Cucumber Run leaves a rhododendron trail at Ohiopyle and falls in a thin spray a short walk from the road. Below the town the Youghiogheny is loud in the gorge, and people carry boats down from the street to run it. The Great Allegheny Passage comes through on the same block, Pittsburgh at one end of the ride and the Laurel Highlands under the wheels, so the river day and the bike day share a street.
Ohiopyle is a small river town with the park wrapped around it. You walk from the falls back to the river without changing bases.
On Bear Run, Fallingwater hangs its concrete terraces over the waterfall, rooms over the stream. As of September 2026 it is closed Wednesdays, and tours run by reservation.
Kentuck Campground is the overnight on the hill above town, open April through mid-December. DCNR warns that SR 2019 is very steep and large RVs should avoid it, with a signed alternate on PA 40 onto Chalk Hill-Ohiopyle Road. A campervan takes the grade. If you want more sleeping space, look at RV rentals in Pennsylvania and use the signed alternate. South of the gorge, West Virginia is the next overnight.
The Laurel Highlands
You sleep on the shoreline loop at Laurel Hill Lake, in the highlands around Somerset and Ligonier. Kooser State Park has a small CCC lake and a trout stream, a quieter night a short way from that shore. Seven Springs, nearby, is winter lodging, not a campground.
Laurel Hill runs mid-April through mid-October, and as of September 2026 you can reserve up to 11 months ahead. Kooser stays open through mid-December.
Raccoon Creek State Park
Raccoon Lake has a sand beach, and the campground loops sit in the woods behind it. DCNR calls the park "one of Pennsylvania's largest and most visited state parks", and this is the close-in night for a Pittsburgh weekend.
The improved loops take the warm months. Sioux Rustic Campground stays open year-round if you arrive after those loops close, or you are camping in winter.
Slippery Rock Creek runs through the gorge at McConnells Mill, whitewater in the boulders under the historic gristmill. Moraine State Park's lake is next door, and as of September 2026 camping is prohibited except for cabins and organized-group tenting, so the pair is a day from Raccoon Creek.
East of the city, Keystone State Park has a lakeside loop, the fallback night from early April through mid-October. Kennywood's wooden coasters hang above the Monongahela in West Mifflin, a day that sleeps at Raccoon Creek or Keystone. West into Ohio, Canton is the next overnight.