Biking Along Pennsylvania's Youghiogheny River Trail, South Section

This hard-packed, crushed limestone, 28-mile trail rates 10+ on a 1 to 10 scale. It runs from Confluence to Connellsville. Much of it runs on the beautiful Youghiogheny River (pronounced yock-ah-GAIN-ee, and typically called "the Yough"), which is a popular white-water rafting river. It goes through Ohiopyle State Park, the rafting headquarters. Don't miss the waterfall in the park area.

This is a heavily used trail. Kids LOVE it! They like to park their bikes and walk down to the river, and they like to watch the rafters and kayakers from the "High Bridge" over the river in Ohiopyle State Park.

For information on the park, see: www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/ohio.htm. There are several outfitters offering rafting, bike rentals, etc. One is www.wilderness-voyageurs.com which is right across the street from the falls area. One thing their website has is a "Plan your Vacation" link where you will find a list of accommodations in the area. The list includes motel and bed and breakfast information.

The Youghiogheny will eventually become part of a trail network running from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. What an exciting trail to look forward to!

Views along the Youghiogheny River Trail, South Section. The bottom two photos were contributed by a user of this website who lives in Connecticut and who rode this trail in early June (2000). We did not know about the beautiful new bridge which was commissioned in October of last year (1999). It won a national design award from the Federal Transportation Department. Thanks Rosemary!