Fernway, PA Outdoor Activities

Steel City Airsoft's safety-conscious staff hosts adrenaline-pumping showdowns for recreational warriors as well as for law enforcement or military groups looking to train in a close-quarters, indoor environment. A modular building design allows staffers to reorient the walls, hallways, and doorways that honeycomb the 15,000-square-foot facility, ensuring unpredictable, action-packed bouts amid a hail of whistling pellets. With an emphasis on responsible play, the staff members steadfastly enforce the facility's rules and advise patrons either to wear clothing that covers any bare skin or to don their family's coat of arms. Steel City Airsoft is open on Fridays from 5 p.m.–midnight, Saturdays from noon to midnight, and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m.

Since 1952, North Park Batting Range has facilitated outdoor baseball training on its open-air range. In each of 10 open-air baseball cages, automated pitching machines fire balls into the strike zone at 30–80 miles per hour. Five open-air softball cages loft pitches at various speeds for batters training for slow-pitch or fast-pitch leagues. On the 18-hole, par 40 miniature golf course, family-owned and operated since 1961, flourishing shrubs, sharp corners, water hazards, hills, and windmills create obstructions for golfers.

Segway in Paradise's gliding tour guides are expert multitaskers, effortlessly sharing historical tidbits with fleets of tourists while leading them through the streets of Pittsburgh atop smooth-rolling segways. The fun and educational tours, which helped the company earn praise from publications such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, run as frequently as three to five times a day, and escort two-wheelers past such locations as PNC Park and the River Walk fountain. The tour routinely stops for photo opportunities in front of the city's picturesque skyline. When groups cross where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet, they can toss coins into the water and wish that their segways might one day earn a pair of metallic wings.

'AA' Affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins

In 2001, Washington County faced a dilemma. A new baseball park was under construction just off I-70, but the field had no team to call it home. Rather than let unemployed mascots set up circus tents in the outfield, a group of local business owners purchased the Ohio-based Canton Crocodiles and moved the franchise to Pennsylvania. Months later, the Washington Wild Things inaugurated the new stadium with a dazzling bit of irony, losing their first-ever game against the very team that replaced the Crocodiles in Canton.

Nevertheless, the Wild Things finished the 2002 season in grand fashion, setting a league record for wins and claiming first place in the Frontier League's powerful East Division, and the team went on to make six straight playoff appearances from 2002–2007. Throughout its history, the Wild Things have featured a number of future and former big-leaguers, and its roster regularly includes Pittsburgh natives, who grew up practicing their swings with steel girders.

Once deemed an eyesore, the winding, 46-mile-long Stonycreek River has undergone a transformation. Today, it abounds with natural life, such as beavers and smallmouth bass, as well as the longest stretch of continuous rapids on the East Coast. With its fleet of inflatable kayaks and tubes, Coal Tubin’ provides a variety of ways for customers to experience the area’s scenery. Knowledgeable guides lead group tours inside inflatable kayaks, whereas inner tubes leisurely float under bridges and down gentle waters lined with pine trees and perplexed coal miners who took a wrong turn. Outdoors adventures also unfold on land, where guided hikes trek to nearby vistas.