- The Facilities
- The Town
- Ohiopyle Falls and Visitor Center
- Cucumber Falls
- Hiking Down From Camp
- Ferncliff Peninsula
- Natural Waterslides
- Sugar Run Falls
- Tharp Knob
- In Conclusion
This year due to unpredictable heat, I booked 5 days/4 nights at Kentuck Campground. I was a little worried we’d all be miserable in 90 degree weather and want to pack up early. Thankfully this wasn’t the case at all. Most of Kentuck Campground is densely covered with forest (like most of the rest of the park) and even during our hiking excursions we stayed relatively cool.
Our campsite was non-electric on Birch Road and within a reasonable distance of the bathhouse. Birch road seems to only have non-electric. Cherry Road has the camp host as well as the bathhouse and some yurts. This park separates the pet vs non pet sites as well, which I don’t think I’ve seen before. There are electric hookup sites available, but I’ll be honest, the last few trips we’ve taken the lack of electricity has kept the technology to a minimum which I enjoy. There’s also very little cell reception here, which I welcome.
The Facilities
First things first- if you plan on camping here you should know there’s a pretty strict no alcohol policy. So uh…”no alcohol” guys.
The second thing you should be aware of is the distance from the town itself. These are steep, Laurel Highlands mountains. While town, in my opinion, is within hiking distance the incline isn’t for everyone. Town, the visitors center, Ohiopyle Falls, stores, ect. are a 5-7 minute drive. This has never been an issue for me as the campground is beautiful and the town is close, but it’s something to be aware of.
There is, however, a fantastic little self serve station across from the campground entrance station with plenty of ice and firewood.
The bathrooms, while I’m not picky (I have a p-style I’m good about anywhere) are a little lackluster when compared to say – a Virginia State park. And that’s not because I’m from Virginia. In Virginia though, you have three or four separate private “real door” unisex shower rooms. This State Park had two separate shower stalls in each of the bends and ladies bathrooms. The doors were that of a regular public restroom stall, so the privacy is a little bit different (still fine). The shower head, while this is going to sound like a complaint, can only be compared to a power washer. I found this oddly refreshing and I’m just happy I could take a shower. I someone that will happily roll around in my own filth for days in the outdoors, there’s something extra special about being able to shower and dry off by your campfire
Ladies, the bathroom mirrors are not anything you’re going to want to do makeup in. To some degree I kind of like this, there’s no back up in the morning. But they do kind of remind you of a funhouse mirror.
They have a very nice, clean, dishwash area that I used a lot. There’s potable water on the front of the building, an outlet (that we definitely used to inflate our son’s inflatable bed when our inverter blew both of my cigarette lighters) and a water fountain.
Most of the town shuts down a little early, and gas is about a 15-minute drive from town (again, mountainous area) so fill up and for the love of god replace your pads/rotors beforehand if you have an inkling you already need to. The climb up to the campground has a crazy amount of grade. And, as you may have guessed, the climb down from the campground on my metal-to-metal brakes made me cringe.
The Town
The Town of Ohiopyle is a nifty mixture of tourists and locals. The Falls Market has always been a good place for breakfast (served inside currently) and a lunch (ordered and served outside but can be brought it). And my favorite of course – anything dairy. The ice cream is dope, and the plethora of chocolate-covered snacks make a good sugar-coma-inducing pair.
Up the street from Falls Market is Ohiopyle House Cafe. Here you’ll find outdoor dining (love it) on a new deck, as well as a full bar downstairs. This place can get pretty packed on the weekends and definitely seems to be a local favorite. The menu offers plenty to choose from including appetizers, entrees, sandwiches, etc (plus beer and mixed drinks).
Ohiopyle Bakery and Sandwich Shoppe have the most hard-to-hit hours during the weekday, but I can honestly say – this is the most fantastic job on a wrap I’ve ever seen. So many different meats and toppings (think build-a-bear for sandwiches) stuffed into one wrap and none of it ended up in my lap. That’s real talent. The cookies are also delicious.
Because I love all dairy, especially chocolate, forever and ever – the Old Mill General Store has some bangin’ hand-dipped ice cream in generous portions.
Paddler’s Pizza is pizza how it should be – GIANT and a little floppy (Don’t get me wrong I like all pizza regardless of rigidity). Outdoor dining as well as indoor. and really friendly staff.
As a side note, in case anyone has the nagging question “What do I do if I’m not paying the hell attention and I don’t hear my order number? What if I think the family of 4 took my order because I wasn’t listening and they were?” Let me tell you, the answer is absolutely not “Hover over them like a creepy jackass, 12 inches away, and stare at their food as they open it”. Get the hell away from me.
Ohiopyle Falls and Visitor Center
Moving along, like the aforementioned creepy asshole should have, Ohiopyle Falls was gorgeous as always. There’s a multilevel observation deck as well as a nice observation area in the Visitor Center. The fog was settling in before the rain and we experienced a unique and dynamic scene as we waited for the rain.
There’s a lot of signage here about swimming restrictions and safety. I’m not sure what the death tally is here but it seems that it’s a recurring issue. Kayaking/rafting/watercraft-ing over the falls requires permits and truthfully, especially when the water level is up, it does look pretty turbulent. I enjoy kayaking some of the stronger rapids on the Shenandoah but that’s like saying “I enjoy the health food McDonald’s has to offer”. Whitewater-anything is certainly not part of my skillset at this point.
Cucumber Falls
If you were to ask me about waterfalls in Appalachia that I’ve had the joy of experiencing, I could name off quite a few. And there’s a handful of those that I would call “captivating”. However, Cucumber Falls may take the cake. The setting, the height, the ability to stand under the falls itself and feel the crisp water at perfect temperatures fall on you is completely enchanting.
Cucumber Run topples over the fall in a whispy, angelic stream meeting a crystal-clear bathtub of water in the valley below. The rocks at the bottom break up the stream so it doesn’t disturb the calm surrounding waters.
This year, I hate to say I was slightly bummed as the area hadn’t had much precipitation preceding our visit, thus leaving the falls emptier than I had seen before. Even so, the water cascading down from the cliff was no less angelic and soft.
Photos of this place don’t lie, and yet also don’t do it justice. Regardless of what camera tricks I use, the in-person experience grips you and draws you in more than a photo ever will.
No matter what form Cucumber Falls has taken when I visited, to be immersed in this oasis is far more captivating in real life. Our eldest was really intrigued by the photos and really wanted to go; he was no less thrilled when we got there to see it was just as beautiful.
Approaching the falls, the pools at the bottom get about waist deep when the overall water level is low and probably about chest deep when the water is higher (on me….5’1”). Our youngest loves water, and aside from a general water safety for a 1 ½ year old, he was able to play safely in this area too, up to his comfort level (about knee deep at this point).
Take a moment to step behind the waterfall for another perspective.
When you can manage to pull yourself away from this area, Cucumber Run continues down, meeting the Youghiogheny. There’s a trail that runs alongside this beautiful, natural area. While the Youghiogheny is known for its might, this is a nice area for wading and splashing a bit. Especially for older kids.
Hiking Down From Camp
Instead of burning brakes, we decided to hike down from camp one day. The incline here isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed it. There are two trails. Tom Faucet and an access trail (steeper, no switchbacks) designed for bikes. We took Tom Faucet per the map’s suggestion. It’s about a 10% grade (give or take) and almost exactly 1 mile to the Great Allegheny Passage which is mostly flat. Taking a left and heading into town, you’ll walk about a half mile, crossing over both High Bridge and Low Bridge (creative names, I know).
The night before trekking down Tom Faucet trail I decided to take a brief look for myself. The mapped provided during check-in was the most helpful thing we had due to no cell reception but was oddly misleading at times. In retrospect I realized maybe we were overthinking some of the details (I’ll cover this more later in the Sugar Run section), but there’s definitely a few contradictory labels on the map vs the actual trail markers. Nevertheless, that map was indeed helpful at least finding most trailheads and estimating basic distances.
As the map portrays, Tom Faucet trail “starts” to the right of the Entrance station. As our son pointed out the trail is eventually marked as Betty Knox. The entrance at the entrance/check-in station is unmarked for about a quarter mile and there’s a discrepancy between the map and the trail markers what the name of this segment of trail actually is. If we’re going by trail markers, he was actually right; Betty Knox trail connects to Tom faucet, not the other way around.
Regardless the trail is beautiful whatever you call it. I do wish they would put a few access points within the campground itself. For the first .25 miles or so the trail is relatively flat with a little uphill, then steeply (by comparison) descends to the Great Allegheny Passage.
Even in the heat the denseness of the forest it’s so calm and cool. Like most things in Ohiopyle, the beauty of the over saturated green really gets to me. It’s pleasantly overwhelming to see how untouched this area is.
Ferncliff Peninsula
Ferncliff Peninsula is a registered landmark full of diverse and ancient plant life. It has a few different routes you can take. We opted to take Fernwood trail, that allegedly takes you by ruins of Ferncliff Hotel, and loop back on the Ferncliff return trail that listed a few overlooks/vistas.
I saw no ruins, the trail is dense and green but in a different, unique way compared to the other sections of the park. A bit darker. At times this particular section of trail was honestly a little eerie (but in a cool way). There’s definitely some unique carving-out of the forest where I assume Ferncliff Hotel used to be, and some strikingly tall pines.
As you reach the tip of the peninsula and start to round back towards the left (if you’re hiking it in the direction we were that is) you have your first view of the Youghiogheny.
And, as you progress up the trail back towards the GAP there’s some excellent views of the other side of Ohiopyle Falls that you won’t get at the visitor center or the overlook in town. You can walk out on some rocks without as much restriction and get a little bit more of a unique and secluded experience of the river.
As you come closer to the Great Allegheny Passage again, you can opt to head straight and up the stairs to cross low bridge, or loop back around to the trail intersection to explore more trails.
Natural Waterslides
The highlight of the trip for my oldest was natural water slides. It was a glorious relationship between the two – he loved the slides and they loved him. Or so I thought – ripped a hole right through his pants fyi.
It makes a great cool down after hiking and exploring (we went after exploring Ferncliff) and the water is shockingly perfect.
Besides being a beautiful waterscape, this area is very fun. Approaching the slide itself it can get very, very slick. In all honesty, even knowing this, there are places where I thought I was safe to tread a little more normally and then I almost ate shit anyway.
There was a group of younger boys at the top, a little scared to go down, but they agreed that if the pregnant lady went down, they had to, too. I made them promise because I mean, accountability.
You do have to scoot your ass a little bit, and if you are as convex in the stomach as I am currently, and have trouble with 90-degree angles, I’d almost recommend laying down in some parts.
The last drop off right before I get out in the video there is a rock, deep enough that you can’t see it, where you can whack your shin pretty good if you’re not paying attention. I did this on my second time but continued to go down plenty more times so obviously it’s not a deterrent.
The water is shockingly warm, just like Cucumber Falls. There’s a shallow splash-around area above the slide where I could easily take my one-year-old. He could slip and fall with just enough water that he’s not going to drown but enough that he’s not going to end up with any injuries other than scrapes and bruises (imo – normal things).
Sugar Run Falls
Fun facts, as previously stated, the park map provided isn’t super accurate. I was very excited about seeing Sugar Run as I’d passed it while biking the GAP before and never had the chance to stop for an up close and personal encounter. It was pretty large, and absolutely gorgeous.
We took Kentuck trail down, which was surprisingly gradual, for about a mile. Took a left onto the GAP and got royally confused.
The trail map listed the trail as “Eelah Trail” which looked very close to the initial left hand turn off onto the GAP. On the map, that same left hand turn off was drawn as being right beside Sugar Run. We walked down to a strip mine area off the GAP and turned around as it felt like we had gone too far. Judging by the map, Eelah should have been right by what was now called Mitchell Field trail.
Long story short, this was indeed our trail. And Sugar Run Falls is almost immediately after that left turn onto Mitchell Field. But, due to Sugar Run being mostly empty that day, we walked right past it and went on a very very steep (but in my opinion, rewarding, I can’t speak for my family) trek upward.
We took some steep and beautiful steps and continued to some steep trail. About a mile later I decided to run ahead. My husband was carrying the baby for this one, so I made quick time up the remainder of the trail to where it levels out.
Perhaps I’m a masochistic, I’m not sure, but in slightly cooler weather after a proper warm up- I think this would be a gorgeous trail run. After it levels out this trail is really a lovely, mossy stroll. The flat, level sections, the sun light peeking through the trees, the solitude and the dead silence come together gloriously.
Unfortunately, this time I had to run back down and let them know that no matter how we read this map (inside, outside, upside down)- we are either too far or on the wrong trail. Finally at the bottom again we saw it- empty Sugar Run Falls. We had a good laugh, shook our heads and used our imagination.
Next time, I’ll update this post with proper photos. Sugar Run from the GAP has been beautiful in the past and I have a bone to pick with this trail, so I’ll be back.
Tharp Knob
I can’t conclude this post without including Tharpe Knob. This beautiful picnic area is accessible either from the road (a left before you reach the 4-way intersection that takes you towards the campground) or you can hike back taking Betty Knox trail.
Taking Betty Knox is, according to the um…trusty map, 1.3 miles long and less of a grade than a lot of the rest of the trails. This makes a great evening hike for Sunset and a picnic.
In Conclusion
This place is dope and if at all possible, we’d love to make this an annual thing. The pricing is right and so is the seclusion. We did have forest visitors at night when we left fully wrapped condiments and unopened mini boxes of cereal on the picnic table. My husband awoke in the middle of the night, very alarmed, but not because of the noises or potential for aggressive wild animals – no. It was because they were eating the cereal that we improperly placed. Specifically, the “Pops”.
The racoons, we found out, also loved Frosted Flakes and one dedicated young racoon stayed behind to beg for more, earning him the name “Tony” and the remainder of the cereal. So, try not to attract Tony – he will eat your Pops and Frosted Flakes.
A side note, if you plan on going to Falling Water and taking a tour of the home (which I highly recommend) be aware that they book up over a month in advance. I tried to get our family in to no avail. They also don’t take any toddlers/babies even if you’re “baby wearing” which kind of sucks, but sometimes kids suck at touching things so I can only imagine what led them to this decision. There’s a lot of beautiful artifacts and history in the home.
If you’d like to see a map of the area that you should not trust entirely, but is regardless, very helpful at mostly not getting you lost Click Here.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water can be reserved here.
And general info about Ohiopyle State Park can be found here.
Adventure Girl and Spawn 
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