Riding the GAP, Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD

 

Last I wrote we just started our ride on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail.  

We spent two nights at the Hilton in Homestead.  It is a nice hotel right on the trail about six miles south of Point Park.  Point park is the place with the fountain where two rivers come together and where most riders of the whole GAP trail start or end their rides.

We had a whole day to explore Pittsburgh by bike.  Our shuttle driver had told us that besides being the city of steel manufacturing, Pittsburgh is the city of bridges.  With two rivers converging there, and highways and trains it is understandable and very evident as we rode around the city.

We went to the Science Museum and enjoyed a planetarium show.  I always learn something at these things.  Like the zodiac constellations are all in a row across the sky.  All the other things I learned, I quickly forgot.  My brain isn't the sponge...  I was going to say isn't the sponge it used to be, but I wonder if it was ever a sponge. 

I learned this at the Museum of Illusions.  All three of the curves are the same size.  Isn't that weird?

The dark line on the bottom of the picture above was magnetic.  I moved it to the top just to see for myself that what the sign was telling me was the truth.  Yep.  they are all the same size.  I can lay the dark one on top of either of the blue ones and it is the same size.  

There were lots of fun illusions in that museum.

The Science Museum had replicas of famous robots.  

Wednesday, June 3, we started our ride away from the Pittsburgh area.  Upon leaving the Hilton Hotel, we got on the trail and didn't even get to the end of the Hilton parking lot when we ran into a trail closing.  We had to laugh.  

Fortunately, we were able to get back on the trail a city block later.  It can be frustrating when there are no detour instructions.

As soon as we got back on the trail we encountered goats at work.  I had heard about goats clearing fields.  This is a good idea, the hill was quite steep and the goats seemed quite happy with their jobs.  And this was probably a legal way for the apartments/offices that were facing the river to keep their view to the river free of obstruction from bushes and weeds and young trees.

Our first historical marker was the site of one of the first organized labor vs industrialists disputes. It happened in 1892. 

What was written on the plaque could be written today.  I know that we are in another "gilded age" with much of the political and media power in the hands of a few very wealthy individuals.  Much as in the days of Carnegie and Rockefeller.  This quote really says it well, and it was over 100 years ago.

The trail passes one of the oldest amusement parks still in operation.  Many of the older rides from the early 1900's are still in operation and they have added new ones, including a roller coaster with (I think it was) nine inversions and a speed of up to 85 mph, if my memory is correct.

The GAP is an impressive trail with lots of well maintained bridges over railroad tracks and rivers.  I think almost every town the trail goes by or through had some services. Converted rail stations, now little visitors centers on the trail, are a great place to meet other riders.  We always ask which way they are headed and where they are from.  As we get back on our bikes we say, "We will probably see you later on the trail."

We stood on a bridge crossing multiple tracks as a train loaded with coal passed under us.  I counted 105 cars full of coal.  Steve took a video, he said it is two minutes long.

Our first night of camping was at a spot far from services.  We had packed dried food and a mini-stove to cook our evening meals.  The water wasn't potable, but Steve had his handy back-country water filter.  However, we didn't need to cook because there was a big tour group of 35 people who had three vehicles to carry the bikers luggage and feed them.  They had extra food and invited us over to get some.  Yummy pasta marinara, and a very bland Polish dish that was just cabbage and noodles.  Good enough!

We were still in coal country.  We went by Red Falls.  (I made a video) It is red because of iron and Sulphur which is a common run-off from mining.  Steve says, this is what will be flowing into the pristine boundary waters now that Congress has approved mining there.  We kayaked into the Boundary Waters and camped two years ago on our way west.  It sits on the boundary between Minnesota and Canada.  It is beautiful, clean, and sad that it will be harmed by a mining industry that doesn't take responsibility for the damage to our resources.

We were riding along and I noticed movement in the ditch next to the trail.  I made a video.

We spent a night in Ohiopyle.  That is where we got into cell service and found out that Steve's mom had passed that morning.  She was 92 and had lived a full life.  She was given three weeks to live last June, she made it almost a year.  We will miss her smile and chatter and mom-isms.   I was very fortunate that she not only accepted me as the new person in Steve's life after his wife passed in 2022, but seemed to be thrilled by our compatibility. She said, "I have never seen two people with so much in common!"

From Pittsburgh to the Eastern Continental Divide, the rail trail goes ever so slightly up hill.  Though the average ascent is minimal, it must go up and down because Steve's gps said we were ascending more than that each day up to the divide.  Below is what his GPS reported on our ride from Ohiopyle to Meyersdale, our longest day.

I was worried.  Steve was carrying most of the weight, and I was the one with the e-assist.  I used the assist about 1/4 of the time on the first day and about 1/2 of the time on our third day when we did 48 miles.  I should have insisted on transferring some weight to one of my bags.  They were full, but one bag was just lightweight sleeping bags and pillows.  That's it!  Bulky but not heavy.  

We were both very very tired at the end of that day.  Our campground in Meyersdale was right in town at the Maple Syrup Festival grounds.  Half a block away was a Speedway, I went over to Speedway and got us a couple beers and some snacks for supper.  Again we didn't use our cooking supplies.

We sat on the stage and enjoyed our dinner.  I was surprised not to see any of the bikers interacting.  I would have but I was so exhausted.   I think they were too.  

There was a family with two small kids, fully loaded, doing the trail.  I met a woman in the bathroom who got a motel in Pittsburgh where they left their car.  It was by the train station and they took the train to Cumberland.  So they were riding the trail the opposite direction than we were.  With a shorter accent and less time going up hill.

Much of the trail has steep hills or cuts on the right and the rushing river on the left.  Right on the trail is the remains of an old coal processing plant.  There was a cement silo and an artist had put mosaic tiles on it.

On the back of the silo was some pretty nice graffiti.

In the mornings the woods along the trail were full of singing birds.  

On our last day we encountered turtles laying eggs and snakes on the trail.

On our last day we crossed back into Maryland across the Mason Dixon line.

We had enough time we could have spent another day on the trail instead of doing that long 48 mile day.  But then, it was really good to be back at the camper and spend a day cleaning the bikes, unpacking, running errands and resting.  

Steve's knee is hurting.  He said it is most likely a tendon that will need time to heal.  He powered up that incline day after day, fully loaded.  He weighed his bags and said they weighed 50 lbs.  I think it was more than that.  

But we did it.   And I have another tour planned for this summer, but without the tent.

I think back to just a few years ago, I was probably the same age as Steve is now.  I did this trail with Joan Grey.  I was on my Towne bike, some how I managed to carry a tent and sleeping pad, sleeping bag and snacks and clothes all on my own.  It would not be fun now.  My legs and heart are older and less ambitious.  On that trip, we went all the way from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.  I think we took 10 days.  

Yesterday we visited the historic battlefield of Antietam.  But I can tell you about that some other time.

What is happening on your end?  

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