The remainder of the trip is on rail trail so no more cars except for side trips. I am so excited to be done with that. The GAP and C&O trails are crushed gravel trails that combine for over 300 miles of pedestrian only travel from Pittsburgh to DC.
We set out from Point State Park in the heart of Pittsburgh and headed up river and out of town. The way finding signage is great (we still had a few struggles) and the trail is mostly protected bike lane or true grade separated trail including the bridges over the rivers. After ten miles and past the old steel mills turned shopping center we could see our first side trip of the trail – Kenny World! A small but robust amusement park right next to the trail, sort of. Ride with GPS tried to route us through a service road that did not exist. Jason would not have had a complete experience if he did not get dead ended like this. Luckily the correct way didn’t cost us any back tracking. We arrived just after noon, when it opened, as planned. We had left 30 minutes late, again Jason getting the full experience. The plan was 2-3 hours of rides then another 28 miles to a camp ground.
Most of you know I am a giant kid that loves rollercoasters so this was the perfect treat for our first day. Some rides were closed but they had 3 roller coasters and several spinning high flying rides to choose from. We rode in the first car on our first coaster for the day. On the second turn I yelled at Jason “worth the 4000 miles”. I ran from ride to ride and since there was a Steelers game the place was deserted and we walked right on to every ride with no wait. I declared 18 rides should be our goal in keeping with the golf theme. Four hours later I was beat but I got my 18 rides. It was perfect.
We jumped on our bikes and slowly pedaled our way to a trailside campground. Free and only for bikers and hikers. We had the place to ourselves, well we did share it with the trains that rumbled by and screeched all night long.
I could not have asked for more. This week is going to be great.