Youghiogheny River Gorge

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. 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. The highest point of the ridge ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...