Mind the Gap
There are countless reasons to be excited about moving to the Rachel Carson Ecovillage…but I added a new one to my list this week.
I was talking to one of my best friends, Laura, who happens to live in Philadelphia. She announced that she’s looking forward to coming to Pittsburgh so we can ride the GAP Trail together. Laura and I have a history of good adventures together, including three marathons (decades ago), one triathlon (just a few months ago), my first ski trip (decades ago), my last ski trip (thanks to a torn ACL!) and countless other good times.
So, despite the fact that neither of us is a serious cyclist nor have we ever done this kind of ride, it’s already on our bucket list.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail is a 150-mile rail-to-trail system that stretches from Cumberland, Maryland to Pittsburgh, ending downtown at Point State Park, where the Allegheny River meets the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River.
As described on the official gaptrail.org website: Along its route, the Great Allegheny Passage squeezes through the Cumberland Narrows, crosses the Mason & Dixon Line, tops the 2,392-foot Eastern Continental Divide, weaves through the breathtaking Laurel Highlands, bisects lovely Ohiopyle State Park, journeys through the region’s coke, coal, mining, and steel-making corridor, and ends at majestic Point State Park. It yields stunning views of waterfalls, gorges, river valleys, and farmland, especially from sweeping Helmstetter’s Curve and outside Big Savage Tunnel, near the delightful Bollman Bridge and within the imposing Keystone Viaduct, at both ends of the Pinkerton Tunnel, and via the soaring Ohiopyle Low and High Bridges.
It also connects to the C&O Canel Towpath, which makes it possible to ride from downtown Pittsburgh to downtown Washington, D.C. (a total of 333 miles).
Now I don’t know when we’ll do it, and I don’t know how we’ll do it (Occasional day trips? Section-by-section weekend trips? A full week to ride it all?). But I’ve now added cycling to the long list of reasons that I’m looking forward to living at RCE.
Betsy H., Founder and future resident of RCE, September 16, 2024
*All pictures courtesy of Wikimedia