What the trail is like
Meadow Run is the stream that comes down the far side of the gorge and joins the Youghiogheny just below Ohiopyle Falls. Most people arrive knowing one thing about it, the natural waterslides, and the slides are genuinely the draw. But the run is about two miles of water worth walking, and the trail along it is the easiest real hike in the park.
The loop is about 2.9 miles and close to flat. It follows the stream past the Cascades, a long staircase of ledges the water drops through, and past the slides themselves. There is nothing technical about it. What there is, in quantity, is wet rock, so the shoes matter more than the fitness.
The waterslides are a stop on it, not the whole thing
If the slides are what you came for, go straight to them: they have their own page with the parking, the timing and what the water has to be doing for them to be any fun. See the natural waterslides at Meadow Run. The trail below is for the rest of it.
Which trail you are actually walking
There is no trail on the maps called "the waterslides trail", which is why searching for one is confusing. Two routes cover the same water under different names: Meadow Run North, which runs the upper stream, and Flatrock via the Meadow Run Loop, which is the longer way round. Either one puts you alongside the water.
When to come
Spring runs highest and loudest, which is the Cascades at their best and the slides at their worst. Late summer is the reverse: low, warm, and what most people picture. October is the quietest and the prettiest, and the water is too cold to get into.
Whatever you are coming for, look at the river level before you drive out. It is on the conditions page, live, and it decides this trip more than the weather does.
Practical notes
- Shoes that strap on. The rock is smooth sandstone and it is slick even where it looks dry.
- The lot fills on summer weekends. Before ten, or after four.
- Bring water. There is none on the trail.
- Stay off the rock above the Cascades. It is the one genuinely dangerous spot here.
