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Our trip began not as a cross-country excursion, but as a sort of graduation present for our son, who had just finished Grove City College near Pittsburgh, and was about to enter graduate school in the D.C. area. Nancy learned of a bike trial between the two points and, since we’ve been a bike riding family for years, suggested we make the trip. So the four of us, Tom, Nancy, our daughter Melanie and our son Matthew, departed Pittsburgh from our friends the Chamberlain’s house for our longest continuous bike trip to date.

 

The first leg of the trail is the 150 mile Great Allegany Passage (GAP) trail from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD. The GAP trail is a rails-to-trails project constructed over a railroad right of way that was formerly one of the first connections between the east coast and the Ohio-Mississippi river valleys.

The trail was in fantastic shape and ideal for biking. Since the trail is over an old railroad right of way, the grade is very slight, and before you know it you’ve climbed the Allegany range to the Continental Divide and are ready to descend into the Chesapeake valley to Washington D.C. (But if you try the trail from East to West be ready for a wicked climb from Cumberland to the Continental Divide.) You’ll also encounter several tunnels along the way including the one-mile long Big Savage Tunnel, built in 1911. So, bring a flashlight!

Campsites are readily available along the trail, but as a rule not on the trail - you’ll have to exit the trail into the towns where the campsites are located. Our time at the free public camp shelters just outside Connellsville was eventful, since it was equipped with video surveillance, and we received a visit from local police the next morning to see if we were all right. I guess there’s been some trouble there in the past. But we spent a quiet night.  

We were very well received at Yough Lake Campground in Confluence, OH, where the owner-caretaker, since we arrived late evening with no groceries, drove Nancy and Matthew into town for shopping, then let us prepare and eat our dinner in his conference center building, all for the

price of a campsite!  

Another fun adventure along the way was a stop at Ohiopyle State Park, right along the trail - a whitewater rider’s paradise. Nancy and Melanie took one of the float trips down some rapids, while Matthew and Tom took a wild bike ride through the surrounding hills. Tom’s probably never gone faster on a bike, and Matthew was going faster yet! The hike from the trail to the campsites, though, with bikes and packs involves a monster climb along a nature trail. While at Ohiopyle you can take a short side trip to see Fallingwater, one of Frank-Lloyd Wright’s most famous creations back in the hills.

When you reach the Continental Divide, you’re also at the Mason-Dixon line where you cross from Pennsylvania to Maryland, and are ready for a swift downhill to Cumberland. Here Matthew said good-bye to his Pennsylvania home and hello to his new home in Maryland. We also celebrated his birthday before reaching Cumberland in a quaint town called Frostburg, to which a steam locomotive still makes passenger trips from Cumberland. It’s quite a scene to watch them enter town, disconnect the engine, and the turn the engine 180 degrees on a turntable for the trip back down the mountain.

When you finally reach Cumberland, visit the welcome center to celebrate your accomplishment of crossing what used to be the great barrier between the Potomac and Ohio River valleys, and the main obstacle to westward expansion. Cumberland is a very picturesque, historic, but unfortunately somewhat impoverished town on the Potomac River, and marks the endpoint of the famous C & O canal - a project begun by Presidents Washington and Jefferson to open a travel and trade route to the Ohio-Mississippi river valleys.   

The canal channel is mostly intact, but only in places is still

flooded with water. The foot path where the mules would

pull the barges going up river is now the 185 mile C & O

bike path from Cumberland to D.C., which is rather rough

and muddy in spots, but passable. You won’t make as good

time as on the GAP trail, but probably better than the mules

did. Big plus: it has numerous primitive campsites along the

way. On the other side of the canal channel you can see the

B & O rail line, which still runs, and which eventually put

the C & O canal out of business.

The history here is fascinating, with a number of locks and viaducts from the old canal system visible along the way in varying degrees of disrepair. There is one lock still in working order where demonstrations of barge transport are held. Many of the houses built for the lock workers and their families still stand, and one is a museum with artifacts of the time.  

Another fascinating spot along the trail is Harper’s

Ferry, WV, where arguably the primer bike trail in

America, the GAP/C & O trail, meets the primer

hiking trail in America, the Appalachian trail.

Here also merge two great rivers: the Potomac

and the Shenandoah. Harper’s Ferry was also

the location of the U.S. Armory for many years,

which John Brown invaded to try to spark the

Civil War, but was defeated.  

As you approach D.C., you pass not far from Antietam battlefield, the site of the bloodiest battle during the Civil War. A very sobering experience. But our reflections on our visit were short lived when we realized that we took the wrong road back to the trail and ended up lost and riding through a thunderstorm. Some wonderful people learned of our plight when we stopped for directions, and since it was late in the day, they invited us into their home to dry off, feast up, sleep in real beds, and even wash clothes. It was a true God send.  

Well, at last we rolled into D.C., the nation’s capital, which I won’t have to describe to you. We camped at Greenbelt National Park, a wooded area located, believe it or not, right in the D.C. Metropolitan area, until Matthew could get settled into his place in College Park.  

Segment 1 of what would become, although we didn’t know it at the

time, a cross country adventure was complete.