Destination Thursday: Ride the Rails at Ohiopyle
Now that we are officially into summer, WPC Daily would like to begin a feature called "Destination Thursday" which will offer you some ideas for a nice day or weekend trip in western Pennsylvania.
One of the most pleasant ways to spend a summer day is to bike one of the many Rails-To-Trails bike trails in Pennsylvania. You can observe beautiful summer wildflowers and wildlife, such as white-tailed deer with their fawns, tiger swallow-tail butterflies, and birds such as indigo bunting, Baltimore oriole, common yellowthroat and yellow warblers.
TheYoughiogheny River Bike Trail in Ohiopyle State Park, was created in the mid-1970s when the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy acquired an abandoned railroad right-of-way from Dunbar to Confluence in the Youghiogheny River Gorge.
The 70-mile Youghiogheny River Trail includes 27 miles of trail in the park and is part of the Great Allegheny Passage, a 152-mile trail under construction to connect Cumberland, Md. to Pittsburgh, Pa. The flat limestone trail was once the rail bed for the Western Maryland Railroad. This trail is suitable for all ages, and is accessible people with disabilities. Rental bicycles are available. The trail is excellent for hiking, jogging and cross-country skiing and can be used to combine a bike ride or hike with a river float, some excellent wilderness trout fishing or hunting. Featured above is the bike path's high trestle crossing of the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle.
For directions to Ohiopyle, click here.
Directions once you're at Ohiopyle:
From the Ramcat Launch Area and Trailhead Parking Area in the east side of the park, the trail descends at a 1% downhill grade to the Train Station/Visitor's Center parking lot in the town of Ohiopyle. Bikers/hikers can enjoys this 10-mile trail section and watch canoers and rafters travel through the class I and II rapids.
From the Train Station/Visitor's Center parking lot in the town of Ohiopyle, the 17 miles of trail crosses the river twice and descends at a 3 percent grade to the western park border. The trail continues for 55 more miles to McKeesport. Visitors can also park in Ferncliff Peninsula Parking Area. Bikes are not permitted on the trails of the Ferncliff Peninsula. Along the trail are mile markers and posts with the initials of the famous rapids in the river. There is plentiful parking in the town of Connellsville in parking lots on Third Street and in the Youghiogheny Riverfront Park.
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