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Ohiopyle

PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World

Published: April 22, 2019

Looking for a fun little weekend spring fling? How about an amazingly diverse place that’s just a three-hour drive from Akron?

Yup, simply jump on I-80 east, continue on the PA Turnpike, hop off on Rt. 119 south, and set your GPS for the town of Ohiopyle.

That’s where you’ll discover Pennsylvania’s largest state park, Ohiopyle State Park.

Ohiopyle State Park consists of some 20,500 acres of mountains, rivers, lakes, streams, waterfalls and upland meadows. Its primary attraction is the famous Youghiogheny River Gorge, 14 miles of which bisect the park. The “Yough,” as locals call it, is a 134-mile-long tributary of the Monongahela River.

The Lower Yough lies within the park, and it’s the most famous stretch of whitewater in the eastern United States. Its Class III whitewater means you don’t have to be a kayaking guru to run it, which makes it perfect for all levels of paddlers.

In addition to the Yough, the park harbors a spectacular section of the famous 141-mile GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) trail, a crushed limestone rails-to-trails track that connects Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland. The 11 miles of GAP trail that runs through Ohiopyle is the oldest and most popular section. It parallels the Youghiogheny River, winding past dramatic rocky outcroppings and ambling along the river’s wooded and boulder-strewn banks.

About a half mile past the visitor center in Ohiopyle––a restored Western Maryland Railway station––the GAP trail crosses the Youghiogheny on a breathtaking stretch of trestle, the 633-feet long Ohiopyle North Bridge. It offers a stunning view of the gorge, where some 100 feet below you can watch rafters and kayakers shooting the rapids.

But there’s more, a lot more.

Ohiopyle State Park happens to be the southern terminus of one of the most beautiful trails in the eastern US, the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Trail.

The LHT hiking track traverses state parks and forests, game lands, preserves, and a plethora of public and private lands. The portion of LHT within Ohiopyle State Park rises up a thousand vertical feet over 6.3 miles of very strenuous, rocky, uphill hiking.

But you’ll be rewarded for all that climbing because at the top of this accent is a large flat topped rock formation from which you’ll be treated to a magnificent panoramic view of the Youghiogheny River Gorge.

The LHT trailhead in Ohiopyle resides on Garrett Street. A second access point for the trail can be found off King Road.

The park also contains more than 30 miles of mountain bike legal trails, with new trail being created every year.

Several of the more popular mountain biking tracks include the Sugarloaf, Kim, Great Gorge, Kentuck, Pressley Ridge, McCune, Baughman, Jonathan Run and Sugar Run trails.

The out-and-back Sugar Run trail is the perfect track to ride in the spring, when the trillium are blooming and the cold spring runoff rumbles and tumbles down Sugar Run and Jonathan Run in a mad rush to the Youghiogheny River.

Finally, the park boast 79 miles worth of point-to-point and loop hiking trails.

One of the park's most popular hikes is the 4-mile round trip trek from Cucumber Falls to the Cascade Falls.

Beginning at 30-foot-tall Cucumber Falls, the trail meanders along both the Youghiogheny River and Meadow Run creek, the latter of which contains some pretty cool natural water slides carved into its 300-million-year-old sandstone creek bed.

The trail ends at Cascade Falls, a long run of what seems like an infinite number of small cascading waterfalls.

Yup, Ohiopyle State Park is diverse all right.

It’s the kind of place where after several visits you’ll still only scratching the surface of its many recreational offerings.

Heck, I’ve been there more times than I care to count, yet every time I go back I discover something totally new and exciting.

Good news is the park is close enough to the Akron-Cleveland area such that multiple visits are a totally doable proposition, making this gem of a place an easy vacation destination at any time of the year.


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