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.