Your time with your family is precious. There aren’t that many days you get to take off and enjoy fun summer days together. Getting on the river with your kids in mellow to exciting rafting, targeted to their age levels, creates awesome fun and memories. The Laurel Highlands is an exceptional area to get your kids outside with you.
Rafting trips for kids as young as 5 are available every day during the summer on the Middle section of the Youghiogheny River, also known as the Middle Yough (pronounced Yok). You have options for your family, from a guided or guide-assisted Middle Yough rafting trip, to raft rentals on your own self-guided trip, to combination rafting and biking fun on the riverside Great Allegheny Passage Rail Trail.
The Middle Yough begins in Confluence, flows through the beauty of Ohiopyle State Park and ends in Ohiopyle after nine wonderful and relaxing miles. This trip is offered as a guided or an unguided trip. Take the guided if you don’t want to worry about any details – like lunch, or where the take out is. But, if you want to raft on your own time, rent rafts and take your time. Pack the fishing rods too!
This is a version of the Middle Yough unguided trip, but you get to bike too! Pedal up the beautiful Great Allegheny Passage bike rail-trail that follows beside the river, to the Middle Yough launch area, where we’ll swap your bike for a raft. It’s a great day. If you have kids though – we recommend a minimum age of 9, unless they bike frequently and are accustomed to long, active days. We have kid trailer bikes and kid trailers for rent – so you have options.
Located in the eastern corner of West Virginia, this fun family rafting section of the Cheat River offers a little more excitement for kids than the Middle Yough while still being an easy, Class 1-2+ family river.
Got older kids? Try the super fun Lower Yough Rafting river trip, for ages 12 and up.
In addition to the river activities, Ohiopyle State Park has family activites throughout its 20,000 acres. There are more than 70 miles of hiking trails, many of them super kid-friendly. There are numerous places on the Youghiogheny and Meadow Run for you to dangle your feet in the water or go swimming, like our Natural Water Slides, right at the end of town!
To get an idea of the river trip and the scenery, check out these photos:
Family Rafting in Ohiopyle on Pinterest.
Questions? Please call our family adventure specialists (800)272-4141
