Husband and I had a nice drive to Kooser State Park to do a little fishing. It is located off PA…read moreroute 31 between Donegal and Somerset. I think at times it is often overlooked but it has clean restrooms, plenty of picnic tables, camping site, a few hiking trails and pavilions. It is smaller than some of the other state parks. The lake is stocked with trout, but you can also catch perch and blue gill. No boats are allowed and all fishing must be done from the shoreline. It has been years since I was here last. Our family and friends used to swim in the ice cold spring water, but swimming is no longer allowed. The remnants of the old beach can be seen. Nice park for a family picnic and fishing.

Beautiful scenery! Clean bathrooms. Respectful other campers. Not far from Ohiopyle and there's…read morelots to see and do there too.

This campground is the best in my opinion they have a bike trail and a river great for the family!…read more5 STARS

Great location, sandwiched between the Youghiogheny River and Great Allegheny Passage bike trail…read more We stayed her last October since then the campground update the fire rings and the added concrete patios to more spots and replace several picnic tables. Kids pool and adult pool. Camp store and cafe are well stocked food is good and fresh. Connellsville and Dawson are short bike ride on the trail, shopping, dinning and other shops.

It's not the biggest lake in the area, but it's a nice lake. There is a boat launch (We have…read morelaunched our kayaks from this spot many times), and a completely new bridge over the lake with a new paved walking trail along-side of it, under it (see my photos), and partially on the other side of the bridge also (great for people that want to fish). If you get hungry, Mad Mex is right next door, lakeside, with a great deck for observing the comings and goings on the water. There is also a walking trail down to the dam, and several parking areas. One time when I was here, I saw a Bald Eagle flying over the lake, and also nesting in a tree on the shore . . . great local natural resource . . . Cheers!!!

Drop Stables was a great experience. We enjoyed a1 hr talk…read moreride thru the woods, across a creek, up and down paths. The horses were well behaved and took direction. Worth a day out.

Had no idea where to park. Drove around a bit and finally parked around the 2 mile marker. We were…read morealong the river briefly but then no view and lots of fences. Wouldn't choose this trail for walking

Easy bike ride along the Monongahela River. My friend and I started at the well-marked Clarksville…read moretrailhead near the Greene Cove Yacht Club and made our way towards Rices Landing. For the time being the trail is not very long (about 11 miles roundtrip) but I read that there are plans to add another 9 miles to the trail which would make it worth driving from Pittsburgh to enjoy on bike. We unfortunately got caught in the rain and a couple down trees meant we turned around about two thirds of the way. Nevertheless the trail had little elevation and Rices Landing was a nice place to stop (there are historic buildings in town, a gazebo and a small park where you can sit along the river). We passed several picnic benches along the trail where one could sit and take in the lovely view. There was also a portajohn at the Rices Landing trailhead parking. Weather permitting, this would be a lovely hiking/walking trail. I'll be back with my bike in better weather once the trail is extended.

Beautiful park with multiple pavilions, multiple kid's play areas and numerous grill stations. The…read moregrounds are well-kept and litter free. Probably the best county park I've seen in my travels. There's also a 2-lane boat launch area and 2 restroom facilities. A permit or sticker is needed to use the boat launch but if just using it for a day, can ask permission for a one-day use.

Great boat ramp and courtesy docks. First, Tenmile Creek is packed with alewives, gizzard shad, un…read morenamed minnows, etc Two where's shad, there's game fish. Game fish like hybrid striped bass, smallmouth, pike, walleye, muskies are constantly feeding off the schools and migrate in and out of the creek. There's a solid weed line extending into deeper water on the Mon, directly across from where the creek enters the river. I'd love to find a waterfront AirBnb or any accommodation near this launch but ZERO exist.

We're in the area to visit Ohiopyle and were looking for some places close by to take our golden…read moreretriever swimming and while eating breakfast this morning at Yum Yums one of the owners recommended this place. After hubby and I toured Kentuck Knob we stopped by our hotel to get our golden and headed straight here. I was worried that being Father's Day that the place would be insanely crowded but there weren't many people there and since there are so many areas to park everyone that was there was pretty well spaced out. We stopped at the boat ramp area so our golden could jump off the 2 floating docks and he absolutely loved it. The water is really clean and hubby even saw a huge fish jump out of the water while our dog was retrieving his ball. This area has benches and a walkway around the lake and there are also bathrooms, pavilions and picnic tables and seems to be quite popular with the local fisherman plus it was so clean and pristine, my only regret is that we didn't find this place sooner because we would have been bringing our pup here every morning and evening. Great place for fishing, family get togethers or for a nice walk around the lake, we're actually getting ready to head back up there now.

The Roaring Run Natural Area is located some 55 miles east of Pittsburgh and it's a part of the…read moreForbes State Forest. Indeed the whole area is made up of a chain of state parks and forests running southwest from Donegal, PA to Ohiopyle and including Laurel Hill State Park, Laurel Ridge State Park, and Ohiopyle State Park. The Roaring Run Natural Area consists of 3500+ acres and is located on the west west slope of Laurel Ridge in Westmoreland County. Roaring Run Natural Area is mostly woodlands with second and third growth forests. In the early 1900s, this area was used for logging. This reapeated logging has caused the forest here to be quite varied in age and composition. In it, you'll find northern hardwoods and many oak species as you hike through it. The area was also used for farming and you can find somewhat recently abandoned fields as well as older farmlands which have completely reverted to forest. Roaring Run Natural Area features a complete mountain stream protected within its watershed. Roaring Run is spring fed near the summit of Laurel Ridge. The stream drops 1,220' in elevation, over a length of 5 miles, before ending at its confluence with Indian Creek in the village of Champion. Roaring Run is designated as a Wilderness Trout Stream and Exceptional Value Stream. The area also has several miles of good hiking trails within its boundaries and me and my girlfriends came out here for just that. Many of the trails were built on the paths of the old logging railroads, so in some ways they're rails-to-trails conversions. The trails vary in difficulty level and are duly marked with blue and yellow blazes. Blue denotes trails maintained for cross-country skiing, while yellow denotes trails maintained for foot traffic only. There are no bicycles permitted on any of the trails. We began our hiking from one of the parking lots off of Painter Rock Road. Painter Rock Road appears to dead end into one of the trails and there is no parking at that point. Most of the trails form loops and we decided to walk in a counter clockwise direction, beginning by hiking up the road a little bit until we came to the McKenna Trail. We turned left on the McKenna until it met up with the North Loop Trail. Don't let the map fool you--the North Loop Trail is 4.5 miles long, but it's on the old logging railroad grades. We hiked the length of that until we reached the Painter Rock Trail. We made a right and followed that around to the Roaring Run Trail, which of course follows the stream by the same name. We made a left on that and did another 2 miles. Again, the trail follows the old logging railroad grade. We had many good views of the stream from here. When we got to the junction of the Roaring Run Trail and the Painter Rock Trail, I had to stop and take a sugar break (I'm a type-1 diabetic). So we followd the Roaring Run Trail down to the Hillside Trail, which is really just a short connector of about a mile over to the Jones Mill Run Trail. This trail follows Jones Mill Run creekbed for its length. We followed that trail for a mile and took another rest break at one of the parking lots. We took a look at the map and noticed that the Cherry Trail follows Jones Mill Run south and out of the Natural Area into Laurel Hill State Park. From there we could have hiked back up the Red Creek Trail, but our answer was "No Way!" We were getting a little tired at this point and as I mentioned, some of these trails are really rugged in here. So we looped back another couple of miles on the McKenna Trail to our starting point. All in all, I'd say we hiked a good 10 miles. And we're going to have to visit some of the other areas I mentioned in this review. The Forbes State Forest, of which the Roaring Run Natural Area is a part of, comprises about 60,000 acres located in Westmoreland, Somerset and Fayette Counties. This is a terrific place to hike and explore. Just remember a few key things. 1) Make sure you wear good, sturdy hiking shoes. Many of these trails are very rugged and have sticks and stones which could cut your feet. Not only that, hiking shoes will give you great traction, support, and balance so your feet won't feel so tired when you're done. 2) Plan ahead--make sure you bring a map. Also make sure you bring food and water. There are no places to obtain any of these in the park. Apples, dried fruits, and nuts will give your body plenty of carbs and energy. A PBJ sandwich is highly recommended. make sure your cel phone is fully charged. 3) Never, ever hike in here alone. This park has some very isolated sections and if something was to happen to you, it's possible no one would ever find you. 4) Stay on the blazed trails. 5) Take only photographs, leave only footprints.

Beautiful area with intermediate-difficulty trails that are, unfortunately, not particularly well…read moremarked. (We weren't the only ones who got lost.) Hiking shoes, good weather, and plenty of time are necessary, especially if you will be traversing the miles of trail in the central portion of the park. The promised "vistas" on Painter Rock Trail never materialized--perhaps because the leaves were still on the trees? However, we were there for the foliage first, and that delivered. May try again in the spring out and back along the 3.3 miles of Roaring Run Trail. Being an hour from Pittsburgh, it doesn't make sense to spend less than 2 hours out on the trails anyway.