Area Guide

Fall in the Pennsylvania Wilds hits different. The Clarion River turns gold under the hemlocks, the mornings get crisp enough for a flannel, and you want to be out in a f…

Most people who visit Cook Forest State Park never realize it has a waterfall. That is because Henry Run Falls does not show up on the official park map, and it sits deep…

Picking between a treehouse and a cabin for your Cook Forest trip is one of the most fun little decisions you get to make when you plan a stay out here. We are Michael an…

Fall in Cook Forest is our favorite season. The hemlocks stay deep green, the maples along the Clarion River turn gold and red, and the mornings smell like woodsmoke and …

After a long day on the trails, in the river, or up the fire tower, there is nothing quite like ending it with a glass of dry red on a wooded patio or a flight of local I…

Some of our favorite nights at Hemlock Haven Retreats have not happened at sunrise or at the campfire. They have happened long after dark, when the sky above the forest t…

Some summers, you do not need a packed itinerary or a long flight. You need quiet, a river, and a few days where nobody is staring at a screen. That is the kind of summer…

When people plan a trip to Cook Forest, most of them spend all of their time inside the state park. We get it. The old hemlocks are magical, the river is calm, and the tr…

We have been hosting families at Hemlock Haven Retreats for eight years, and the question we hear most often before a trip is some version of “what do we actually n…

The Clarion River is the soul of our part of Pennsylvania. It winds through tall hemlocks, past quiet farms, and through some of the prettiest old-growth woods east of th…