While Kayla is the one who typically writes the blogs, I decided to go ahead and write this one as she surprised me for my birthday with this trip. The trip to Erie started out with her telling me we were going somewhere for my birthday and to pack enough clothes for 2 days. Once in the car and realizing we were going north I had an idea of where we were going, but I wasn’t sure. It ended up being Erie, PA which is only about 2 hours from Pittsburgh.
While we typically don’t splurge on hotel rooms, she went ahead and booked two nights at the Sheraton Erie Bayfront, which had an amazing view of Presque Isle Bay. The hotel was definitely the nicest hotel we’ve stay in together so far! Also big shout out to Abigail who checked us in, she asked if it was a special occasion and Kayla mentioned it was for my birthday and she gave us free drink and appetizer coupons for the restaurant in the hotel!
We got in decently late so we ended up just relaxing at the hotel. We started off the next morning early. We found a diner (which we love) only about a six minute drive from the hotel. Breakfast was quite good, I had the steak and eggs and kayla had a waffle, sausage, and home fries.
After breakfast we wanted to drive over to Presque Isle State Park, even though it had been raining. By the time we got over there the rain had stopped and because of the weather there was hardly anyone there. While Lake Erie is not a real beach by an ocean, it is the closest thing you’ll find if you live in western PA. The beach was nice and relaxing (something we had been needing) and we even got in the water. Because of the weather it was a little eerie (no pun intended!) especially with no one else at the beach with us!
We relaxed most of the day, but were up for an adventure! Doing a little research we looked up a place called Wintergreen Gorge which was about 25-30 minutes from where we were on Presque Isle. While there was not a ton of information online about what to expect at Wintergreen Gorge, boy were we surprised!
You’ll easily find the gorge on Google Maps and there is a small parking lot on Copper Road, which is the start of the trail. The gorge is a 2.3 mile mile out and back trail. The trail starts in the woods, but you eventually make your way to Fourmile creek, right about the same time you see a large bridge with graffiti on it.
We decided to follow the creep up the gorge, but there is a trail that goes beside the gorge if you prefer to not get wet. The gorge is absolutely beautiful with many smaller waterfalls and sections where the water gets so deep you can even go swimming. But do be careful as many of the rocks are slippery, we would suggest shoes if you plan to walk the gorge. We came upon one section where water from another stream goes through this tunnel, which you can walk through. Once it comes through the tunnel it comes down into the gorge cascading off the shale, definitely one of the more memorable spots from the hike.
Continuing up the Gorge we came to a large waterfall that had a rope that allowed you to climb up it as well as a rope to swing off it. Kayla decided that she wanted to try it, and let’s just say it did not work out for her that well! Her nail actually got stuck in the rope and she sort of belly flopped, it made for great vlog footage though! About the time we made it to the next larger waterfall (which also had a rope swing) it had started raining pretty bad so we turned around and made our way back to Copper road.
After the Gorge we went back to the hotel were Kayla had made a reservation at the Bayfront Grille. She had asked for a table outside, but since it had been raining they were not seating people outside. They did however give us a table right by the window with a view of the bay. This was a perfect way to end my Birthday getaway!
Erie, PA Photo Gallery
