A Quick Backpacking Trip on the Laurel Highlands Trail

More than a month ago, we scheduled a backpacking trip for this past weekend and crossed our fingers that the weather would cooperate. I did some research and we wound up picking the Laurel Highlands Trail in western Pennsylvania. The whole trail is 70 miles long and has shelters along the way, similar to those on the Appalachian Trail. We did 18.5 miles of it.

We started at PA route 653 and hiked south towards Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania. The first day, we hiked 12 miles under overcast skies. The trail was pretty easy. It is well-maintained and stays mostly on the top of the ridge. We kept a pretty quick pace because we wanted to make sure we reached our shelter before sunset. There are actually stone mile markers, which made it easy to track our progress.

Stone steps and moss on the trail.

Rhododendrons and boulders. The trail wound its way through the boulders like a little bit of a maze. We passed through a number of areas like this. It was one of my favorite things about this area.

The trail (on the right side of the photo) along the edge of an area that had been logged. It looked like they had logged everything except the oak trees.

A little pond.

Fallen oak leaves in the pond.

Moss on a log. The overcast skies made the bright green moss stand out.

One of the stone mile markers.

 A split log bridge. Even the smallest gullies on this trail have split log bridges.

An overlook of the Youghiogheny River valley before we began our descent into Ohiopyle State Park. The last half mile of the day was a tough, switchback-less descent to the shelters in the state park. It was rocky. Many of those rocks were loose and all of them were covered in a few inches of leaves, providing many opportunities to trip. We were all pretty happy when the side trail down to the shelters came into view.

This was home for the night. The shelters ostensibly sleep five, but we were pretty snug with four and a dog. As far as backcountry camping goes, this was pretty luxurious. There are bathrooms, a water pump, and trash cans. The park also provides firewood. We had a nice fire, a dinner of black bean and squash tacos, hot chocolate, and smores.

After the fire went out, it got chilly. Our friend's dog cold and couldn't sleep, so our friend put her down vest on her. The dog warmed right up and went to sleep, but she was unimpressed with having to wear a vest.

We woke up to a sunny sky on the second day. We lingered over breakfast and coffee, finally starting out around 9:30 a.m. The terrain was much tougher in the last six miles of our hike than the first day's walk. Instead of keeping to the ridgeline, the trail took us up to the top of the ridge and then down into the valleys several times. The scenery was just as nice as the day before and we got several nice views of the river valley below us. One final steep climb took us to the lot where backpackers are required to park.

The Youghiogheny River from the trail

Red oak leaves.

Club moss.

A hole in a hollowed out tree.

One of the more elaborate split log bridges, complete with a stone footing.

Crossing one of the roads.

One last overlook of the river. This was such a nice trail. We talked about coming back sometime and hiking the entire 70 miles.

A quick note about the Laurel Highlands Trail: There is no fee for dayhiking. Backpackers are required to register and reserve shelters in advance. The fee is $5 per person per night. Permits and reservations can be found here.

Pittsburgh to DC Part One: The Great Allegheny Passage

We spent last week with a friend riding from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC on the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) and the C&O Towpath - 335 miles, almost all of which is completely traffic free. Talk about heaven for a cyclist. The first 150 miles of the trip is on the GAP trail, which is a rail trail. The remainder is on the C&O Towpath, which I'll cover in my next post.

The GAP Trail starts at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our friend Horizontal Tread's wife provided transportation from Maryland to the beginning of the trail. We owe her one because transportation to and from the two ends of the trail is the biggest logistical hurdle making the trip from Pittsburgh to DC. Every cyclist we met going all the way through asked about how we were handling that part of the trip. 

Getting dropped off 350 miles from your destination with nothing but your bikes and what is packed on them helps you focus on the ride ahead! After lunch at Primanti Brothers in downtown Pittsburgh, we headed over to the fountain in Point State Park, took some pictures and were on our way. We promptly missed a turn and wound up at a dead end. Fortunately, another pair of cyclists set us straight. We also stopped on Pittsburgh's South Side for a milkshake at The Milkshake Factory, which was totally worth the detour. And then we were really on our way. The trail quickly took us out of downtown and down the median of a freeway - probably my least favorite part of the trip. Then we wound through the industrial graveyards of the outskirts of the city along the Monongahela River. 

Our ultimate destination on the first day was Cedar Creek Park, where there was a hiker/biker campground. We rolled in just as the last light drained from the sky, after having ridden 40 miles that afternoon.

Michael, me, and our friend at the fountain at Point State Park in Pittsburgh with our bikes.

A route sign at the Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh.

Looking towards downtown Pittsburgh from the Hot Metal Bridge, which once carried molten steel across the Monongahela River.

Our shelter at Cedar Creek Park. In the morning, one of the park rangers stopped by and wound up giving us a brief history lesson for the area, which was pretty cool.

The history lesson delayed us a bit, but it turned out to be a good thing. In addition to learning a bit about the area, we were still packing up when a rain storm blew through. We waited it out in the shelter. Half an hour later, we began pedaling southeast. Just seven miles into the ride, Michael got flat. He patched the tube and booted the tire with duct tape and a plastic wrapper. The tire was ruined, but we need it to last until we could find a bike shop. Connelsville was our best bet, but it turned out that the bike shop was closed since it was Sunday. He wound up riding that booted tire for 100 miles (he did put it on the front wheel, which is under less strain than the back wheel).

We lucked out with rain in the morning of the second day, but not in the afternoon. We got soaked on the trail. In fact, the storm blew through with enough force to cause lots of branches to fall around us as we were riding, which was a little scary. We went into the town of Ohiopyle and got a tire, a cup of coffee, and some cookies. Then we rode the mile back to the state park to get to the campground. That was interesting. We had a reservation for a walled tent in the campground. Getting to the campground involved a 0.5 mile hike, pushing the bike (riding up the trail isn't allowed), straight up to the top of the ridge. Of course, the moment we started up the trail, it started pouring again. It didn't stop until we reached the top, so it was more like hiking up a stream. It was awesome. Or not. Our walled tent was pretty nice, though and it was nice not to have to pitch the tent.

Michael with his booted tire.

A pretty archway on the edge of Connelsville, Pennsylvania. The ridge in the background is the westernmost ridge of the Allegheny Mountains.

A railroad bridge in Connelsville. I found the variety of railroad bridges to be a surprisingly interesting part of the ride.

Our "walled tent" at Ohiopyle State Park. It isn't the prettiest structure, but it was dry and had room for us to spread our gear out.

We woke up to sun on the third day. I made a miscalculation in mileage. I thought we had 48 miles to ride that day, but it turned out to be 58 miles. We climbed steadily for nearly 50 miles. The grade was never very steep - at most it was 1.5% according to the signs, but after 50 miles, I felt like I had been climbing all day. It turned out to be my favorite day of the trip anyway. The trip started with a beautiful ride through the woods along the Youghiogheny River. We slowly, very slowly climbed past various little towns, through tunnels, and over bridges towards the Eastern Continental Divide and the Big Savage Tunnel. The landscape up near the divide was spectacular and the leaves were just beginning to change. Then we got the reward for all the climbing: an 8 mile descent into Frostburg, Maryland.

Our friend and Michael (in yellow) riding through the woods near Ohiopyle State Park.

 The Youghiogheny River near Confluence, Pennsylvania.

 The view west from the Salisbury Viaduct. This was one of my favorite things on the trail. The viaduct is nearly 2,000 feet long and perched over a beautiful, wide valley. In the distance, there are wind turbines along the ridge (click to enlarge).

 Another view of the Salisbury Viaduct.

 The Keystone Viaduct, just south of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.

Riding through the woods near the Eastern Continental Divide. The leaves were just starting to change up there.

The Eastern Continental Divide, the high point, literally, of our trip.

Big Savage Tunnel. This restored tunnel is almost 3,300 feet long. Unlike the Paw Paw Tunnel on the C&O Towpath, Big Savage has lights.

 The inside of the Big Savage Tunnel.

Not too far south of the Big Savage Tunnel is the Mason Dixon line. Here I am with one foot in Pennsylvania and one foot in Maryland.

 We camped behind an inn in Frostburg, Maryland. It was cold that night - down in the 30s. I woke up early to a spectacular sunrise.

A sculpture in Frostburg.

We made it to Cumberland, the end of the GAP Trail and the beginning of the C&O Towpath on Day four. A slow start due to the cold and another flat on Michael's bike meant that we arrived in town (after a 15 (!) mile descent) right at lunch time. We visited the local bike shop to get a new tire and have the rim checked out before setting out on the C&O Towpath. More on that in my next post.

Ohiopyle State Park: Escaping the Rain

It rained a lot in the Mid-Atlantic last week. A Lot. Baltimore-Washington International Airport received over 5.5 inches of rain on Friday alone. By Sunday, we were ready to see some sun and dry out a little bit. With federally-managed lands closed due to the government shutdown, we figured it was a great time to visit a state park. We headed west with Wild Type of Horizontal Tread, away from the storm, to Ohiopyle State Park in western Pennsylvania. Ohiopyle State Park has been on the hiking to-do list for a long time, but it is a three-hour drive, so we just hadn't gotten around to it before. We did a series of relatively short hikes that added up to seven or eight miles and let us check out several of the park's many waterfalls, which is the longest distance I've hiked since January of this year.

We started with the Meadow Run area. We did a loop that took us to a series of low waterfalls. Ironically, the streams were all running low in Ohiopyle State Park. Although it had rained the day before, the park is too far west to have gotten much of the rain from last week's storm.

The Meadow Run Cascades.

Looking down Meadow Run at the first hints of fall colors.

After completing the loop, we drove to Jonathan Run trailhead. We hiked down the trail along the stream, meeting just a few other hikers on the way. The fall colors are really just getting started, but we were treated to some bright leaves.

A pretty yellow tree along the trail.

Looking down Jonathan Run.

A bright orange fungus on a downed log. Maybe Chicken of the Woods?

Upper Jonathan Run Falls.

Getting to the lower falls on Jonathan Run was a quite a scramble. Since there had been a little bit of rain the day before, slippery wet leaves and roots made it even more interesting. I think I made most of the descent on my rear end. The view was totally worth it.

Another view of the lower falls on Jonathan Run. After scrambling back up to the trail, we hiked a little further downstream to the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, which passes through the park. We took a short break before returning to the car the way we came.

Our next stop was supposed to be Cucumber Run, but the parking lot was completely full, so we decided to go see the main attraction:  Ohiopyle Falls on the Youghiogheny River.

The main falls from the Ferncliff Natural Area, across the river from the main viewing platform. The area was pretty crowded with sightseers and fishermen, but it was worth the walk to get below the falls.

These fossils were a neat surprise on the walk down to Ohiopyle Falls. This is a Lepidodendron (a type of tree known as a scale tree) fossil. We saw other fossils, but most of them weren't clear enough to photograph well.

After returning to the car, we made another, this time successful, attempt to see Cucumber Falls. It was worth the wait.

 Cucumber Falls.

The view from behind Cucumber Falls. We had a great day. I was really happy to get back out in the woods after a long absence. We will definitely go back to Ohiopyle State Park.