Lesser-Known Hikes at Ohiopyle

 This is the view from Baughman Rocks at Ohiopyle State Park.  On a foggy morning like this one, there's little to see.

 But it's a scenic spot near the road with a parking lot.  It's worth a gander, but there are more secluded places at Ohiopyle, too.  And some of them are more scenic than this.

If you head all the way out to the northwesternmost corner of the park, you come to "The Old Mitchell Place."  Great name, huh?  It actually used to be a farm, and the remains of the fields and orchards are pretty clear to see, partially overtaken by forest.  On your drive out there, you'll come upon this oddity: a cemetery, and not a very old one.  The Mitchell Trail, though not extraordinarily scenic, is lesser known and a better place than many at Ohiopyle to find a little solitude.  It's a three mile loop that took me an hour to do.

But this!  This is what I'm more proud of!  This scenic view--equal to or better than the one at Baughman Rocks--doesn't appear on any map.  As you take Sugarloaf Road south away from Baughman Rocks, you'll come across a narrow, gated dirt road running down the mountainside to the left.  The map simply calls it "Gas Well Road."  There's room for one car to park beside the gate.  It's a beautiful walk down the side of the mountain, and in some places where there are fewer trees, you get views like this.  Silence and solitude and beauty.  That's what I love.  It didn't look like the road had been used by hiker or gasman in a long, long time.