Day 53 Cumberland MD to Little Orleans MD

Stats: mileage: 51; total climb: 304; total mileage: 2391

We are now in the 13th state of our trip, Maryland. It seems unreal that we have come so far!
Once again, it rained-while we were sleeping and having breakfast-and we missed it! As we left the motel, the skies looked "good news/bad news" but we set off any way.
This boardwalk leads from the Visitors' Center to the actual start of the C & O Canal. It may be wet, but there is no rain coming down.
Paul is ready for the adventure. This is his fourth and my third trip on the C & O. Justice Douglas knew what he was talking about when he worked to make this treasure into a linear park managed by the Park Service.
Although we did not get rained upon, we paid the price for riding on a wet canal path. It's just stone dust and it gives Paul something else to do at the end of the day!
This is the first lock as you head towards Washington, DC. Today the lock tenders house was open and the volunteer was very informative. One of the idiosyncrasies of the C & O Canal is that this is Lock 75 and there are only 74 locks on the canal.
For most of today, the old canal was to the left of the towpath and is a shady wooded path.
This lock has water in it. The gates are gone so the water is not contained. Other places along the canal are dry.
The Potomac River runs along the right of the towpath and was visible through the trees for most of our trip. Sometimes the river seems to not move and other times it goes rushing by. Frequently the river looks as though you could walk across it.
After lunch in Paw Paw, WV, we headed to one of the marvels of the canal, the Paw Paw Tunnel. It was quite an engineering feat. With the opening of the tunnel, five miles of the Potomac were reduced to 5/8 mile of canal. This is the west portal.
There are over six million bricks used in the lining of the tunnel. It is only wide enough for one canal boat at a time. The railing that you see is the original and has the rope marks along the top.
The east portal at last. This picture is for the survivors of the Tour de Torture I.
After another 15 miles of riding along the towpath, we made it to Little Orleans. We turned off the trail and rode up the hill to the Little Orleans Lodge. Then we made our way back to the only place in town, Bill's Place for dinner. A perfect first day back on the C & O Canal.

Day 52 Meyersdale PA to Cumberland MD

Stats: mileage: 34; total climb: 995; total mileage 2341

What a day!!!!! It started with a half mile climb out of Meyersdale which was interrupted to take a picture of this mural. This area's life is dependent on the trains. The trains run through the center of town 24/7.
The first seven miles of today's ride was uphill. The elevation at Meyerdale is 2106' and by the time we got to Deal, seven miles later, we were at 2390'. Up, up, up we went.
Shortly after Deal, we reached the Eastern Continental Divide. Now all the water that falls will end up on the Atlantic Ocean. It also means DOWN HILL riding!
This illustration gives you an idea of how the trail has been going up (forever) and would now head down. We were now members of the downhill smiling bicyclists instead of the uphill determined pedalers. And it felt great!
On our way down, we went through the Big Savage Tunnel. It is a 3294' tunnel that has been renovated by the Allegheny Trail Alliance. The tunnel is well lit and dry.
Riding through this tunnel was quite an experience.
About seven more miles further down the mountain, we reached Frostburg. Although it is the home of Frostburg State, we went to the terminus of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. We waited patiently for the arrival of the steam engine train.
The opportunity to see the engine turned on the turntable was a rail fan's joy. It was even impressive for the rest of us!
Then we left Frostburg to continue the downhill coast (actually we pedaled but it didn't feel like we were working at all.) This is the Helmstetter's Curve which is a half mile arc around the Cash Valley. It is very impressive. They built a trestle around the valley, then filled it in with stones from all the cuts along the newly built railroad.
At the end of the 25 mile downhill, we reached Cumberland. In front of this mule sculpture, the Great Allegheny Passage ends and the C & O Canal begins. Hard to believe that we are reaching the end of this Extravaganza.

Day 51 Ohiopyle PA to Meyersdale PA

Stats: mileage: 45; total climb: 567'; total mileage: 2307

The day began beautifully. It was cool and not much fog from the river. We began our trek to the southeast on the beautiful trail. The Yough (as it is called by the locals) is a quick moving river with lots of rapids, falls and assorted rocks. It is a kayaker's dream. You can see the beauty of this waterway and notice those nasty red maple leaves on the right. Autumn must be approaching faster than we realize.
The trail was a little rougher as we headed towards Confluence and points south. At Confluence, the Youghiegheny and Casselman Rivers meet. We left the Yough and continued along the Casselman River.
As you can see, it has been a very dry summer in this section of Pennsylvania. The Casselman was this low along the entire trail.
At Rockwood, this trail art marked this section of the Great Allegheny Passage. Not only are we traveling along a different river, the trail is a former section of the Western Maryland RR.
One of the most impressive sections of this part of the trail is the Salisbury Viaduct. It is 1908' long. It spans an enormous valley and we crossed a river, a major highway, train tracks, cornfields and other land.

Two mile later we reached Meyersdale PA our destination for the evening. Although the total climb is not very large, it was a 45 mile gradual, all day up hill pedal. Still it was a great ride.

Day 50 West NewtonPA to Ohiopyle PA

Stats: mileage 45 total climb 469 total mileage 2264

After a great night's sleep in West Newton and breakfast at Chuck's Wagon, we headed down the trail. We really do enjoy rail trail riding. With no traffic, Paul is able to pay more attention to the scenery. And we had lots of scenery.
This section of the Youghiogheny River valley was all about coal and coke. In fact, Connellsville was the world's "King of Coke." The coal which was mined in the moutains was brought down near the railroad. There it was burned in these brick-lined closed ovens. At the end of three days, the resin that was left was called coke. The coke was loaded onto the train and sent to Pittsburgh where it was burned to create the intense heat necessary for making steel. In addition to the company furnaces, individuals had beehive ovens built into the side of the mountain near the railroad. Some of these beehive ovens are still in tact. The first picture is the hole in the top of the oven. The coal was funneled into the oven through this opening. The second picture is the side opening which was bricked closed while the coal was turned into the coke. Local tales say that the hillsides in the valley lit up with these ovens.


As we left Connellsville, we were reminded as to how far we have to go. It seems a short distance compared to how far we have come!
The afternoon was spent pedaling a very gradual upgrade. The elevation at Connellsville is 905'. Seventeen miles later, we were at 1230'. We could always see glimpses of the river through the trees. Often we heard the shouts, screams and laughter of the rafters coming through the rapids. We heard but could not see the trains on the opposite shore.
At last we reached Ohiopyle. Another great day of togetherness.

Day 49 Jefferson Hills PA to West Newton PA

Stats: mileage: 30; total climb: 975; total mileage 2221

After much discussion, we decided that pedaling down Rte 51 would be far worse than pushing the bike up the half mile super hill across from our motel and heading back to the Montour Trail on a back road. In the cool of the morning and with a good night's sleep, the hill was less daunting than yesterday. We knew we had made the right choice. Soon we were back on the trail and in no time we reached the end. Then we moved onto the Steel Valley Trail which is a well marked road trail that leads to the Great Allegheny Passage. Soon we were crossing the Monongahela River. When we started this trip, the barges were filled with grain. Here they are filled with coal.
We pedaled along the Monongahela River until we reached the Youghiogheny River. We waited on the bridge hoping to see a train, but none appeared.
Once we crossed the river, we were in McKeesport, just south of Pittsburgh. We stopped for coffee and then we hopped on the Great Allegheny Passage which is a rail trail the goes from Pittsburgh PA to Cumberland MD.
The section of the trail that we will be traveling on is the former Pennsylvania and Lake Erie RR. It is 145 miles long and we will ride 135 miles of it.

The trail is crushed lime stone and has an uphill grade until Deal PA. McKeesport is at 752 ft and Deal's elevation is 2390 ft. But all the climbs will be gradual.
During this part of the ride, we will be along the Youghiogheny River. Right now it is just wending its way to the Monongahela River, but that will change.
This "Red Waterfall" is caused by the pyrite in the coal that was mined in this area. Many of the streams that we have seen have a very iron/rusty look to them.
After twenty miles on this trail we reached West Newton, our destination. We had a great dinner at a local eatery with our WarmShowers hosts, Lisa and Eric.
After dinner we took a walking tour of town. Although a mainline runs right through town, Paul was still unlucky in his efforts to get a train picture today. Hopefully tomorrow will prove more successful.

Day 48 Steubenville OH thru WV to Jefferson Hills PA

Stats: mileage 54; total climb: 1704; total mileage: 2192

Although we were in Ohio, we left as the sun was coming up over the mountains in West Virginia. There was some serious fog rising from the Ohio River valley but here is the sign welcoming us to the 11th state on our adventure.
In a mere 5 miles, we were at the start of the Panhandle Trail. It was a great trail of crushed limestone.
In another 5 miles, we were to the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. Our 12th state on the trip and our third state today and it wasn't even 9 AM!
The trail continued and the views remained the same: hills in the surrounding distance and a long crushed limestone trail that never exceeded a grade of 1%. It was a sweet day of riding.

With very little effort, we reached the second trail of the day, the Montour Trail. This trail was also a smooth crushed limestone surface. We got on this trail at mile 17 and stayed on the trail until mile 38.Within minutes of changing from the Panhandle Trail to the Montour Trail, we crossed the McDonald Trestle. You can see the Panhandle Trail from the trestle.
Lunch continues to be an important part of the day. Paul found a bench along the trail. The shade made this a perfect stop.
Along the Montour Trail, some of the original bridges have been destroyed. To help people (and their bikes) down to the road from the rail bed, stairs with special channels have been built. I drew the short straw today!
The National Tunnel is located on the Montour Trail. It is no surprise given the mountains that are present as we entered the greater Pittsburgh area. All of the tunnels have these special alcoves for trainmen to step out of the way of an approaching train. Paul enjoyed this opportunity even if there was no train!
That moment when the sun comes pouring in a tunnel is always special. It was another highlight on a great day.Like the first five miles of the day, the last five miles of the day were road riding. Most of our total climb was achieved during these last five miles. The Allegheny Mountains are just that....mountains. We went up and down three serious sets of up and down. The biggest disappointment was the downs could not be screaming downhills because the road surface was rough. At the bottom of the last hill was our motel. Another great day on the road.