Biking Pittsburgh to DC - Part 2: The Trail

KillRamsey

Hall of Famer
Location
Hood River, OR
Name
Kyle
Specifically, it's about 40% the Great Allegheny Passage, and then it becomes the C&O Canal Towpath for the remaining 60% of the trip. Total mileage is about 340, and we did it in 6 days. Most days you do a little over 60 miles, one day was 38 for us and one was 74. The Allegheny portion is in better shape than its West Virginian / Marylandian counterpart, the C&O. The grades are never steep enough for you to really notice, either up or downhill. You could do the Allegheny portion on literally any bike you're comfy on. And make no mistake, it is your comfort (or lack thereof) that will determine how much you enjoy doing this. Physically it's not much to ask, just rolling along gently at 11 mph for 6-8 hours isn't a ton of calories. But if your butt and your saddle aren't best friends, they're going to start fighting, and the fighting can get ugly quick. (The saddle always wins, by the way.)

So, some shots of the trail...

This is how it begins, it Pittsburgh. In our case on a Sunday morning.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Leaving the industrial outskirts of Pitt, it's all paved and the bridges are nice.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

At a rest stop on the trail, next to a campground and an old cemetery.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr


Once you get out remote, it's just other long-distance packers, and some hikers / birders / fishermen looking for remote spots. So when you suddenly come upon a Cub Scout troop or something, you know a town is coming... like sighting shore birds from the deck of your ship. Once the crowds are gone, it's just you and the animals, mostly deer. More on them later.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The first day, the wife had planned a surprise for Father's Day. But it meant leaving the trail after 68 miles, and then biking 17 miles UPHILL into the countryside to get to the special surprise. We didn't have it in us, nor did my bike battery. This guy tossed our bikes in his truck and drove us there. And he wouldn't take a dollar. Amazing guy, and my god did he save my bacon.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The surprise was staying in this house, designed by a Frank Lloyd Wright student, on a plot of wooded land among several other such houses, one of which is actually a FLW.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

We went for a walk in our PJs.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The next day we biked 21 miles to Falling Water. It was HILLY. The downhills had us doing up to 38 mph! The uphills had us crying.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

A nice spot on the trail.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Stretching helps.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

My setup, with copilot...
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The tunnels were our favorite part, I think.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Once it turned to the C&O, it was much less dry. HUGE mud puddles, for miles. At some point it's time to turn off the path each evening, bike through a town, find your place, garden hose everything down, bring stuff inside, shower the mud off, consume a lot of calories, put the kid to bed, crack open beers, be adults for a few hours, then collapse into a happy heap and sleep like you're dead.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Typical C&O, after the huge rains we got. You're getting muddy... just embrace it and get on with the business of getting on.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Harper's Ferry at night.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

A regular occurrence. You didn't often go longer than 30 minutes without spotting a deer, often pretty close.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr

And then suddenly, 340 miles later, you can see the Washington Monument.
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by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
all great, Kyle. I think leg 2 of this trip would be my favorite. Though Pitt looks cooler than expected and I love DC, I prefer nature to humanity. Falling Water is on our list of places to visit. We just visited Taliesen a short while ago. I forgot to even look through the photos I snapped.
 
all great, Kyle. I think leg 2 of this trip would be my favorite. Though Pitt looks cooler than expected and I love DC, I prefer nature to humanity. Falling Water is on our list of places to visit. We just visited Taliesen a short while ago. I forgot to even look through the photos I snapped.

I got a private tour of Taliesen about 10 years ago when I lost my job. A very good friend's uncle was a restorer / conservator there, and she arranged it as a pick-me-up. So I got to go in back rooms and see the old models of buildings that were cracked and in need of repair, including the one of Guggenheim.
 
It's a very rare resource in the US - a long, multi-day off road car-free path like this. Germany has hundreds, seemingly, and of course the Netherlands are laced with them.
 
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