If you’ve ever been to the Tubs you’ve most likely seen the main channel of Wheelbarrow Run which cuts directly through the nature area. What you may not know is that The 7 Tubs Nature Area is an EXTREMELY small section of a much larger publicly accessible state forest, The Pinchot Pennsylvania State Forest.
The Pinchot State Forest is a massive tract of some of the most spectacular forest in Pennsylvania. So large in fact that I have spent the better part of 3 years hiking and exploring this place and have not covered but a small fraction of the forest.
The Southern leg that is featured in my photography below stretches from the 7 Seven Tubs, out to about Laurel Run Rd. It is very easy to access this section of the park. While on the lower loop of the main park trail, stick to the creek side and hike out to where the downed trees are. A Tornado last year (2018) leveled the furthest reach of this leg of the park.
This entire stretch of Laurel Run is absolutely gorgeous with heavy cover provided my centuries old Hemlock trees and blankets of moss and other greenery that remain throughout most of the winter. In fact the photographs captured below were captured during the dead of the winter!