Summer has a way of encouraging us to slow down, spend time outdoors and reconnect with the people and places we love. This year, we invite you to experience all nine Allegheny County Parks through our new 9 Park Summer Quest.

Whether you’re gathering with friends, spending time with family, enjoying a solo adventure or simply looking for a reason to visit a park you haven’t explored before, this challenge is an opportunity to discover the incredible variety of experiences waiting throughout your county parks. It’s also a fun, affordable way to make the most of summer close to home. From peaceful lakes and scenic meadows to mature forests and hidden waterfalls, you can experience a remarkable variety of landscapes without ever leaving Allegheny County.

How It Works

The challenge is simple:

1. Pack a picnic.
2. Visit each of the nine Allegheny County Parks.
3. Enjoy an optional featured walk to explore a unique natural or cultural feature
4. Check the park off your passport.
5. Follow along on social media as we feature a new park each week throughout the summer.
6.  Share your adventures and tag us on social media by using #Summer9ParkQuest
7. Everyone who visits all 9 parks this summer, and tags us or lets us know, will receive an Allegheny County Parks Foundation picnic blanket.

Discover the Parks in a New Way

Each week, we’ll highlight a special destination within one of the parks. Some stops will introduce you to thriving wetlands and wildlife habitat. Others will showcase new and established meadows, forest improvements and sustainable trail projects. You’ll also encounter beautiful views, fascinating history, public art and opportunities to experience nature using all your senses.

Featured locations include:

HARTWOOD ACRES PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Enjoy your picnic from the lawn of the mansion or near one of sculptures featured in the Carol R. Brown Sculpture Garden.

🥾 Featured Walk
Follow the Purple Trail through the forest and take time to observe the towering trees and diverse woodland habitat along the route. Try the Orange Trail to see a younger forest. Can you tell the difference between the two types of forest you see?

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Along the Purple Trail, you’ll encounter large mature trees, diverse plant communities and the complex forest structure that develops over many decades. These forests provide critical wildlife habitat, store carbon, improve air and water quality and offer a glimpse into what a mature forest looks like.

ROUND HILL

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Bring your picnic to the Visitor Center area to enjoy views of the farm while you relax. Just remember to never feed the farm animals if you have leftovers!

🥾 Featured Walk
Follow the Yellow Loop around the farm. Add one more mile to your trip by enjoying the Blue Trail or two more miles by checking out the Red Trail.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Round Hill Park connects visitors to the region’s agricultural heritage. Along the route, you’ll pass through a restored allée (a French word for a straight path lined with trees or shrubs) that was replanted two years ago and a meadow planting that we completed last year. A first-year native meadow may not look like what you expect but it will still help provide important habitat for bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife. Does the first-year meadow look like what you expected – why or why not?

BOYCE PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Pack your picnic and bring it to the Wildflower Meadow, also called Indian Hill Meadow, to spread out your blanket and enjoy the amazing summer view.

🥾 Featured Walk
Follow the mowed trails around the meadow. To walk for longer, head towards the yellow trail via one of the connector trails located near the meadow and lodge or by parking near the Carpenter Log House parking area on Pierson Run Road.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Meadows provide a critical, and increasingly rare, high-quality habitat for pollinators like bees and butterflies, allow rainfall to infiltrate deep into the soil instead of creating stormwater runoff and significantly decrease the amount of fuel and greenhouse gas emissions that are required to maintain lawns. This is a mature meadow that was planted in 2017. Can you spot the differences between the young meadow you saw last week and this more established one?

WHITE OAK PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Enjoy a picnic near the Wedding Garden.

🥾 Featured Walk
Find the Green Trail at the trailhead kiosk at the far end of the parking lot past the turn-around and walk as far as you want. We also recommend the full 2.5-mile Green Trail, which is rated as moderate-to-difficult.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Along the trail, you’ll pass areas where restoration efforts are helping stabilize slopes and improve forest health. Tree plantings help hold soil in place, reduce erosion and strengthen the landscape over time. These projects support cleaner waterways, healthier forests and a more resilient park ecosystem.

DEER LAKES

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Pack your meal and enjoy a picnic overlooking the upper lake

🥾 Featured Walk
Explore the loop around the Upper Lake. To make it longer, try the Purple or Yellow Trails, which both offer great options to explore Deer Lakes Park or give disc-golf a try!

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Stepping stones were installed to allow visitors to pass through a formerly muddy section of trail while protecting sensitive wetland habitat. By keeping feet above wet soils, the trail helps reduce erosion and prevent sediment from entering nearby streams and wetlands. Did the stepping stones help you navigate through this area of the lake and trail?

SETTLERS CABIN PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Pack a picnic or snack and enjoy the sights and sounds of the waterfall at the bottom of the trail.

🥾 Featured Walk
Visit the waterfall and enjoy one of the park’s most scenic destinations. We recommend connecting to the Green or Red Trail for a longer adventure.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Recent improvements have restored the area through tree plantings, sustainable trail design and new staircases that help reduce erosion. Staying on designated trails protects the stream and surrounding forest habitat. Notice how the trail was bult to gradually help visitors enter this steep valley.

HARRISON HILLS Park

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Enjoy your picnic from the South Pond area

🥾 Featured Walk
Follow the connector trail from the Rachel Carson Pavilion to South Pond and enjoy the wildlife blind and wetland habitat. You can experience the entire park by trying the five-mile Red Trail loop.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
South Pond showcases how active stewardship can improve wildlife habitat and forest health. Along the trail, you may notice areas where invasive species have been removed and native trees have been planted to strengthen the surrounding ecosystem. The mix of pond, wetland and forest habitat makes this one of the park’s best places for birdwatching and observing wildlife. Pause for a moment and listen. What birds, frogs or other wildlife can you hear around the pond?

SOUTH PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Park your car at the Green Parking Lot and enjoy a picnic around the Fairgrounds. This area is vibrant with community and full of history, character and natural beauty.

🥾 Featured Walk
Take the trail behind the Museum building and follow the Yellow Trail uphill for a quarter mile to discover a canopy gap restoration area that was planted in spring 2026. To make your park experience longer, continue along the Yellow Trail.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
Canopy gaps occur when mature trees are lost, allowing invasive plants to move in and outcompete native species. Recent tree plantings are helping restore a healthy forest canopy for future generations. Look for the canopy gap and imagine how the young trees will transform this section of forest over the coming decades.

NORTH PARK

🧺 Pack a Picnic
Park at the Gold Star Pavilion parking lot and lay out your blanket or snag one of the picnic tables to enjoy your meal at while overlooking the lake.

🥾 Featured Walk
Explore the nearby shoreline of the lake. Enjoy 5 more miles by connecting to the widely popular Lake Loop! Along the way you will find riparian areas where we have spent the last several years stabilizing the streambank, planting trees, removing invasive species and improving habitat.

🌿 What Makes This Place Special
This area showcases wetlands, a silty delta and wildlife habitat that supports shorebirds, beavers and many other species. Do you see any birds feeding along the shoreline or signs of beaver activity as you explore?

More Than a Picnic 

While the challenge begins with a picnic, it’s really about taking time to be present.

Enjoy lunch beside a lake. Listen for birds along a woodland trail. Watch butterflies move through a meadow. Sit beneath the shade of a towering tree. Invite a friend, bring your family or enjoy a quiet afternoon on your own.

Sometimes the best adventures happen close to home. So, pack a picnic, grab your walking shoes and start exploring all nine Allegheny County Parks, one park at a time. We can’t wait to see where your summer takes you!