Day 5 of our Great American Rail Trail Expedition to the Mississippi River went fairly well, all things considered. (Which is sort of like saying that any plane crash you can walk away from wasn’t all that bad.)
Listen, unlike D4, there was no snow, killer wind, sleet or related soul-crushing unMay-like freakish weather to drive us off the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail.
Which is not to say that it all went off without a hitch.
Almost immediately upon departing Confluence – just before actually setting his wheels upon the GAP – Walt took a spill and banged up his shoulder.
Nonetheless, Walt gutted it out and made it all the way to Ohiopyle – some 28 miles distant – before packing it in. Good man.
Walt is not the first person to fall by the wayside in this vicinity.
Legend (or at least a trailside sign) has it that a bunch of Frenchmen were ambushed near here by a young British officer named George Washington. At least Walt suffered no musket balls.
I should get this out of the way and tell you that riding this section of the GAP is a drop-dead gorgeous experience.
You have to be there to appreciate it.
Suffice it to say that this former railroad track turned recreational trail does not disappoint.
As an added bonus, riding the GAP is also a tutorial on early American enterprise and industry.
This was the heart of coal country. And as you ride the GAP you can still see coal seams running through living rock.
But you will also learn of the human costs of digging that coal out of the earth.
The Dare Mine Disaster here claimed the lives of 239 men and boys in 1907…the worst mine disaster in Pennsylvania history.
The other thing you notice as you traverse the GAP are rust belt relics…the steel and concrete fossils of once prosperous factories and bridges that brought prosperity to this region.
These were “company towns” that lived, and then died, on coal, steel and rails. And were subsequently left to rust and languish.
Thanks to the GAP some of those former company towns have been able to reinvent themselves as trail towns.
And I’m just gonna say this. Whatever Ohiopyle used to be known for, these days, for better or worse, it’s definitely a party town.
This is what passes for trailside entrepreneurship on the GAP.
I ran into a rider headed from Pittsburgh to D.C. at this very funky arts/antiques/snack emporium.
And he told me he got there just in time to consume the first ice cream offering of the trail season. (And never mind that it was sort of chilly and rainy).
Suffice it to say that the new trailside economy has put a new spin on old things. Now you see colorful murals on old factory fittings.
And, listen, I thought it was just a rural legend. But apparently the Yough Ness Monster really is a thing.
Rusty, a sculpture made entirely of old railroad spikes, may be the patron saint of the new GAP economic renaissance. No doubt, Gen. Putnam would roll over in his grave if he knew.
Oh, in case you think today’s half century-plus trek on the GAP was all peaches and cream, think again. There was also rain…quite a bit of it.
Seriously, is this any way to treat a bicycle?
But suffice it to say that we persisted (save for Walt, who is now sporting a sling). And tomorrow it’s on to Pittsburgh.
FreeGNV 