Memorial Weekend in Pennsylvania

At the last minute, Sam and I decided to join the rest of America going camping for Memorial weekend. We rounded up 7 friends who were going to camp at Marblehead, OH and convinced them to come to Allegheny Reservoir in PA. We camped along the reservoir at Red Bridge campground, which was a well run campground.

James, Sam, and I stopped by the Kinzua dam on the drive up. The dam also provides hydroelectric power. What was really cool was there was a giant water battery above the reservoir. During low demand periods, the excess power generated is used to pump water from the reservoir to the top of the ridge. During high demand periods, this elevated water returns to the powerhouse to provide the extra energy needed.
The water battery is back a few forest service roads lined with some of the most redneck campsites I have ever seen. They beat the ones in West Virginia!

Water battery

We reserved walk-in campsites because I can't stand camping next to a generator. The biggest downside to the campground was all the parties. There is no alcohol policy because it's a national forest so people got pretty rowdy.

Cross-country ski to your tent!

Even Emrys is surprised he's doing dishes.

We had a lot of fun swimming in the reservoir and playing with the aerobie. We lost one in the water, but had a spare to keep playing.
We hiked up a waterfall near the dam. There wasn't one big drop, mostly a lot of cascades. Kevin found a great natural waterslide, though.

The weather was perfect until our drive home. It rained in sheets as we drove through Oil City. Fortunately, it was nice and dry at home.