Allegheny National Forest and Kinzua Bridge

 Vanlog, Ketttlesville, PA (Allegheny National Forest)

September 3-4, 2020

Trying to get one last long weekend trip in before Brian has to go back to teaching college. We left the house Thursday afternoon about 3:30 PM, which was a little on the late side. Google Maps told us it was 4 hrs 27 min to our destination in the Allegheny National Forest, but we did not pull in until 9 PM after navigating the last hour on back country roads and some dirt forest roads. Finally, we found our dispersed camping (polite word for boondocking) site along the Tionesta Creek. This site was recommended by someone on a free campsites group on facebook who lives in the area. Luckily, it was not already taken and we were able to navigate the rocks and roots in the site by flashlight. We settled in for a quiet night. 

In the morning, we were up before dawn, around 6 AM and had left the campsite by 7 AM. We drove 1 hr 15 min to Kinzua Bridge State Park, arriving around 8:20 AM. This old railroad trustle bridge was originally built in 1882 and was the tallest railroad bridge in the world at the time. It was rebuilt in 1900 and restored for tourism in 2002 before a tornado destroyed part of the viaduct in 2003. There is a skywalk there now. There was no one at the bridge at this hour and an eerie fog enveloped the skywalk. We had the bridge to ourselves.

We then walked down the path to the Kinzua Creek below the bridge for views up at the Skywalk and of the wreckage from the tornado. As we hiked, the fog cleared and we had some beautiful views. Then we trudged back up the steep elevation gain and walked out the Skywalk without the fog. 

Next, we drove to Rim Rock for some nice views and then had a picnic lunch at Kinzua Beach.

Next stop were the overlooks at Jake's Rock and Kinzua Point and then the Kinzua Dam iteself. 

Then we headed back to our campsite along the Tionesta Creek and went for a swim before dinner. Dinner was chicken fajitas cooked over a charcoal grill. A campfire with s'mores followed.