We had mostly blue skies at the start of the day with brisk fall air streaming in from the northwest, down from the Great Lakes.
The bikes were loaded up in the red Dodge Ram pick up truck being driven by my dad, who was accompanied by Jimmy. They followed my mom, me and Dr. B in our converted white Dodge minivan up and down Allegheny ridges on our way to the day’s start, which was Rockwood, so named because those were the area’s two biggest economic commodities. All of us were sporting Here and Now Project shirts showing appreciation for their support and work to connect the paralysis community of the Northwest, and for always reminding us to “Do Life” to the maximum extent that we ever can, here and now.
We had gradually thickening clouds as we started rolling on the trail along exposed sandstone and shale and siltstone. Dr. B photographed water falling off one of these rocky protrusions.
At times coal veins were visible between stone layers. Moss, ferns, forbs and trees protrude from the rock. Tree roots squeeze through rock fissures and move stone. Rock and wood.
We saw more old and hella sweet railroad bridges that were repurposed for this bike trail. At one point, we crossed a bridge over Casselman River, went through a tunnel, then immediately went back over the Casselman. Riverine meanders. The bridges and tunnels are a fun part of this trail.
A red-spotted admiral flitted by me and Jimmy as we soaked up some sun in an open section.
Shaggy soldiers, wild basil and late purple asters along the trail.
We had lunch with my mom and dad at Confluence, where the Casselman River merges into the Youghiogheny (pronounced Yack-oh-gain-ee), which is the badass river that we followed for the rest of the day today and that we get to go along tomorrow as well.
The Casselman River
We had a bit of rain right after we started again after lunch. The weather turned colder.
Dressed to impress!
Passing a bunch of kids as we rolled into Ohiopyle, a girl exclaimed “Oh my gosh, look at those guys and their outfits!” Dr. B and Jimmy both looked immensely satisfied upon hearing this.
At Ohiopyle we met up with Jack from WTAJ, our news leader. Ohiopyle was a nice trail town to take a little break and enjoy the amazing scenery. Jack interviewed me, Jimmy and Dr. B. Jack set his tripod up to max height for Jimmy, then dramatically lowered it for his subsequent interview of Dr. B.
I was too cold in Ohiopyle at 95.3 degrees Fahrenheit. After my interview with Jack, I sat in the van for a while with the heater on full blast. A shower passed while I was doing so. Dr. B and Jimmy just stood outside shivering under a small overhang. In about 20 minutes, I warmed up enough to get back on the trail.
Telling Jack all about our adventure
We really enjoyed the smoothness of this trail. Anybody using any sort of mobility device can do any part of the GAP in terms of surface conditions. Some sections are long between access points/potential SAG spots. For instance, we had a 17 mile section after the interviews in Ohiopyle in which there was maybe one marginal access point. Essentially, between Ohiopyle and Connellsville there were no access points.
We ran into Dennis Hess after leaving Ohiopyle. We saw him way back on day 1 on the C&O. He is up this way for some work related business, and has been able to put miles in on the GAP over the last couple of days. Lo and behold, there he was again, quite a lot of miles away from our original meeting.
My handy crew
We had more cold rain on the final stretch to Connellsville, where our hotel was. Jimmy started circling ahead and back at higher speeds to warm up.
My front right caster failed on the final stretch. I kept going, but interesting noises emanated from the blown bearings. My dad and Jimmy replaced the caster later in the hotel.
At 4:41 PM Eastern time, we passed the midway point of the GAP. Dr. B took my picture at the 75 mile marker. Trip total as of the end of today: 298 miles.
Dennis!
Epic scenery
In short, it was a lovely and smooth day, the only buckles to which were my getting too cold for a short while and some root heaves in some asphalt sections leading into Connellsville. It was nice to hit the trail and cover 48 solid miles straight through beautiful country.
The finish!
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