Day 7 – Sugarloaf Knob

Today’s Blog Entry

On Wednesday morning it was rather chilly at Ohiopyle State Park – the temperature had dropped to 34 overnight so we were happy that we had left the flannel sheets on the bed! After the weather had warmed up a bit we left the campground via the now familiar connector trail leading down to the Great Allegheny Passage.

We walked east on the GAP to Ohiopyle where we found the starting point for the Baughman Trail just past the train station. This single track trail took us up the ridge and through a nice stand of forest to Baughman Rock, a scenic promontory overlooking the Youghiogheny River valley.

From Baughman Rock we continued on the trail towards Sugarloaf Knob. We didn’t actually climb to the top of Sugarloaf Knob as we were already six miles into our hike when we arrived, but we did find a very pleasant place for our picnic lunch in a small park located nearby. This park included a picnic shelter, fire pit, and warming hut for use in the wintertime by people snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and sledding on the trail system located there. I could see this being a very happening place on a cold, snowy day!

After our picnic we found the well-hidden access point for the Backside Sugarloaf Trail, followed it around Sugarloaf Knob to the main Sugarloaf Trail, and then followed that trail all the way back down into Ohiopyle.

One of the highlights of the walk back was finding a spectacular dogwood standing all alone in what was obviously once a farmer’s pasture, long since abandoned. We’ve seen a lot of native dogwoods over the years, but this one was easily the prettiest – almost perfectly shaped and at the very peak of bloom.

The last leg of the Sugarloaf Trail paralleled the same scenic stretch of Meadow Run where we fished on Monday. We had hoped to get some nice views of the creek but the trail remained well up the hillside. We could only hear the rapids and falls due to the thick stand of rhododendrons scattered between us and the water.

We dropped back down into Ohiopyle, visited the Falls Market for a well-deserved waffle cone filled with homemade ice cream, and then headed back to the campground. We had hiked just a shade under 13 miles so it was definitely time for a campfire, an adult beverage, and a nice hot meal from the galley!

Today’s Map

Today’s Photos