GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #2 & 3

We left Little Boston—no more rain and pedaled to Cedar Creek Park.

Good morning from along the trail!

We had lunch in West Newton, PA and hiked along the creek before having oatmeal for dinner and calling it a night.

Met lots of great people on the trail but no little kids.

Mine runoff

Typical PA trailside town

Happy Campers

We camped at the park—our new sleeping pad/bag system seems to work much better.  Still can’t keep Neil contained though.  

An orange kitty came and hung around us all evening.  

The camp kitty

Lot’s of trains—the track is across the river.  Trains run all the time.  

We still are not too fast at getting going.  This morning we got a 11am start.  Pedaled alongside the Youghhiogeny River in the brilliant blue sky of a cool fall day.  The kids did great and were so excited when we stopped for the evening at a KOA early in the afternoon so that they could play.  They played and played in the sand box doing “struction” as Neil calls playing with sand or construction.

Tonight is marshmallows over the campfire!

GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE Day #1

packing....

Mandatory family pic before departure

We packed our bags (everything fits!), got on our bikes and said goodbye to Frank.  

We pedaled across the bridge, past the incredible skyline of Pittsburgh, found the fountain at the trail end and set off on the GAP trail.

Mile 0

We are on the trail

Pittsburgh--you had so much more to offer.  We want to see more!

What is the GAP trail?  This is a former railroad that was converted to a bike trail.  It runs 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD. It is a traffic free—bike and pedestrian only trail.

We were excited to finally be on the trail.  Packing for the first day is always stressful.  The kids fell asleep.  We stopped at a trailside Costco for lunch and the pedaled by and over coke plants, steel yards and industry of an earlier era. 

Typical scenery for day 1

Unfortunately did not get a picture of the slot machine
or the pig in pearls that were in the room.

The clouds started to gather and we decided that we should instead of camping our first night in the rain—try to find a place to stay.  After a scheduling snafu we ended up in the quirkiest B&B in the “Elvis” room at the Youghshore Inn.  HILARIOUS.  The owner lent us her car and we went to dinner at a local italian spot were we met a group with a 4 year old who had “TRUMP” razored into the back of his hair.  

Pittsburgh to Little Boston around 26 miles.