Places

A mix of scenery surrounds you from an area where the Forest Service Road 487 (NF-487) makes a couple of turns between Workman Creek Gorge and some rock cliff formations that rise up to form pinnacles and hoodoos. There are several viewpoints here for getting a view of Workman Creek Falls that spills over an oval shaped cliff 180 feet into the gorge below. This is a height ...
Date Added: 2018-12-13

The Barronvale Covered Bridge is a long two span burr truss bridge painted red and white located near the intersection of Read and Covered Bridge Road that crosses Laurel Hill Creek as it exits a remote area of Forbes State Forest. The bridge was likely built in 1902 though other previous dates for the construction are given such as 1832. An alternative name for the bridge is Barron'...
Date Added: 2018-12-01

A bright clearing in the forest canopy is a welcome sight a considerable distance between Connellsville and Ohiopyle along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail and provides a scenic view of the Youghiogheny River and its gorge from a distance. The whole scene takes on a garden like appearance with a series of wild flowers on either side of the trail and large rocks along with a ...
Date Added: 2018-04-09

One of the finest views of the Sierra Ancha Mountains can be seen from this roadside overlook and its side trail along the last major pull off in the western foothills before the Young Highway becomes shaded by towering pine trees as it crosses into the mountains. This spot marks the last view of the Salt River Valley as you're heading north and also begins ...
Date Added: 2018-04-07

An outcropping of large rocks along the river's edge provides a great view of the Youghiogheny River as it meanders its way through Chestnut Ridge that can be seen towering off in the distance. This is the first fully natural scene for those heading southeast from Connellsville with only the railroad providing signs of man and its occasional train. The rocks found here are varying ...
Date Added: 2018-04-07

When approaching the river the sight of several large blue limestone rocks, the closest being up to ten yards from shore, immediately draws your attention as you approach the river rock covered shoreline of the Youghiogheny River. About a hundred yards from this point is an island with sycamore trees that is occasionally, during high flow periods, surrounded by thunderous rapids. Looking west, past the island, ...
Date Added: 2018-04-02

The Yough River Park is a riverside park featuring the Youghiogheny River, for fishing, swimming, and boat access, as well as the Great Allegheny Passage Trail that passes directly through the park. Views from along the river include the remains of a bridge pier in the water, a large abandoned railroad trestle in the distance with the river appearing shallow in places as it flows over ...
Date Added: 2018-03-06

A series of pull-offs along Route 288 offer exquisite views overlooking Parker Canyon and the bluffs leading up to its edge with a giant red rock monolith, a wall of Parker Canyon, rising before them is certain to catch the eye of anyone traveling this area. In the distance beyond the red rock cliffs is the Four Peaks Mountain over twenty miles away above the opposite end ...
Date Added: 2018-03-04

As Route 288, Globe to Young Highway, continues its ascent into the Sierra Ancha Mountains two roadside pull offs will appear on your left that each offer a different view overlooking portions of Hog Canyon from up above along with a view of the plateau leading to the edge of the escarpment before the deep Salt River Valley below. A portion of Roosevelt Lake and the Route 188 ...
Date Added: 2018-03-03

A rust colored rugged landscape that is in transition from desert grasslands to shrubs surrounds you as you explore the relatively flat plateau at the edge of Hog Canyon in the upper foothills of the Sierra Ancha Mountains approximately 34 miles northwest of Globe, AZ. A dirt road connects the two best vantage points with the first being directly forward from the main road where if you ...
Date Added: 2018-03-03

An abandoned steel trestle railroad bridge offers a nice view of the Youghiogheny River just north of Connellsville and along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. Concealed mostly by woods between the trail and river, the bridge becomes visible as it sits behind a giant rock that obviously was moved following the abandonment of the railroad line. Most visitors will walk up to the bridge and look ...
Date Added: 2018-03-02

Few towns are as blessed with as good a vantage point of their downtown as the city of Connellsville. The entire city was built on a slope leading down to the river making nearly every building peak out lower than the one behind it. Even if you took the downtown away and reverted it back to nature the scene available from the Memorial Bridge's sidewalk ...
Date Added: 2018-01-18

A rock cliff several stories high near the top of Chestnut Ridge and at its Youghiogheny River Water Gap offers one of the best views in western Pennsylvania. It's an amazing sight limited only by the far distant Laurel Ridge over nine miles to the southeast, but in between is the Youghiogheny River nearly eight hundred feet below meandering its way through the deep chasm ...
Date Added: 2018-01-17

A small parking area provides access to the beginning of Laurel Hill Lake along with a boat launch. This area is popular for fishing and picnics and also provides some stellar scenery of the lake and marshes opening up to the south. Here the creek makes a transition to the lake but remains narrow for quite a distance.

There are small trails used by ...
Date Added: 2018-01-14

The park's best scenery is created by a gorgeous stone dam and spillway, on Jones Mill Run, with naturally cut stone that is so beautiful a match for the surrounding terrain that it's easy to forget this cascading waterfall is man made. Perhaps this is owing to the age of the dam given it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s. ...
Date Added: 2018-01-14

Mountain lake scenery awaits at Laurel Hill Lake Dam and Beach Area where a ridge on the opposite shore makes this one of the nicest lake scenes in the region. This area is popular in summer with swimmers and beach goers enjoying one of the finest beaches in the region, but at 2000 feet the lake waters are rarely warm. A picnic grove sprawls the area where ...
Date Added: 2018-01-06

A large flat topped rock formation serves as the perch from which to enjoy one of the finest views in western Pennsylvania, your reward for having climbed up a thousand feet from the Youghiogheny River that is now far below you. Here before you is a giant schism in Laurel Ridge where the river rounds a wide peninsula known as the Flats and leaving considerable distance ...
Date Added: 2017-11-18

Where Meadow Run enters the Youghiogheny River is a sunbather's paradise of beautiful rock slabs, ledges, rapids, and small waterfalls that are fun to explore to see how far out into the river one can get by hopping over small waterfalls between the rocks. The experience here differs depending on the water level as nice rocks to sprawl out on become submerged and turned into ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

A series of rock slabs extending out into the Youghiogheny River provide a distant view of the Ohiopyle Falls along with a panorama of other scenery including Ferncliff Peninsula with its rough rocky shore and noisy river rapids as far as they eyes can see to the south. At this location you're above where Meadow Run enters the Youghiogheny River with a complex of sandstone ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

The Meadow Run Cascades is a large and wide complex of waterfalls and cascades down and through several terraces of broken sandstone rock near the southern edge of the park. Most visitors will experience the falls by walking out on a sandstone bar that leads out to the waters edge to a point where they're stopped by the start of a series of water channels ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

A tough to access gorge rewards with the spectacle of Lower Jonathan Run Falls tumbling up to fifteen feet and splashing off a slab of broken sandstone rock. While you can glance through vegetation and experience the Lower Jonathan Run Falls from afar without climbing into its gorge the treacherous climb is worth it for those able to make it down. The trail leading down has ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

Following along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail you'll see the bright opening of the former railroad bridge as you cross on it through a gateway formed by tree tops and emerge out into the open vista that surrounds you featuring the river far below you on both sides roaring with rapids. As you continue to the center you can see the Youghiogheny River Gorge rounding ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

Adjacent to the town of Ohiopyle is a former railroad station converted into a Laurel Highlands Visitor Center with outdoor benches on a plaza leading to the Low Ohiopyle Bridge that offers a scenic view of the Youghiogheny River bending to round Ferncliff Peninsula. This is the Great Allegheny Passage Trail so be mindful of bike riders passing as you admire the river rapids below the ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

A floor of sandstone rock provides the base from which to enjoy and marvel at Meadow Run's perfectly chiseled channels through the rock forming a fast moving and curving natural waterslide that ends in a deep pool of water. While during the summer the current is often just right for daredevils to take on the slides, spring and winter the water pounds through the channel ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

Kentuck Overlook, along Campground Road, provides a narrow view of the Youghiogheny River Gorge and Laurel Ridge framed by hardwoods. Benches are provided to relax and take in the scene where one can appreciate the different climate that exists near the river from the ridge top as you can see markedly different conditions at certain times of the year. The overlook is a grassy sloped field ...
Date Added: 2017-03-14

Coming down the rustic stairs and dirt path provides you a mid height view of Cucumber Falls through a scene of broken slabs of sandstone rock. The overhanging ceiling of sandstone rock with its drips of water gives the feeling of being in a humid cave with the waterfall entering from a bright opening. At this point you can proceed up a small hill and get ...
Date Added: 2017-03-01

While not far from Ohiopyle, the Cucumber Run Picnic Area feels remote and is usually quiet even on summer weekends. There are no large pavilions here but instead a series of picnic tables usually shaded by hardwoods along Cucumber Run. You'll find it a great location to get away from the park's crowds and engage in the sounds of wildlife intermingled with the flowing ...
Date Added: 2017-03-01

A large picnic area with multiple pavilions and an open field are available at the Tharp Knob Picnic Area, a great location for a packed lunch or barbecue. There is a play area for children, a softball field, and a large mowed field for activities like flying a kite. You'll occasionally encounter wildlife early in the morning of deer or turkeys browsing through an adjacent ...
Date Added: 2017-03-01

Ohiopyle's most scenic waterfall dominates the senses along the rim of Cucumber Gorge. While visitors are offered an option to cross a bridge and Cucumber Run where they can see the water and its rock floor end precipitously, most will be drawn down through rustic stairs in a jungle of rhododendrons to one of Ohiopyle's top observation points where a banister provides the arm ...
Date Added: 2017-02-26

Where the Youghiogheny bends its course at the beginning of Ferncliff Peninsula is an area amongst giant sandstone rock ledges with small waterfalls and river rapids that are often shallow enough in the summer to allow for swimming. Visitors don't need to get wet to engage in this area as fossils featuring ancient plants are common and a maze of rock features allows one to ...
Date Added: 2017-02-26

Tharp Knob is scenic vista from a grassy summit above Ohiopyle with a gorgeous view looking east of the Youghiogheny River and Gorge meandering through Laurel Ridge with its rugged slopes and knobs. Along the river town of Ohiopyle is partially visible and looks like a quaint little village that is dwarfed by the enormous wild natural terrain that surrounds it. Some benches are present to ...
Date Added: 2017-02-25

A beautiful scene of multiple waterfalls starts following a large pool of water but to access each of these features requires multiple short climbs down from the Jonathan Run Trail. Following along the pool of water's edge will take you to the top of Jonathan Runs Upper Falls where you can look out over the creek's beautiful scenery as it continues to cascade down ...
Date Added: 2017-02-24

This overlook is an easy park and see experience above Ohiopyle, but an angled rock slope may challenge some visitors. A large rock outcropping and high cliff formation called Baughman Rock perched along Laurel Ridge has forced a break in trees making for one of the finest views in Pennsylvania featuring the Youghiogheny River Gorge. In the center of this enormous panorama is the river rounding ...
Date Added: 2017-02-22

Ferncliff at Ohiopyle Falls is an area of exposed sandstone rock strewn with large slabs and ledges of rock along and above the Ohiopyle Falls offering a noisy and up close encounter with the nearly twenty foot tall large volume waterfall. You're so close all you hear is the water's roar and smell the river's scent as you experience its mists rising above ...
Date Added: 2017-02-22

The epicenter and focus for the park is the observation decks with their view of the nearly twenty foot Ohiopyle Falls. Three decks of various angles and heights provide you a gorgeous view of the falls and the rapids leading up to them. The white frothy Youghiogheny River seems calm below the falls but a distant look down river shows old growth White Pines acting as ...
Date Added: 2017-02-22