Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny Weather & Planning Guide

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Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny, Fayette, Westmoreland Counties, PA, 42.23 miles

Trail Facts

Hall of Fame

Inducted 2007 by Rails to Trails Conservancy

Length 42 mi

Elevation 766 to 1220 ft

Grade 0.2% average

Shade cover 67%

Surface Crushed gravel

Activities

E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingFishingKayakingHorseback ridingCross-country skiingand more

About This Trail

The Youghiogheny segment carries the Great Allegheny Passage 42 miles from Ohiopyle to West Newton on crushed limestone, following the river the whole way. It leaves Ohiopyle over the Low and High bridges, runs the wall of the Youghiogheny gorge through Ohiopyle State Park, and reaches Connellsville, where the Western Maryland grade ends and the old Pittsburgh and Lake Erie grade takes over past the beehive coke ovens. Below Connellsville the valley widens through Dawson, Layton, Whitsett, and Smithton to Cedar Creek Park and the station at West Newton. Upstream the Casselman segment climbs toward Meyersdale; downstream the Steel Valley segment continues to McKeesport and Pittsburgh.

RailTrailWx TIPS

Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

The whole segment runs downhill from Ohiopyle to West Newton, about 450 feet of drop in 42 miles, all of it at a rail grade you feel only as an easier spin. Riding upstream it is a steady, gentle climb.
Between Ohiopyle and Connellsville the trail rides the wall of the Youghiogheny gorge inside the state park, and the slopes above it face east and northeast, so the corridor loses direct sun by mid afternoon and stays damp after rain.
The gorge collects cold air overnight; mornings in the park start cool, and fog often sits on the river and drifts across the trail before it lifts.
The valley below Connellsville is wider and more open than the gorge, so riders can expect the afternoon warmth and drying to come sooner on the Dawson, Layton, and Smithton miles than on the park miles.
There is no town on the trail for the 17 miles between Ohiopyle and Connellsville; the Yough River Trail Council keeps a campground with water and toilets at the Connellsville trailhead.
Ohiopyle State Park allows hunting, and the park promotes the trail as a way to reach hunting and trout fishing, so plan on hunters near the trail in autumn inside the park.
The corridor is walled through the Youghiogheny gorge, so wind matters less here than on the viaducts near Meyersdale or the open riverfront downstream; the river's constant bends mean no single wind direction stays a headwind for long.
Roundbottom Hiker-Biker Campground at mile 99.6 is free and first come, first served, on a bend of the river where Slush Run comes off the hillside.

-Cory

Trivia

On June 9, 1978 the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy paid 50,000 dollars for 26.75 miles of Western Maryland right of way from Ramcat Hollow near Confluence to the Bowest yard at Dunbar, the purchase that started the trail.
Ohiopyle State Park covers 20,633 acres, and its 100-acre Ferncliff Peninsula, carved by a sharp bend of the Youghiogheny, is a National Natural Landmark.
The Ohiopyle rapids once stymied George Washington's hope of a navigable water route through the Allegheny Plateau.
The 663-foot Ohiopyle High Bridge of 1912 rises more than 100 feet higher than the Low Bridge just upstream; it was rehabilitated for public use in 1989.
The 1912 Low Bridge was replaced for the trail by a new bowstring truss bridge in 1999.
By 1913 the coke ovens around Connellsville supplied more than half the coke in the United States and needed 2,000 railcars a day to haul it away.
Nearly 38,000 beehive ovens once covered the Connellsville coke region; the surviving ovens above the trail near mile 93 show best in winter and early spring when the trees are bare.
General Edward Braddock camped at Connellsville in 1755 with his young aide George Washington, and the town reenacts Braddock's crossing of the Youghiogheny every June.
The Regional Trail Corporation bought 43 miles of the P&LE right of way on August 28, 1991, and the Cedar Creek to West Newton stretch opened in 1994.
At West Newton in 1788, New England pioneers under General Rufus Putnam launched flatboats on the Youghiogheny to settle the Ohio Territory; the town was first called Simeral's Ferry.

Climate

Excellent biking days per month, 2011-2025 climatology

In a typical year the Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny has about 109 to 152 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, biking, birding, running, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.

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Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.

Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.

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Enjoy the Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny!

Peak Fall Color Climatology

Calendar of the typical peak fall color window along this trail

In half of past years, color along the Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny peaks October 20 to 30, typically around October 25. The trail has 50% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, sugar maple, yellow-poplar, and northern red oak.

History

In 1749 and 1750 the Delaware chief Nemacolin and frontiersman Thomas Cresap improved an old trail over the Alleghenies from the Potomac at Cumberland, and in 1755 General Braddock widened its eastern miles into a military road. Between 1910 and 1912 the Western Maryland built its 86-mile Connellsville Extension, meeting the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie at Connellsville in the heart of the coal and coke country. The P&LE line had opened in 1883 as the Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Youghiogheny, built with Vanderbilt money to feed Connellsville coke to the Pittsburgh furnaces. The B&O took control of the Western Maryland in 1973 and gave up the extension in 1975, keeping its own parallel route. The P&LE let its Youghiogheny line go in 1991. On June 9, 1978, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy bought the first stretch of the old Western Maryland grade near Ohiopyle, and the first nine miles opened from Ramcat to Ohiopyle on May 17, 1986. Trail groups along the corridor united in 1995 as the Allegheny Trail Alliance, today the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy. The last nine miles into Pittsburgh opened in June 2013, completing the 150 miles to Point State Park. This segment holds the trail's birthplace at Ohiopyle and the meeting of the two railroads at Connellsville, where the Western Maryland grade gives way to the P&LE grade the Regional Trail Corporation bought in 1991.

Trailheads

OhiopyleMILE 0Directions
ConnellsvilleMILE 17.3Directions
DawsonMILE 22.7Directions
LaytonMILE 30.1Directions
WhitsettMILE 32.2Directions
SmithtonMILE 36.3Directions
Cedar Creek ParkMILE 38.4Directions
West NewtonMILE 42.2Directions

Connects To

Great Allegheny Passage: CasselmanSheepskin Trail: DunbarGreat Allegheny Passage: Steel Valley

Managed By

Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy

Nearby trails

Sheepskin Trail: Dunbar

2.1 mi·PA

Explore Forecast

Coal & Coke Trail

4.9 mi·PA

Explore Forecast

Indian Creek Valley Trail: South

5.2 mi·PA

Explore Forecast

RailTrailWx TIPS

Great Allegheny Passage: Youghiogheny

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

The whole segment runs downhill from Ohiopyle to West Newton, about 450 feet of drop in 42 miles, all of it at a rail grade you feel only as an easier spin. Riding upstream it is a steady, gentle climb.

Between Ohiopyle and Connellsville the trail rides the wall of the Youghiogheny gorge inside the state park, and the slopes above it face east and northeast, so the corridor loses direct sun by mid afternoon and stays damp after rain.

The gorge collects cold air overnight; mornings in the park start cool, and fog often sits on the river and drifts across the trail before it lifts.

The valley below Connellsville is wider and more open than the gorge, so riders can expect the afternoon warmth and drying to come sooner on the Dawson, Layton, and Smithton miles than on the park miles.

There is no town on the trail for the 17 miles between Ohiopyle and Connellsville; the Yough River Trail Council keeps a campground with water and toilets at the Connellsville trailhead.

Ohiopyle State Park allows hunting, and the park promotes the trail as a way to reach hunting and trout fishing, so plan on hunters near the trail in autumn inside the park.

The corridor is walled through the Youghiogheny gorge, so wind matters less here than on the viaducts near Meyersdale or the open riverfront downstream; the river's constant bends mean no single wind direction stays a headwind for long.

Roundbottom Hiker-Biker Campground at mile 99.6 is free and first come, first served, on a bend of the river where Slush Run comes off the hillside.

-Cory

Trail Facts

Activities

About This Trail

RailTrailWx TIPS

Trivia

Climate

RailTrailWx Comfort Scores, for your activity.

Peak Fall Color Climatology

History

Trailheads

Connects To

Managed By

Further Reading

Nearby trails

Trail Facts

Activities

About This Trail

RailTrailWx TIPS

Trivia

Climate

RailTrailWx Comfort Scores, for your activity.

Peak Fall Color Climatology

History

Trailheads

Connects To

Managed By

Further Reading

Nearby trails