Kinzua State Park & Sky Walk

I had planned a trip to north-central Pennsylvania for a while and finally had a chance to seek out a few attractions. Two of the major things I had wanted to see for some time were the Austin Dam and Kinzua Bridge. With a great weather forecast ahead, my brother, a friend, and I started our trip to Kinzua Bridge. The drive lead us through one of the most wooded parts of Pennsylvania with towering trees and a lot of wild life. The drive in itself was easy and scenic and time pasted quickly as we approached the Kinzua State Park.

Marketed as the “Eight Wonder of the World” at one point, the Kinzua Bridge was a historic architectural marvel. The railroad bridge was built over the Kinzua Creek in Meckean County just outside the small town of Mt. Jewett. At one time it was the tallest railroad bridge in the world standing over 300 feet. Originally built in 1882 of wrought iron, it was later rebuilt with steel. It remained working until 1959 and then became part of the Kinzua State Park. Restoration efforts for the bridge to attract more visitors started in 2002, but in 2003 a huge storm ripped through northern Ohio and Pennsylvania and proceeded to build a tornado that knocked down most of the bridge. After the destruction, plans changed to make the bridge a sky walk to show the power of mother nature.

Visitor Center

As we arrived to the parking lot for the sky walk, we were surprised to see a large visitor center. We decided to go straight to the sky walk which was directly behind the visitor center and check back there afterwards. For a Sunday, the park was busy but not overly crowded. Along the sky walk, we quickly progressed high above the tree tops and valley below. At the end of the bridge a large observation platform was built with a glass floor in the middle. We stood 250 feet above the valley with superb view of the valley. We then decided to walk the trail leading to the valley below. The trail itself was steep and one could easily become fatigued if not used to hiking, so I would recommend using caution before attempting. The views from the valley floor were almost as amazing as from above and worth the trip down.

Upon returning from the trail, we decided to stop by the visitor center and were glad we did. The center had many exhibits, some were hands on and great of grade school children. The visitor center also had an information desk and small gift shop. Overall I was very pleased with the trip and would recommend a visit to anyone to see this engineering marvel.