Harrison Hills Park is a

county park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

in Allegheny County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a part of the county's network of nine distinct parks. It is situated northeast of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in Harrison Township. The park features an

overlook A scenic viewpoint – also called an observation point, viewpoint, viewing point, vista point, lookout, scenic overlook,These terms are more commonly used in North America. etc. – is an elevated location where people can view scenery (often w ...

of the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

and offers walking, hiking, and bridle trails. The Harrison Hills Park Environmental Learning Center is open on weekends.

Trails

The eastern

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

of the Rachel Carson Trail is just north of the park's entrance. The trail traverses the park's eastern perimeter along the edge of a bluff overlooking the

. It crosses

Rachel Carson Run Rachel Carson Run is a long tributary of the Allegheny River located in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Rachel Carson Run flows through Harrison Hills Park and joins the Allegheny River within Harrison Township. The stream ...

, via a wooden

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

above Rachel Carson Falls, which meanders below the Ox Roast grove. In early 2016 a

North American beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primari ...

(''Castor canadensis'') took up residence in South Pound in the park, and appears to be removing non-native

Russian olive ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'', commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of ''Elaeagnus'', native to western and central Asia, Iran, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey, parts of Pakistan and parts of ...

trees, freeing up room for fishermen on the shore.

References

External links

Harrison Hills ParkFriends of Harrison Hills
{{AlleghenyCountyPennsylvaniaParks Parks in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area Parks in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Nature centers in Pennsylvania County parks in the United States

Trails

References

Further reading

External links