Waterfalls in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania waterfalls, from the Poconos to the Laurel Highlands

Two different landscapes produced Pennsylvania's waterfalls. Across the glaciated Pocono Plateau in the northeast, creeks drop over alternating bands of hard sandstone and softer shale, from the Delaware Water Gap to Ricketts Glen State Park, where the ice age nearly doubled Kitchen Creek's drainage basin and cut the sluiceway that still feeds its cascades. In the southwest, the Youghiogheny River and Slippery Rock Creek cut gorges through the coal-bearing sandstone and shale of the Allegheny Plateau. In all, 275 named falls are recorded across 38 counties, with the largest share in the glaciated northeast.

Where the waterfalls are

Pike County leads with 48 listings, most inside Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area along Dingmans and Raymondskill creeks, plus the privately run Bushkill Falls; Monroe County (22) and Wayne County (9) add falls across the wider Poconos.

East of the Susquehanna, the glaciated Endless Mountains hold a second cluster: Sullivan County (36) covers Loyalsock State Forest, and Luzerne County (35) holds most of Ricketts Glen State Park's 24 named falls. Wyoming, Bradford, Lycoming and Tioga counties add more. South along the Lehigh River, Carbon County (17) holds most of its falls on Glen Onoko Run inside Lehigh Gorge State Park.

In the southwest, the Laurel Highlands section of the Allegheny Plateau holds a third cluster: Fayette County has Ohiopyle State Park on the Youghiogheny River, with Westmoreland, Somerset, Cambria and Indiana counties nearby. Northwestern Pennsylvania's glaciated plateau holds a fourth cluster around Lawrence County and McConnells Mill State Park, with Mercer and Venango counties adding smaller, scattered falls.

Central and southeastern Pennsylvania's Ridge-and-Valley and Piedmont country has fewer, smaller falls, among them York and Lancaster, home to Conewago Falls on the Susquehanna.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Raymondskill Falls drops 120 feet in three tiers down a hemlock ravine, a third-of-a-mile trail to two viewing platforms; roots and wet rock make the boardwalk slippery, and leaving it is not allowed.
• Fulmer Falls, 38 feet, anchors the 1.4-mile George W. Childs Park loop with Deer Leap Falls and Factory Falls; the park reopened in October 2024 after six years of storm-damage closure.
• Bushkill Falls, a privately run 75-foot drop marketed as the "Niagara of Pennsylvania," is a short trail from the visitor center, with a longer trail linking seven more falls on the property.
• Ganoga Falls, 89 feet (the park gives 94) and the tallest of Ricketts Glen's 24 named falls, anchors the 7.2-mile Falls Trail loop, rated most difficult for its wet, rocky steps; Harrison Wright Falls and a dozen others drop along the same loop.
• Adams Falls, 38 feet, sits apart from the main loop on Ricketts Glen's easy, 1-mile Evergreen Trail, signed suitable for children.
• Ohiopyle Falls, a 15-foot drop spanning the Youghiogheny River, is seen from an ADA-accessible deck; swimming above or below it is prohibited for the current. Nearby, Cucumber Falls fans 37 feet over sandstone on Cucumber Run.
• Hells Hollow Falls in McConnells Mill State Park drops 20 feet in three steps past a 19th-century lime kiln, a half-mile walk from the trailhead.
• Buttermilk Falls in Indiana County slides 40 feet over sandstone on what was once the retreat of Fred Rogers's grandfather, a short walk with steps down for a closer view.

When to go

Ricketts Glen's falls, fed by upstream lakes and marshes, run year-round but are lowest from late July through September; winter travel on the Falls Trail calls for ice-climbing gear or a park office check-in. Rain-fed drops like Cucumber Falls swell after a storm and thin out in a dry summer. Childs Park's lot closes each winter, from the first snow through April 15.

Fees, permits and closures

Pennsylvania's state parks and forests charge no entrance or parking fee, so Ricketts Glen, Ohiopyle, McConnells Mill and Indiana County's Buttermilk Falls are free. Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area also charges no general entrance fee; since April 15, 2026 it collects $10 a vehicle at five developed river-access sites, none of them the Raymondskill or Childs Park trailheads. Bushkill Falls, privately run, raised its admission on September 24, 2026 to $24 for adults, $22 for seniors and active military, and $12 for children 4 to 10, with children 3 and under free.

Dingmans Falls and Silverthread Falls, on the same Dingmans Creek boardwalk, have been closed since 2025 for bridge and trail reconstruction, with no reopening date confirmed as of September 2026. Glen Onoko Falls Trail in Carbon County's Lehigh Gorge State Park has been closed since May 2019 over trail safety, affecting roughly ten named falls on Glen Onoko Run; the state is transferring the land from the Game Commission to state park management and rebuilding the trail, with no reopening date set.

Safety

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area bans swimming and wading at its named falls and closes the ground within 50 feet upstream of any brink; waterfall pools and cliffs have produced deaths and serious injuries. A hiker's body was found in Dingmans Creek above the falls in July 2007, and a teenager died at Bushkill Falls in August 2011. Ricketts Glen's Falls Trail stays wet and slick even in dry weather. Stay on marked trails and behind railings.