Rockin’ the Allegheny National Forest

July 7-10, 2022

Pennsylvania got a little shorted during this trip around our great country.  Actually, a lot of the northeastern states are going to be touch-and-go visits.  Many of these states are small and so very close together. If we continue to spend a couple of weeks in each state, snow is going to be flying before we get far enough south!  So, the bottom line is, we changed the rules a bit for this section of our adventure.  We will be trying to give each state a week; however, several are only going to be a three- or four-day visit.

Red Bridge Campground, situated in the Allegheny National Forest, was a great place to rest our heads during our time in Pennsylvania!  Although we’ve become accustomed to RV parks, it was nice to have a campsite without other RVs surrounding us.  As one might imagine, being in a national forest, we were surrounded by dense woods instead of being surrounded by RVs!  A number of the sites in this campground were full hook-up and it was convenient we were able to reserve one.  

Another camper at Red Bridge told us about a couple of attractions not too far from the campground, so we spent an afternoon checking them out.  Jakes Rocks has trails guiding you through the Allegheny National Forest to beautiful overlooks of the Allegheny River and Reservoir.  The trails were not marked and we hadn’t downloaded maps from our All Trails app, so we found ourselves hoping we remembered how to find or way back to the parking lot.  No worries!  Just as I was about to start dropping bread crumbs, we ran into Kent and Jill at one of the overlooks.  Kent is a cameraman and Jill is a reporter from a local TV station out of Erie, PA.  They were at the park filming some of the scenery to include in a story they are doing.  The state of Pennsylvania is asking each of the television stations to put together stories on attractions in their area of the state.  Kent grew up in the area and even owns a cabin not far from Jakes Rocks.  He has been hiking these trails for many years and knows the area like the back of his hand.  Needless to say, Kent guided us to another beautiful overlook and got us safely back to the parking lot.  No bread crumbs needed!

Rimrock is another spot with beautiful views. In fact, Kent and Jill had been there just before we ran into them!   I’m not sure if it would have been the WPA or CCC, but someone put in a lot of effort making this so nice!  Once again, the overlook offered great views of the Allegheny River.  After taking in the view from the overlook, we hiked down to the Allegheny River and played on Kinzua Beach for a bit before hiking back up.  Although it was only a mile hike, between the elevation gain and the humidity, we were a sweaty mess by the time we were at the top.  I was wanting to be back on that beach again!

Our final outing was to Kinzua Bridge State Park.  This is such a great example of turning lemons into lemonade!  This bridge was originally constructed for trains to be able to traverse the valley and transport goods to the north.  The bridge was completed in 1882 and operated, transporting freight, until 1959.  After the state park opened, the trains started running again as excursion trains bringing passengers to cross the historic bridge.  In 2003, a tornado swept through the valley, toppling eleven of the towers supporting the tracks.  Too expensive to rebuild, the idea spawned to create a skywalk.  It was a thrill to walk on the tracks supported by six of the original towers and take in the view!  At the end of the sky walk, you see the remains of the twisted and scattered towers littering the valley below.  

There is a trail you can take to the bottom of the valley, where you can walk among the stone piers and warped towers of the original bridge.  Although it’s a steep downhill path, it’s well worth the effort.  We think the view from below the skywalk is even more impressive than the view from above.  Walking among the debris and looking up at the remnants of the original tracks was jaw dropping.  Trying to imagine the scene of the F1 tornado ripping through the valley, tearing down the towers and continuing its path down the valley was palpable.  Whoever thought of reinventing the bridge into a skywalk was a genius!  Thank you (whoever you are!).

While we were at the park, we also partook in a “Tree Identification” walk.  For this, we met with the park ranger and walked the one-mile General Kane Trail.  We learned to ID several trees, including the Cucumber Magnolias, Hercules Club, Sassafras Tree and several others.  Most importantly, there was an intern along on the walk who shared the Seek app with me, which not only IDs plants, but also insects and animals!  Best of all – it’s FREE!  Check it out!  Don’t you just love this younger generation?  They know all the cool stuff.  Thank you, Jacob!

Next stop:  Letchworth State Park, NY