#confluence pa

My Experience Bicycling the GAP Trail from Ohiopyle PA

Meet the Great Allegheny Passage Rail-Trail

My partner and I went up to Ohiopyle to explore this place in person, finally. Pictures and videos can only do so much. The plan was to meet my sister and her partner there for a long weekend of outdoor adventure, going rafting on the Yough river and biking on the GAP trail. This is great for us – it’s what we do anyway on the weekend. My sis – well –…

It was pretty cold in the morning and after 3 solid days without a hot meal, a trip to town in search of hot breakfast food sounded like heaven.

There's not much in Confluence, but they do have quite a few diners and luckily a hardware store. I'd lost a bolt on my bike rack somewhere along the trail and the rack wobbled something fierce. Sisters Cafe was located right next door to Confluence Hardware, so for the sake of convenience, it sounded like a good choice. It was soooo good. I cannot emphasize how great it felt to 1. eat a hot meal, 2. not have to pay too much for said hot meal and 3. to have hot meal be so incredibly delicious. I highly recommend going to Sisters Cafe if you're on the trail.  

This section of the trail was also pretty amazing. I'd heard so much about the tunnels on this trail that when I got to the Pinkerton Tunnel, I was so excited. Although it's permanently closed, it was a tease for the other tunnels yet to come. Also, I'm a bit of a labor history/labor rights buff, so just being in this part of the U.S. totally gets my nerdy leftist juices flowing.

There was a great little detour on the bypass that will take you down to the river. It's a great place to stop and have lunch.

When I first  heard of Husky Haven, I'd thought it sounded like a former fat camp. It had more amenities than I was used to and cost money to set up camp. The campground manager came off as creepy by first asking if I intended to stay at the camp and then saying “you can pay me now or you can pay me later” before properly identifying herself as the camp manager.  The showers were inconveniently located on the opposite side of the river from the campsites, so one would have to walk about 2 miles round trip for a shower. Instead of pit toilets, the campground had port-a-potties that had clearly not been emptied for some time. The fact that it cost money to stay at such a shoddy campground, while many of the others were in better condition and free, made staying there not the most appealing option. It was decided to attempt to make it to the Mason-Dixon campground before dark. The directions to Mason-Dixon were less than helpful and when in Meyersdale, local directions varied wildly. Being near the continental divide made it quite cold after dark. My fingers were freezing even through my Thinsulate riding gloves.  Mason-Dixon was nowhere to be found, so in the best interest of things, the tent was pitched alongside the trail, between a ravine and a creek. Much like the first night, the incessant mooing of the cows could be heard. However, this time it was more comforting. Layers and layers of wool and fleece barely kept me warm. This is not because it was unbearably cold, but because I am always cold. I would think the number of Chicago winters I've endured would give me a tougher skin, but no. The tent was pitched near mile marker 27 and that meant it was only 27 miles to Cumberland MD, the end of the GAP. By this point, doing 27 miles in one day was easy and the last 20 miles of this stretch were downhill.

I didn't sleep very well since the tent was just on the side of the trail and I kept hearing rustling and scratching in the woods outside the tent. Being near the top of the mountain also made it likelier that the rustling was coming from something bigger than a raccoon. It had rained during the night and the tent leaked. This wasn't noticed earlier at Roundbottom since the trees were so tall that they provided extra cover.

It was less than half an hour after pack up that I crossed the continental divide

Of course I had to take a photo of George Washington looking like a badass

and the elevation chart

The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking. I learned that high altitudes make me dizzy and nauseous.

At this point I would fight a bear for a shower.

Once in Cumberland: celebrated with a beer and some hot Mexican food! Priorities!

I definitely do a few things differently. First, I would pack lighter. I had lots of clothes I didn't end up wearing, even though I packed with specific days in mind, to try and minimize overpacking. However, I was glad I brought my vintage hooded snuggie (it's not a real Snuggie TM, it's a seafoam green and pink fleece, ankle-length, hooded, zip-up house coat from the 80's.) I DO NOT HAVE PICTURES of me in it,but this does not mean that there are not pictures. IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOO WARM. Judge me. Go ahead. Also I learned you can never have enough wool socks. I'm always cold and have poor circulation in my feet, so I own lots and lots of wool socks. I brought 3 pairs and wore them to bed throughout the trip and they were the best thing I packed.

I would bring less food seeing that a large chunk was left over at the end of the trail. I'd made some trail mix, which were failed cereal bars, that I would definitely make again. To be honest, I'm surprised how little I ate on the trip. Granted the things I was eating were high in fat and protein, so I felt satisfied after eating even a little. The stopping every so often for snack breaks probably helped too.

Food I would take Again:

-Peanut butter

-Garlic and sesame flat bread crackers

-Raw Almonds

-Hard, low-moisture cheeses

-dark chocolate

-Ginger Sesame Peanut Trail Mix