Jake’s Rocks has become known in recent years as an amazing area to mountain bike, and rightfully so with its 30 plus miles of mountain bike trails, but there are plenty of reasons to visit this rock city without a mountain bike.

The giant rocks are a playground for children and adults alike, with rocks ranging in size from smaller rocks the size of a dog to cottage sized rocks to climb on and around. A winding trail takes visitors past rocks to several overlooks with stunning views of the Allegheny Reservoir and Kinzua Dam, for those who prefer not to climb on the rocks.

Trails wind through the top of the rock city past huge boulders, but there are a few places where visitors can take a trail to the bottom of Jakes Rocks. There, it becomes quickly apparent that the rocks on the upper trail are perched on top of truly enormous rocks that look like a giant cliff from below. The base of the rocks has caves to explore and a great view of the size of the rocks from below.

This rock city is part of the Allegheny National Forest and has no admission fee. It’s just a 25 minute drive from downtown Warren off of Route 59. While overlooks have railings, some informal trails go off to the side where there is a bigger danger of falling off of the side of the rocks.

Jakes Rocks is made up of conglomerate rock, basically lots of little rocks pressed together to make a giant rock, that was formed when this area was under water 300 million years ago. This ancient lake is the reason local residents find shell fossils and not dinosaur fossils.

Millions of years later, these rocks are a giant playground of shapes.

Jakes Rocks is known as a great place to see Pennsylvania’s state flower, the Mountain Laurel. Mountain Laurel blooms in mid-June with clusters of pink flowers. The access road and trails at Jakes Rocks will soon be filled with them.