On our way home from Pittsburgh, we stopped at Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania. That is not a made-up name. It is from the Lanape/Delaware language words for "it is turned white." That description is apt for the Youghiogheny River that winds through the area. Many falls and cascades turning the river white. The area is a
state park with a visitor center and several private companies that sell or rent kayaks, rafts, bicycles, etc. A few restaurants are sprinkled in. We went straight to the visitor center and saw the 20-foot Ohiopyle Falls.
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| Namesake falls |
Our main interest was the natural waterslides not far up the road from the visitor center. We had seen a video online of people going down the slides and thought it would be fun. Then we got to the site and the adults in our group changed our mind about how safe it was. Sure, some stretches are just sluicing down flat rocks, but a lot of spots have adventurers bashing back and forth in narrow channels. The kids wanted to do the whole slide but we only let them do the bottom third.
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| Looks ok? |
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| The slide is on the far side of the river here |
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| Less okay part of the slide |
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| Down river from the end |
Our daughter and son climbed out through the freezing water to their launch point, consulting about the best way to get into
trouble the slide.
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| Plotting |
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| Our daughter takes the first run |
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| At the end |
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| Next customer |
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| On his way |
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| Two exits |
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| On his second ride |
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| Getting help getting out |
The area has a lot of fossils, old growth forests, hiking trails, water falls, and biking along the Great Allegheny Passage, a longer trail that runs through here. Maybe we'll come back to do more of the other stuff, spending more than an hour or so at Ohiopyle.
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