Ohiopyle State Park

We left Hershey on Friday morning and drove along the southern border of PA and through parts of Maryland before landing at the Ohiopyle State Park near Ohiopyle, PA.  If you're like me you have never heard of this place.  It is south of Pittsburgh, north of Cumberland WV, and in the Laurel Highlands so look in the south west corner of PA.

We realized once we got here that we drove past Frank Lloyd Wright’s house Falling Water and another of his houses called Kentuck Knob.  We are also not far from the Flight 93 National Memorial. It seems we might have been in this area a whole lot of years ago when we owned a Bricklin and attended a car show at Seven Springs Resort just down the road from Ohiopyle.

What drew us here is the Great Allegheny Passage, a rails-to-trails walking and biking route. It runs from Pittsburg 148 miles south to Cumberland, WV and in this area it follows the Youghioheny (pronounced ‘yawk-ee-oh-gainy’) River through the heart of the Laurel Highlands. The campground is 1/2 mile off the trail but it is a very, very steep hill one would not want to ride on in either direction and at the end of the day I would not want to walk my bike up it! So we moved the bike rack to the Jeep and drove to the trailhead in Ohiopyle.

Saturday we rode 13 mile up river to a short distance past Confluence, ate lunch, explored the town and then rode back to make for a 27 mile round trip.  We then patted ourselves on the back by visiting a couple of different pubs and exploring the tiny town of Ohiopyle.

Sunday we went the opposite direction, riding down hill with the river to Connellsville and then back up for a 35 mile ride.  That was the longest up hill ride I have ever done.  But I shouldn’t brag too much as it is only a 1% grade up hill! But, still we were pooped!

We enjoyed a nice hot camp fire both nights.