Ohiopyle bike trail coasts onto national list

One of the two bridges carrying the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail over the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle State Park.

I received a news release in my inbox today touting the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend as a great time to take the family biking.

Living in southwestern Pennsylvania, the idea of biking in late November has never crossed my mind, though we have at times had some freakishly warm winter days that will draw any child to two wheels who is too impatient to wait until spring to try out a new Christmas present.

No, it wasn’t the idea of biking at Thanksgiving that intrigued me; it was the list of bike trails that drew my attention. Our very own Great Allegheny Passage was on the short list of five great trails for a holiday ride.

I’ve lived in southwestern Pennsylvania all of my life, but relocated from Pittsburgh to Fayette County 22 years ago. We didn’t have many bike trails in Pittsburgh back then, though I claim some small influence on the directional arrows on the bike trail in North Park — the arrows directing riders clockwise around the lake appeared shortly after I wrecked into three on-coming cyclists while riding counter-clockwise.

My Ohiopyle experiences were much more pleasant. In my early years in Fayette County I spent many spring, summer and fall days on the bike trail. I would ride alone or with friends after work and on weekends and I rode the trail as a volunteer for the park, taking photos of plants, flowers and wildlife. The trail wasn’t very long then, just the nine or 10 miles from Ohiopyle to Confluence and a small stretch on the other side of the Youghiogheny River. The section to Connellsville was under construction and was just rough gravel, not the compressed limestone surface it is today.

It’s been years since I’ve biked on the trail, my husband’s knees not up to the repetitive motion of biking, so it was a pleasant surprise to see my old favorite among the five highlighted trails in the news release. The Great Allegheny Passage was the longest listed. The trail now stretches 150 miles from the outskirts of Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland. The really hardy can continue beyond Cumberland to Washington D.C. on the C&O Canal Trail.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is also recommending the Cape Cod Trail in Massachusetts (22 miles), the Joe Rodota Trail in California (13 miles), the Chief Ladiga Trail in Alabama (33 miles) and the Foothills Trail in Washington (28 miles). A complete list of trails with information on parking and access, as well as reviews by actual cyclists, is available at www.TrailLink.com.

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Mountaintop experiences

As you enter Uniontown from the north or west on a clear day, the white cross at the Jumonville retreat center is visible on the top of the ridge to the east known as Dunbar’s Knob.

I had the pleasure of spending a weekend at Jumonville recently, and waking early one morning, I decided to take a leisurely stroll through the woods before breakfast. I had no intention of hiking to the top of the mountain to the cross and purposely selected a wide, level path along the perimeter of the camp.

The lighting was phenomenal. A young cherry tree shone like copper at the edge of the path. The upper limbs of several older trees caught the air current and sang and they rubbed together. Individual ferns would dance in a breeze that left their neighbors unmoved. Each natural wonder drew me further along the path.

When I came to a switchback that took a decided turn uphill, I wondered whether it would be quicker to retrace my steps or to continue on the obvious loop of the path. I opted to continue onward, still not convinced my path would go to the top. The slope became steeper. I paused to catch my breath and take off my jacket. There was no question now that I was heading to the cross. Still, the first sight of it through the trees caught me by surprise.

The steel cross stands 60 feet high on a six-foot-high concrete foundation. Its arms stretch 33 feet from side to side. It filled my horizon.

Stepping into the clearing and looking out from the cross, the city of Uniontown and surrounding countryside spread out before me. I had the pleasure of viewing that same sight later that night as we drove up the road leading to the cross for a bonfire in the meadow below it. The lights of the town mingled with the stars. The cross glowed above us, making all else pale.

In all, it was a remarkable day. The site is open to the public during the day, though only those staying on the grounds are permitted there at night.

The historic Braddock’s Road passes over Dunbar’s Knob, leading north out of the clearing housing the cross. Jumonville Glen, where the French and Indian War began, is nearby. Some day when I have more than an hour before breakfast for my hike, I’d like to travel down the historic trail, as well as spend some time viewing the artifacts in the Rindfuss Museum at Jumonville. For now, I’m glad to have had the experience of enjoying a peaceful hike to the cross.

Old Faithful — Vacationing on the fly

Bison at Yellowstone Lake

The Matesich family of Centerville Borough has an interesting way of selecting vacation destinations: they look for the cheapest airfare they can find to a place they might want to visit.

This year’s flight destination was Spokane, Washington to take advantage of an unexpired National Park pass.

“We flew into Spokane and went to Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We had bought one of the annual National Park passes last July, so we still had some time left on it. It’s like a 13-month pass if you use it right,” said Cheryl Matesich.

Matesich said she and her husband had vacationed out west 20 years ago, but didn’t get to spend nearly enough time at Yellowstone National Park, and their children had never been there. Matesich said her family also makes its reservations as the vacation is progressing, not before. The spontaneity paid off.

“We always take our laptop. We found a hotel near Yellowstone, ten made our reservations for the next night. We went to Old Faithful because you’ve got to go,” Matesich said.

On a whim, her husband checked at the Old Faithful Hotel and discovered a vacancy caused by a last-minute cancellation.

“The bellboy said we had the most requested room in the hotel. You could see Old Faithful from one window and the entire geyser basin from the other. There was only a sink in the room. You had to go down the hall to the bathroom, like a college dorm. There was no phone, no Internet, nothing. It was the best vacation ever,” Matesich said.

Old Faithful

Lewis and Clark Festival

There’s only one day left for the first Lewis and Clark Festival in Elizabeth PA, so if you’re in the area, be sure to drop by today, Sept. 21.

This is a great little festival including some fantastic historians and outstanding entertainment. The organizers, the local chapter of the Lewis and Clark Society, have done a great job putting together an event that both entertains and educates. Sorry I didn;t get information out about it sooner! Be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s event.

Trains, (Incline) Planes and One Tank of Gas in the Automobile

   Earlier this summer my husband and I were looking for a weekend get-away that wouldn’t take more than a tank of gas. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend on the road or extra money to spend on the fuel.

    My husband’s nephew who lives in Altoona suggested that we come visit. Right. Altoona. Great vacation spot.

   Well, Dan couldn’t meet up with us until Saturday morning, so we had Friday to ourselves. It was a pleasant drive, mostly on two-lane roads, avoiding the majority of the heavy truck traffic and all of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We got an early start and stopped at a diner for breakfast. (We’re big fans of diners, especially if there is a house specialty like Amish meats or homemade pies. If they don’t have homemade pies and breakfast at any hour, they aren’t a real diner no matter what the décor.)

   Our plan for Friday was to visit the Railroaders Memorial Museum and Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark, followed by a tour of Fort Roberdeau, then on to an Altoona Curve baseball game.

   The Railroaders Museum, even filled with elementary students, was a pleasant surprise. The displays transport the viewer back to the heyday of the railroad in Altoona, from the rail yards to the backyards and parlors of the town, with first person audio accounts throughout the exhibit.

    Taking the funicular to the top of Horseshoe Curve provided a breathtaking view of the valley and a railroader’s view of the curve. (Pittsburghers would call the funicular an incline—unlike the inclines in Pittsburgh though, the funicular at the curve has two cars running on a single track, with a passing zone in the middle.)

   It was amazing to realize that an entire mountain valley was filled in to create the curve and create a mountable slope for the trains. The importance of the curve for moving freight is still evident in the number of trains that go through the area on any given day. One bed and breakfast located along the tracks promises a train an hour for railroad enthusiasts.

    Fort Roberdeau was also a pleasant surprise. It’s a Revolutionary War-era fort that was reconstructed for the bicentennial in 1976. The fort was originally built to protect the lead mines in the area that provided the Revolutionary soldiers with much-needed ammunition. The remote fort never came under attack.

   If you visit the fort, ask someone local for directions. It really isn’t hard to find with the right set of directions, but a computer-generated map probably won’t get you there.

   We closed our evening with an Altoona Curve baseball game. The Curve (not to be confused with the Horseshoe Curve) is a farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team has home games through the end of August, so it’s still not too late to get tickets. The on-line ticket ordering and printing system is easy to use and even the best seats in the house are less than parking for a Major League game.

   Our seats were close enough that even without the zoom lens on my camera I could see the gold chain around the first baseman’s neck. Minor league ball is a lot of fun. It’s more about fan participation than runs scored. We got to meet Bob the Baseball Dog, a young Yellow Lab being trained to retrieve bats and foul balls. Bob is very into the game.

   Of course, there are also the team mascots and the between-inning fan competitions, including human bowling balls, and the Star Spangled Banner was sung by a group of pre-school students. Now that’s local baseball!

Keep in mind that Altoona is a mountain community (remember the Horseshoe Curve?) You’ll want sweatshirts or jackets for the evening if you go in early or late summer. The fact that the refreshment stands at the baseball stadium sell hot chocolate should tell you something.

   Looking through the Blair County tourist information magazine, we realized there were still plenty of things to do in the area that we hadn’t even considered: hiking, camping and canoeing in nearby state parks and numerous museums and art galleries. Accommodations range from tent camping to romantic bed and breakfasts or specialty ones like the one for train spotters.