged 16 and under are invited to fish for trout in Hutchinson Run, the stream that […]

Don’t expect the wide-open space of big-box retail, and the parking lot is rougher, and smaller, than the mega-stores. But if you long for a shopping experience enhanced by warm smiles, honest tips on the hottest bait, amazing inventory, and a sincere wish of good luck, there’s only one place to go for fishing tackle […]

Anyone who doubts the importance of trails to a region’s attractiveness to visitors could experience attitude-adjustment by stopping at the Summit Inn this weekend. The Keystone Trails Association (KTA), a statewide hiking group with 1,000 members, is gathering there atop Chestnut Ridge, April 30-May 3, for its annual Spring Hiking Weekend. Since 1956, KTA has […]

It’s National Safe Boating Week. From May 16-22, state fishery and boating agencies, boating trade groups, US Coast Guard, and the US Army Corps of Engineers will be celebrating safe boating, reminding boaters of safe practices on the water and, unfortunately, summarizing the past year’s fatal boating accidents. That last item is to drive home […]

One of many enjoyable aspects of being an “outdoor person” is that you get to do things some might consider risky — like risking a specially-made keepsake fishing lure.

This goes a long way back into the past, but it's the only way to introduce a story that grows timelier and more relevant today. It's the story of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, Pennsylvania.

This writer has been around long enough to recall when Greene County was not considered “deer country.” Deer lived in the mountains.

The Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT) tracks the spine of Laurel Ridge for 70 miles from Johnstown to Ohiopyle. This year marks the popular path's 50-year anniversary.