Youghiogheny River in Pennsylvania

Trip Overview

Middle portion of the Youghiogheny

We put in at 3 pm at the State Park put in just off of route 281 below Confluence, Penn. We ran a Mohawk XL 15. The weather was sunny 80 degrees and the river level was 2.42 feet .

There are 3 upper portion Rapids and 5 main lower rapids all are class 1 and class 2. We drug a couple of times, but it was very minimum. I wouldn't want to run it much lower river level.

The first rapid is Ramcat which is the toughest rapid of the whole trip. Run it in the middle or on the right side. It is a class 2 but it is very close to a class 3. We got sideways on it, but came on through.

The next 2 on the upper half are nice class 2 rapids that are best run in the middle of the river. On the lower 5, they are all best run in the middle except for the last one, Elephant Rock rapid. The rock is on the left, just after you pass under the cable car wire. Run this rapid to the right side and stay away from the rock. Just after this rapid is the takeout point at Ohiopyle, just off of route 40.

The whole trip takes 3 to 4 hours. It is a very good trip with most of the river only 2-3 feet deep with some holes running 6-8 feet.

Accommodations:

Ohiopyle is a rafting and a bicycle town that does nothing but cater to visitors. Lots of places to stay over night and lots of places to eat. I recommend the Firefly grill - the Italian sausage sandwich and fries are out of this world.

Fees:

Penn. requires a 10$ launching license that you can buy there, or online. Although they weren't checking for them, we still bought ours online.

Directions:

Confluence and Ohiopyle lay just north of I-68. Route 281 actually connects the two towns.