The deep gorge of Slippery Rock Creek makes McConnell's Mill State Park one of the most beautiful in Western Pennsylvania. I have vague memories of this place from earliest childhood.
A pleasant, two-hour hike is to park at Eckert Bridge, hike alongside the stream to the old mill and covered bridge, then hike back on the opposite side.
Most people who visit the park linger in the northeastern tip, near the mill and the covered bridge. These are nice spots. I especially like Kildoo Road, where it passes through all the boulders (not pictured here). But there's actually a lot more to the place. Hikers can discover some beautiful backcountry out around the region of the park known as Walnut Flats and along Hell Run.
The mill is scenic enough, though I prefer trees. It doesn't seem to have a water wheel.
The park consists of six separate tracts, five of which are unknown to pretty much everyone but hunters. One of my lesser goals on this trek was Cleland Rock overlook, but I never got there because the bridge on Breakneck Bridge Road--fittingly enough--was out. It looks like it's been "out" for decades.
Unlike Breakneck Bridge, the covered bridge still carries traffic. There's nothing unusual about it, except maybe its length. It's like many covered bridges that you find down in Washington County, PA. Local legend says--if I recall correctly--that if you drive across the bridge at night and turn off your headlights on the bridge, you can look into your rearview mirror and see in your backseat the ghosts of two Amish boys who drowned in the stream years ago.
Cheeseman is an ugly name for the pretty road that meanders down the side of the gorge to Eckert Bridge, at the bottom. There are no guardrails, and it is a very steep drop. Unfortunately, there's no camping in the park, though the North Country Trail passes through.
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