Harrison Hills Park

Harrison Hills Park is a 500-acre (2.0 km2) county park in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the United States.[1] It is a part of the county's 12,000-acre (49 km2) network of nine distinct parks.

Harrison Hills Park
The Harrison Hills Park overlook of the Allegheny River and Allegheny Township in Autumn 2007
Harrison Hills Park
Harrison Hills Park
TypeMunicipal
LocationAllegheny County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40.6492325°N 79.6989370°W / 40.6492325; -79.6989370
Area500-acre (2.0 km2)

It is situated 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Pittsburgh in Harrison Township. The park features an overlook of the Allegheny River and offers walking, hiking, and bridle trails. The Harrison Hills Park Environmental Learning Center is open on weekends.

Trails

The eastern trailhead of the 35.7-mile (57.5 km) Rachel Carson Trail is just north of the park's entrance.[2] The trail traverses the park's eastern perimeter along the edge of a bluff overlooking the Allegheny River. It crosses Rachel Carson Run, via a wooden arch bridge above Rachel Carson Falls, which meanders below the Ox Roast grove.

In early 2016 a North American beaver (Castor canadensis) took up residence in South Pound in the park, and appears to be removing non-native Russian olive trees, freeing up room for fishermen on the shore.[3]

References
  1. "Harrison Hills County Park". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  2. "Rachel Carson Trail: A 35-mile day-hiking trail just outside Pittsburgh, PA". Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  3. Mary Ann Thomas (Jan 8, 2016). "Beaver makes home in Harrison Hills pond". Retrieved 2016-01-10.


Further reading
  • Smith, Helene and George Swetnam (1991). A Guidebook to Historic Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 0-8229-5424-9.


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