The coming holiday weekend with warm temperatures and bright sunshine expected is the perfect time to cure your case of cabin fever by getting outside and taking advantage of the splendid natural beauty of the region.
A wide variety of visitors and locals will flocking to the region’s best recreation areas to get some sunshine and have a good time this Memorial Day weekend.
Allegany State Park Red House Area manager John Snyder said that all 130 campsites and 144 cabins have been booked and everyone is looking forward to an enjoyable holiday weekend.
“We just completed electrical upgrades on many of the cabins in Red House. Now about 90 percent of cabins have electricity, before there were about 70 percent with electricity,” Snyder said.
Park employees have been hard at work to prepare for a successful summer season. “It’s been a good year. We have had some good weather so we were able to get ahead with mowing, detailing and repairing cabins,” Snyder said.
Those looking to get moving in their activities will enjoy the park’s 75 miles of hiking trails, equestrian and mountain biking trails.
Others will find relaxation by fishing or boating on Red House Lake. Thunder Rocks is an impressive bedrock city that allows for the nature lover to see the hidden beauty that this park is known for. The Stone Tower structure shows vistas of the rolling hills of mature forests. The many beaver ponds are a good place to observe the diversity of wildlife located in the park.
Snyder said the Red House Beach will be open weather permitting beginning Friday through Memorial Day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. After this, the beach will be open only on weekends until June 22, after which it will be open seven days a week.
Upcoming on the park’s calendar is the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage from May 31 until June 2. The pilgrimage is a tradition more than half a century old, sponsored by the Jamestown, Buffalo, and Presque Isle Audubon Societies and the Burroughs Nature Club. People of all ages choose from a wide variety of walks, workshops, and tent programs to learn about everything from soil and rocks to history, creek creatures to sky creatures, flowers to trees.
Red House is located just north of Bradford across the New York state line.
About 15 miles west of Bradford on Route 346, the Willow Bay Recreation Area will also welcome hundreds of campers, picnickers, and nature enthusiasts for the unofficial kick-off of the summer season.
Ed Prince, general manager for Allegheny Site Management Inc., said employees at Willow Bay and many other area campgrounds, including Red Bridge, Kiasutha and Dew Drop, have been readying for the busy weekend.
Prince oversees nearly 1,000 campsites across the region, most of which have already been booked in anticipation of a gorgeous Memorial Day weekend. He said there are still some fire-come, first-served sites available.
In addition to camping and picnicking, visitors can rent canoes and kayaks at Willow Bay and Kiasutha or simply enjoy a relaxing stroll in the great outdoors. An early morning or late evening walk often provides exciting opportunities to view a variety of wildlife.
Elsewhere, Kinzua Bridge State Park is expecting many visitors this weekend at the new Kinzua Bridge Skywalk overlooking the ruins of the viaduct.
The viaduct, once known as the longest and tallest railroad structure at 2,053 feet long and 301 feet high, was partially destroyed by a tornado in 2003. In 2011, the Kinzua Bridge was reinvented as a new pedestrian walkway where visitors can stroll 600 feet out on the remaining support towers, peer miles out into the Kinzua Gorge as well as peer down into the partial glass platform at the end of the walkway.
Picnickers can also rent pavilions to picnic and spend the day discovering the site in the Kinzua Creek Valley.
The Allegheny National Forest is always a destination of choice during the summertime months.
Nature lovers are welcome to explore the more than 600 miles of hiking and biking trails throughout the forest or take advantage of reservoir access for swimming at Kinzua Beach.
Starry eyed nature lovers can head to Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, an international dark sky park — gold-certified with some of the darkest skies on the East Coast.
Some upcoming public stargazing programs at Cherry Springs State Park in Galeton include a night sky tour from 9:30 to 11 p.m. May 26. Participants can observe the bright constellations through a laser-guided tour conducted by park staff. Hear the legends and myths surrounding these patterns in the night sky. Explore planets, star clusters and other deep space objects through the park’s telescopes. Programs are conducted at Night Sky Viewing Area which is located opposite the gated Astronomy Field. If the sky is unfavorable for stargazing, an alternative program will be held in the pavilion on the South Side of the park.
Also planned is a program to use the geocache trail at Cherry Springs State Park that will take place on May 24-26 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. each day. Park staff will give an introduction to the sport of geocacheing. The new geocache trail has 10 caches hidden around the park. You do not need to have a GPS unit. The park has 12 units that will be preprogrammed for use. This program will start at the Astronomy Field Amphitheater.
An educational Moonlight Movie and Lunar Viewing will take place on May 24-25 from 9 to 10:30 p.m. both days. The film is about the people that met President Kennedy’s challenge of landing a man on the moon and returning safely. After the movie participants will observe the lunar landscape through the park’s telescopes. This full moon program will be held at the Astronomy Field Amphitheater.
