Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on February 7, 2023.
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On the surface, Fall Run Park in Glenshaw, PA (just north of the city off of Route 8) seems no different from any other as it is a peaceful hiking trail that has relatively low foot-traffic.
But for those who make the effort to visit this one, the roughly one-mile out-and-back hike rewards you with something a bit surprising: a waterfall!
What You Can See at Fall Run Park
Fall Run Park gets its name because it is nestled in a small valley where many streams on the high ground empty into the park, creating waterfalls.
The main hiking trail leads to a waterfall that is the focal point of the park, with roughly a 25-foot drop that you can experience from ground level or from above thanks to a staircase found along the side. Just be careful around the top as there is absolutely no infrastructure in place for safety- you can literally dangle over the edge (not that we recommend it).
During our first visit this was the only waterfall we were able to see; however, on the hike you could see that many other areas along the valley have the potential for a waterfall to pop up after periods of extremely strong rain events.
Whether waterfalls do exist at these locations after heavy rain is questionable, as we have not found much information confirming one way or another, but all signs point to it being quite possible.
Accessing these extra waterfalls, if ever present, may be only for the most adventurous (there are no real side trails), but even ignoring the fact that these were dry during our visit we found the main waterfall enough to get us excited to visit in the future.
As far as waterfalls near Pittsburgh are concerned this is one of the closest and largest, and that is good enough for us.
Hiking at Fall Run Park
For a fair bit of time, Fall Run Park was known to not have the easiest of hikes as a strong rain event washed out all of the short bridges that were put in place to cross the stream.
In early 2018, the town revamped the park and put in new bridges throughout the entire trail, making walking in this one a breeze.
The trail itself is fairly wide and easy to walk on, but due to its location in a shaded valley you will likely see a bit of mud at times even if the last rainfall was several days earlier.
The waterfall is located just under a half mile from the parking lot off Route 8, and the trail continues on another half mile or so to another parking lot on the residential side of the park. If you are only visiting to the waterfall, you won't miss much if you don't continue on, but it is still a fairly nice hike all the same.
Overall, Fall Run Park is now restored to its former glory and is one we love to visit time and time again.
Fall Run Park is located at 187 Fall Run Road in Glenshaw, PA, just off Route 8 north of Pittsburgh.
Fall Run Park is featured in the guidebook Waterfalls of Pennsylvania as well- one of over 180 in the state!
For more parks nearby, check out Deer Lakes Park, Boyce Park, or Highland Park Pittsburgh!
Damn, now the secret’s out! This has long been my Grandsons and my favorite park around, it’s so beautiful and peaceful there, we walk back to the waterfall finding all sorts of interesting sidelines along the way. They find “magic” stones, wands and walking sticks along the way before playing in the waterfall, which we all dearly love. Then we continue on past the fall through wildflowers butterflies and old bark that make fantastic chairs and fairy houses. We continue to look for the hidden Castle that my 8 year olds are convinced is there because they see stones that just Have to have been part of a Castle,. It’s our happy place and I’ve been taking my kids there for over 30 years.❤