Ohiopyle State Park

       Ohiopyle State Park has been a really popular choice of destination when I was leading kayaking trips for Hopkins. Doing the kayak loop on the lower Yough and canoing on the middle Yough were our bread & butter. The loop is a cool run that is very suitable for beginning boaters. A few rapids such as Cucumber and Table Saw are very fun and friendly. To run the loop, you put in right below Ohiopyle Falls and there are a few waves and small rapid at the beginning and then Cucumber would start the show as the first exciting rapid. The next few rapids are all segmented by flat water and are smaller than Cucumber

Middle Yough

Railroad right above the Yough

Wilderness Voyager Outfitter

       The town of Ohiopyle is this cute and friendly town where the majority of the local business rely on outdoor tourism, mainly rafting, kayaking and hiking. The place where we stayed was provided by one of NRA students, Mackenzie Hatcher’s family. The house was very nice and spacey. Some students and teachers stayed in the house while others stayed in the hotel ran by Mackenzie’s grandparents. Thanks, Mackenzie's family!      

       After leaving Ottawa, finding a good teaching space became a tricky task. There were many places where teachers used such as the area near Ohiopyle Fall, Firefly coffee shop, the kitchen, living room and porch of the house, etc. I took my students to the Waterfall the first day, and the background noise was so loud! No one could focus, including me. A waterfall has what I call “Bond fire effect.” People can stare at bond fire for hours because firstly, it’s warm and secondly because it is charming and magical. Waterfalls are the same. I can follow the flow of a big chunk of water to see how it maneuvers through the rocks or I could trace a single drop of water and observe how it free falls down the waterfall. I can do that for hours and hours. It feels like meditation in that it clears my mind and makes me calm and return to myself.