I’ve always wanted to take the time to see more of the United States, particularly the amazing sites not too far from home. I’m a big believer in being a tourist in your hometown and surrounding local area, or taking the time to travel to places not too far away to learn to appreciate the areas close to home more. There are so many beautiful locations in Pennsylvania and the pandemic inspired me to try to take a few trips to local, natural places in my state. Most of the excursions my boyfriend and I did during the pandemic had been day trips to hiking spots that were very much in our local area. Then, in September, I decided I wanted to plan a weekend trip somewhere in the state that neither of us had been before and that was full of natural beauty.
I’d spent a lot of time on Pinterest, looking up day trips, great hiking spots, and other places to see in Pennsylvania. I have an entire board dedicated to it! After spending time looking through the places I had saved and reading up on them, we decided to head upstate to see the Kinzua Bridge. This trip was just the first of many I’d like to take, but it was a great place to start!
What is Kinzua Bridge?
Kinzua Bridge is located in upstate Pennsylvania in Mt. Jewett, PA, very close to Kane, PA. There are several other great places to visit nearby, some of which we checked out while we were there. The Bridge, also known as the Viaduct, was built in 1882 and was the highest and longest railroad structure in the world for a long time. The Bridge made it possible to transport much-needed goods like lumber and coal across the Kinzua Gorge and move it between Pennsylvania and New York. The Bridge is made out of steel and was used for over 100 years, though there were periods when it was not in use. It was eventually repurposed for passenger traIns and used until the early 2000s.
In 1970, the area surrounding the Bridge became a State Park. The park encompasses 339 acres and has various hiking trails and features a visitor center. In 2003, a tornado ripped through the area and collapsed part of the Bridge. Luckily, no trains were on the Bridge at the time. In 2009, construction began to make it safe for pedestrians to walk on top of the Bridge and add it to the list of attractions at the Kinzua Bridge State Park. Now, the Bridge is open year-round, weather permitting, and can be walked from dawn until dusk.
Traveling to the park
At Rimrock Overlook
I’d chosen Kinzua Bridge as a place to see purely off of pictures I’d seen on Pinterest with the Bridge stretching over vibrant colors as the trees were in full autumn colors. We really wanted to go when the leaves were peaking, but unfortunately they peaked about a week or two in the gorge before we got there. We found out that some intense winds and rain had gone through the area and knocked most of the leaves off of the trees, but it was still breath-taking.
The drive was about four hours; we’ve taken much longer drives together and neither of us minds driving that much. After months of basically nowhere to go and neither of us driving to work, four hours each way didn’t seem that bad. I love true crime podcasts and C will happily listen with me on long drives. I also have playlists galore, so we were set.
Driving upstate was absolutely beautiful. The leaves were peaking all the way there and we spent most of the time traveling through the mountains. We made sure we had plenty of snacks and coffee and got to Kinzua Bridge State Park shortly after lunch.
What we did
We parked and made our way along the trail leading toward the visitor center. We decided not to go inside because of Covid and there were pretty many people waiting in line at the gift shop and going in and out of the center. We headed straight to the walkway.
The Bridge had been reinforced so it was safe for people to walk on, but the original tracks are still on top of it. You walk out to the end of the walkway on the right and come back on the opposite side. You can walk in the middle where the original train tracks are – while it’s definitely safe, there are gaps that you can clearly see through and see just how high up you are. Once we got to the end of the walkway, we looked around and snapped a few pictures. There’s a large platform to stand on and the center is glass looking straight down. It was all pretty cool, though it was incredibly windy!
After we were done on the walkway, we headed back toward the visitor center and walked down the side of the gorge. There are trails all over the place with various platforms you can stand on to get pictures of the bridge. When we first looked down, it didn’t seem too bad, but the trail is really steep! We made it to the bottom and decided not to go up the other side. The park left the steel pieces that were ripped down during the tornado lying on the ground and you can sit on them and walk around them and go all the way to the other side where another platform is with the rest of the bridge. It’s a really cool park
with plenty to do and you could easily spend an entire day hiking there.
After the Park
Once we were done, we drove about 45 minutes away to the Allegheny National Forest. This forest covers an area much longer than Kinzua Bridge State Park, but there’s a specific overlook we wanted to check out. It’s called Rimrock Overlook and has a short trail with an overlook built into rock on the side of the cliff. There are even stairs that go down the side of the mountain with short tunnels through the rock! There’s parking right by the overlook, so it was an easy hike down to the railing. There were other people around, but it wasn’t too busy, even though the weather was really nice and the leaves were still at their peak. We could see park of the Kinzua Creek that branches off from the Allegheny Reservoir.
Once we were done hiking at the national forest, we drove to Kane, PA, where we had made reservations at an inn for the night. I’d found it online when looking for places to stay – Kane Manor. It’s a locally owned property that has plenty of hiking trails and a variety of rooms to choose from. I’d done some research and many people recommended the place and said it was by far the nicest place to stay in the area. We loved our stay there! It’s on the edge of the town and the owner was so kind. It’s a beautiful historic manor house and they provide breakfast in the morning. The price was also incredible!
The town of Kane was adorable – it had a total small town feel with a main street featuring various small businesses and local restaurants. The weather was nice so we could sit outside and enjoy a drink from Logyard Brewing. We got dinner from Texas Hot Lunch, a great local diner, and then headed back to the inn to watch some movies. Before we left the next day, we got brunch from Table 105, which was delicious!
It was overall a great trip and I would love to go back to do a little more exploring in the National Park and see some of the other places nearby, like the PA Grand Canyon!