GAP and C&O Canal Spring Ride

dates:  April 24 to May 2, 2021

miles: 335-ish

nights camping out: 6

nights in hotel: 2

flat tires: 1

Participants:  Julia and Tom, Steve and Annie,    Jeff and Kristel

The Great Allegheny Passage is 150 miles of beautiful nearly-level crushed stone trail running from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD.  At Cumberland, MD the C&O canal begins and this towpath trail runs 184.5 miles to Washington, D.C.  We are riding from Pittsburgh to about 14 miles north of D.C. in Great Falls, MD.  We are stopping short of the trail's terminus in order to park our cars safely and avoid the  crowded Washington D.C. urban area.

Great Allegheny Passage Pittsburgh to Cumberland- Days 1 to 4

Point Park in Pittsburgh

Our cycling start point is Pittsburgh.  Steve and Annie are from Massachusetts and Jeff and Kristel are from Pennsylvania.  We are driving from Ohio.  We plan to meet in Maryland and use the Wilderness Voyageurs shuttle service. They pick us up at Great Falls and drive us with all six bikes to the start of the trail at Point Park.  Total cost for six riders and six bikes = $520  That's a pretty good deal considering it is a four hour drive which makes it 8 hours for the driver.

Our gear filled the entire back seat of the van

DAY 1:  Riding out of the city was very cool.  We passed the site of the Homestead steel mill, saw the roller coasters at Kennywood and then transitioned into quiet forest land before camping at mile marker 122, Dravo's Landing Campground.  There are beautiful Adirondack shelters and a booming raccoon population at this trailside camping spot.  The active train line is just across the river.

  We enjoyed a delicious dinner of grilled kababs which Steve cooked using his backpacking grill.  

Steve and Kristel

grilling tasty kababs

DAY 2:  Kristel and Annie were freezing last night.  The nighttime temperature fell to about 34 degrees.  They put on all their clothes and shivered in their sleeping bags.  In the middle of the night Tom woke me up from a sound sleep to say, "There is a raccoon dragging your yellow front bag into the woods!"  He chased down that raccoon and rescued my bag.  We brought all eight panniers into the tent with us plus the two front bags.  Our tent was feeling crowded but our gear was safe.  I just kept picturing a pack of raccoons down by the river surrounded by Ortlieb panniers and having a party with all the gear they had stolen.  They were probably smoking cigars and playing banjos... You get the picture.  

The sun rose on the frosty morning.  After toasting bagels over the fire and warming up with some oatmeal we set off down the trail towards our destination at mile marker 89 - Connellsville.  Here we plan to stay in another free hiker/biker site.  Look for a chart with all the campsites at gaptrail.org if you want to plan a similar trip.  

Annie making the perfect bagel on Monday morning

We didn't sleep in the lean-to because the tent was warmer.

The morning sky is clear and we pass by trillium, jack in the pulpit, phlox, and lots of spring beauties.  Trout Lilies are nodding their heads and the redbud trees are brilliant.  The early spring woods are resplendent with life.

An old railroad bridge made into a river overlook 

Crayola spring green woods along the Youghiogheny River

Tom's bike with 45 pounds of gear

West Newton Visitor's Center at mile marker 114.2.  Ortlieb should be sponsoring this ride!

Sunrise as viewed from our shelter at Connellsville

There is a moon rising so close it feels like I can touch it.  It is the first of two super moons this year and appears HUGE on the horizon. It is called the pink moon not because it is pink, but because it corresponds to the blooming of all the phlox we are passing in the woods.  

The trains are right across the river and we can hear them loud and clear all night.  Tom and I and Steve and Annie share one shelter and Jeff and Kristel sleep in a second shelter next door.  The trains and the highway kept us awake a lot.  The Adirondack shelters are basically in the back of a grocery store parking lot and the closest restroom is at the end of aisle 12.  -- just past the frozen foods.  Free accommodation does have its down side.  

Day 3:  The weather is perfect for our ride from Connellsville through Ohiopyle and on to Husky Haven Campground at mile marker 43 in Rockwood, PA  We get a nice hot shower in the shower house facility and ace cooking team Tom and Kristel make a delicious vegetable and sausage stew.  The stars are out and it is quite a bit warmer here tonight.  The trains are VERY close and yes, they run all night. 

 

This is what 62 looks like!

We stop along the way for portraits by a waterfall.  Here we are looking good!  

enjoying riding with a group of friends instead of just together

first ever self supported bike trip - rockin' it!

usually on a tandem or in a canoe

Day 4:  On to Cumberland!

SUPER Ace cooking team Annie and Julia make breakfast burritos.  Annie has a supervisory role.

Today we will finish up the Great Allegheny Passage trail and coast down hill into Cumberland, Maryland.  We ride across the Salisbury viaduct, through Big Savage Tunnel and then up and over the Continental Divide and across the Mason-Dixon line.  Once we get to Cumberland we will have 150 miles behind us.  We plan on a nice hotel stay and crab cakes from the Crabby Pig Restaurant.  crabby pig restaurant

Read all about the Salisbury Viaduct here  At 101' high, this steel trestle is very cool to ride across.  

Steve took this photo inside Big Savage Tunnel 

It is all downhill from here.  We enter the Chesapeake Bay watershed in search of crab cakes.  

Mason-Dixon line

The next blog post will cover our ride on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.  The best informational site is www.nps.gov/choh  in case you want to plan a trip.