Biking the Great Alleghany Passage – Day 3 – Morning
Final Day Capped A Fun and Memorable Ride
Our final day of our monumental journey is two blogs for the sake of brevity yet still detailing the captivating conclusion to our bike ride.
A quick note on last night’s cottage. Carl Roberts found us an awesome cottage fifty feet from the river. The house was made from restored timbers.
Our route on Day 3
The last day encompassed the steepest uphill and downhill grades our our journey.
Today we left from Confluence biking to our final destination: Cumberland, MD. Both C Hirst and I did not sleep exceedingly well in anticipation of our sixty plus mile ride up and over the Eastern continental divide.
It was a cool and crisp Spring day so we started with long sleeve shirts for the first time on our trip. We started early and hit the trail before 8AM.
Today started with a long arduous climb of thirty seven miles straight up hill and nonstop! There was no flatness or downhill for the entire stretch. It was long stretches through hills as our legs pumped our bikes carrying our gear.
We were rewarded with a bike ride across massive train bridges and biking through tunnels bored through the hillsides.
The trail was well marked with milestones for the entire 150 mile ride.
Placards along the trail tell the story that the Cassellman River has so many sharp bends at the Pinkerton Horn that the only solution for the railroad engineers was to dig the Pinkerton tunnel.
Along the trail at Mile 56 we ran into Ben who is walking the GAP! He was pushing what looked like a tricycle cart. He, like so many others on the trail was kind and giving. Rob was out of water and Ben reached into his and shared a bottle.
During our final day we experienced that the spirit of America is alive and well. Across the fabric of America and out of the concrete cities we are kind and caring people that help each other.
Mile 55 and pumping uphill. The green Spring forests created a mood of sereneness despite our tired legs!
One of Carl Roberts’ many profound proverbs during our trip: Life is short, take on the adventure
We reached the Pinkerton Horn after ten miles of biking this day. Most of our trip the rail trail hugs the edge of fast flowing rivers which are famous for their white water rafting adventures.
Reached milestone 50. We now had a hundred miles behind us!
One of old rusty metal bridges on huge concrete pilings that have been remodeled and modernized to accommodate bikers and hikers.
Bollman Bridge
Near Meyersdale, this expanse of the railroad and its bridges were built in the early 1900s.
