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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