Great Allegheny Passage || Day 8 || 30.6 miles
- Date: June 21, 2022
- Start: Connellsville KOA Campground (GAP Mile 92)
- End: Dravo’s Landing hiker-biker camp (GAP Mile 43.4)
- Cumulative Distance: 307.1 miles
The rain came in around 10 p.m. last night, and I swear it felt warmer overnight than it felt all day. When I woke up, the temperature was already cresting 70°F, and it was supposed to get back up into the sweltering 90’s again by the afternoon!
What a radical weather swing from yesterday – when it was a full 20-30 degrees cooler! I guess that weird summer cold front finally pushed its way through the region. We were now back into the hot, humid weather that the mid-Atlantic is so famous for.
I spent the last hour before going to bed last night scouring my guidebook to figure out my options for the upcoming day. Were there suitable places to stop and eat just north of here? What about places to camp for the night?
Riding beyond Ohiopyle State Park yesterday put me in a weird middle ground. I was now only 57 miles from the end of the trail. I could probably ride that entire distance in a day – if I really wanted to push my body.
But why should I? I asked myself. My hotel in Pittsburgh was booked for Wednesday night, not tonight. Did I really want to pay big city prices for an extra day in a hotel? What was I going to really do if I got to Pittsburgh a day early? Go sightseeing?
As I flipped through the guidebook, I realized my camping options were fairly limited. There were three free hiker-biker campgrounds and two commercial campgrounds between here and the end of the trail, and they were all situated within the next 30 miles. After that, I’d be brushing up against the suburbs and industrial parts of Pittsburgh with no more camping options for the final 27 miles.
The way I figured it, my options for today were three-fold:
- I could ride my biggest day yet (57 miles) all the way to the northern terminus of the GAP, and pay for an extra night of super pricey hotel rates in downtown Pittsburgh;
- I could take it easy and ride a relatively short day (30 miles) to the farthest hiker-biker camp, where I could camp for free and finish the final 28 miles tomorrow morning; or
- I could attempt to ride an average day (47 miles) to town of Homestead, where there were some moderately-priced suburban hotels, and only have 10 miles to finish in the morning.
I lingered at the KOA campground until 10:30 a.m. this morning trying to make up my mind which path to pursue, but truthfully, my late start was really making the decision for me. I would take option #2 and just ride an easy 30 miles and camp at Dravo’s Landing tonight.
P&LE RR
As I returned to the GAP for my next to last day of this cycling adventure, the dirt bike path was filled with heaps of other cyclists – and virtually all of them were heading away from Pittsburgh. It felt odd to be heading north when everyone else was heading south, and I imagined myself to be a bit like a salmon swimming upstream.
As I rode through the green tunnel of trees on this muggy summer morning, the trail transitioned to the old Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad line, and I kept passing squat white stone columns with “P&LE RR” stenciled on them.
Within my first hour of riding, I passed the first hiker-biker camp of my day – the Roundbottom Campground. It had some lovely Adirondack style shelters on it, but the nearby water pump warned that it only provided non-potable water. That was not a promising sign of things to come, and I sincerely hoped my campground destination for the evening was better equipped than this one.
Just beyond the campground, I passed another big milestone – mile 100 on the Great Allegheny Passage. And much like my bizarre need to photograph the 100-mile mark on the C&O Towpath, I couldn’t help but to stop and make a similar effort for this nice round number too!
Another 10 miles later, I passed the second hiker-biker campground of the day at Cedar Creek Park. This one was far more welcoming than Roundbottom, and it was connected to a lovely large park with river access. The parking lot was filled with people, and more than a few of them had inflatable rafts and inner tubes in town as they headed down toward the Youghigheny River to cool off.
Watching these folks head for the water made me jealous. The river looked so cool and refreshing. It seemed to beckon me to stop, and just go for a quick dip. But I decided to ride on to West Newport, with hopes that the air-conditioning of a lunchtime restaurant would feel even better than soaking my body in the water.
BEER O’CLOCK
I stopped for lunch at the Trailside Bar & Grill on the outskirts of West Newport, and asked the waitress for the beer menu. I decided to be adventurous. I’d mix things up a bit, and order an IPA from some random brewery I’d never heard from in Cleveland, Ohio.
When my beer arrived at the table, I was really looking forward to the cold, frothy hoppiness to quench my thirst, but my high expectations were horribly dashed.
I won’t say the name of the brewery that produced this particular beer, but it might have been among the five worst IPA’s I’ve ever tasted (and that’s really saying something because I’ve ordered a ton of IPAs over the years). This beer was so unpalatable that I couldn’t even finish my pint!
The food, however, was far more pleasant than the beer. So I suppose I learned my lesson the hard way. Don’t order beer made in Ohio. Especially, when what you really want is a craft beer from the West Coast or East Coast!
After eating my lunch, I lingered in the restaurant’s cool air-conditioning as long as humanly possible. But I knew getting back outside to ride my remaining miles in the blistering heat was imminent. It was time to surrender to the inevitable and just get back out there.
At least, I only had eight more miles until the campground. I was pretty sure I could endure that distance that without passing out from the heat and humidity this afternoon.
As I started back up the trail, I passed by a beautifully restored olive green P&LE passenger car sitting on display at the West Newton train depot and visitor center.
As I rolled down the wide path beside the passenger car, I was still trying to muster my energy to get back up to speed. But then something I can’t explain urged me to look over to my right. Just beyond the old depot and something curious caught my eye.
Holy moly! The local brewery set up a concession stand in the visitor center’s parking lot amidst a handful of picnic tables with shade umbrellas over them. The tiny white trailer with words “Bloom Brewing Draft Wagon” was stenciled on its side was sitting there and open for business.
I knew Bloom Brewing Company was in West Newton, PA. But they were closed on Tuesdays. So I couldn’t pay them a lunchtime visit on my way thru town. Yet, here was this little mobile version of the brewery with four of their products on tap. And it was just feet from the trail!!
If that’s not serendipity, I don’t know what is. This was the perfect opportunity to wash that nasty Cleveland beer from off my palate.
And so, I was barely 100 yards up the trail from my lunchtime spot before I was stopping my bike again. I propped my heavily laden bike up against one of the picnic tables, and bounced up to the tiny trailer to order myself an 8-ounce draft of hard cider (I know, I know. But, honestly, I was too wary to risk trying another IPA, lest I get a second a bad IPA and REALLY ruin my day.)
Their cider was absolutely delicious, and it put me in a good enough mood to take on the remaining hot miles without one single complaint!
Dravo’s Landing
Now that all was right in the world again, it was time to get back to the task at hand. As I rode north, the trail wove in and out of the woods. Sometimes I would be riding in the shade and suddenly come up to a tall waterfall.
Other times I was riding insanely close to small homes that lined the trail, forcing me to wonder: Did people really choose to live 20 feet from train tracks when the railroad was here?? Wasn’t that incredibly loud?
Near mile 121, I passed a public pool that was crowded with families and kids. It looked so divine in this heat that I nearly stopped to see if I could get a day pass and join everyone for a swim. But, I didn’t have a swimsuit and I wasn’t going into the pool in my cycling clothes or sleep clothes, so I had to pedal on.
Besides it was only another mile to Dravo’s Landing, where I planned to camp for the night. Maybe there would be water access at the campground and I could go jump into the river then dry my cycling clothes in the hot sun.
I knew from my research that Dravo’s Landing was one of the more unusual hiker-biker campgrounds I’d visit because it was co-located with an old cemetery. There had once been an old church located right beside the cemetery, but it caught fire and burned down to the ground ages ago.
So now all that remained here were acres of open land right along the bike trail and the cemetery where someone decided to build a hiker-biker campground. Campers could tell ghost stories around the campfire and the giant tombstones would just add a bit of authentic ambience.
Behind the cemetery and down a small hill, I could see some more Adirondack-style shelters and lots of flat, grassy spots with picnic tables. There was nobody else there yet, but that wasn’t surprising. It was barely 3:15 p.m. in the afternoon. So I scouted the place and went to take a closer look at one of the two wooden shelters, which had been built as part of a Boy Scout project back in 2008.
Is this a crime scene?!?
The first shelter looked very similar to the type of three-sided shelters I’d camped near on the Appalachian Trail during my 2019 thru-hike. They were great for keeping dry in the rain, but not my favorite way to camp otherwise.
Far too often, you end up sandwiched into the shelter like sardines with another person snoring right into your ear all night. Or, the local mice would scurry across your supine body as they emerged at night in search of food scraps or crumbs.
Nope. As nice as these shelters looked in theory, I would be setting my tent up tonight. And so I went in search for a prime spot in the grass, where I would have some shade and no worries about rodents.
As I worked my way toward flat ground, I peeked over to the other wooden shelter. It was identical to the first one, but there was a bunch of debris – both inside and front of the shelter.
At first glance, it appeared as if someone had lazily abandoned a bunch of unwanted gear. Maybe a homeless person was using the shelter to bed down in during the summer months.
But as I walked closer, I could see this mess wasn’t trash. And it wasn’t the type of inexpensive camping gear an indigent person would pick up at a thrift shop or Walmart. The mess around this shelter was dotted with a lot of high-end stuff.
There was a tent, but it was collapsed. There was a bike pannier, and a bunch of bike tools, an expensive brand of sleeping bag, and even a bike lock. That was weird!
Maybe some cyclist set their tent up inside the shelter (like the cyclist back at the Connellsville hiker-biker camp). If they’d unpacked their items and gone into town, it was be an easy target for a raccoon – or some other scavenger – to come and raided the place looking for food. That might explain this chaotic, messy situation.
Yet, nothing was chewed up (as far as I could see). It was just a non-sensical mess. And there were two things completely out of place that grabbed my attention.
- There was a spoon covered with something red and sticky was just sitting on a stump by the campfire ring. Was that spaghetti sauce? Or ketchup? Or possibly blood?
- I could see an iPhone resting face up on the ground beside the rocky fire pit. Would someone really leave an iPhone laying around like that? And who would go into town and leave their cell phone behind and unsecured?
The phone made me wonder if something bad went down here. Was someone attacked — by an animal or a person — while they were camping in the shelter?
Using my glove, I pressed down on the phone to try to wake it up. This pressure lit up the phone’s home screen, and I could see it displaying the current day and time. The phone hadn’t been abandoned for long if there was still battery life. But, I was still perplexed. Even if someone deliberately left all the rest of this camping gear behind, why would they leave their expensive smart phone??
Ok. This was a little distressing. Was I looking at a simple mess or was I looking at something more nefarious? Perhaps even a crime scene?
Just then, two more cyclists rolled up to use the water pump and I asked one of them to come take a look at it with me. The guy followed me over to the cabin and initially thought it was some sort of homeless camp. But then as I pointed out the cycling gear and the phone, he got a similar bad feeling, and we agreed someone should call the authorities.
I volunteered to do it, and called the city of West Newton (where I’d just ridden from) and got a voicemail recording. I left my information and a call back number, but I wasn’t sure this was even the right police department to call. We were between two towns out here on this remote campground on the GAP.
After 20 minutes with no return call, I pulled up Google maps and decided that perhaps Elizabeth Township, PA, might be closer, so I called their police department to report the situation. The officer who answered my call confirmed Dravo’s Landing was indeed within their jurisdiction. I explained what I’d seen and they said they’d send someone out. Just stay put and a police officer would arrive in about 15 minutes.
As I waited, four more cyclists showed up and made their way down to the grassy area to set up camp. At least, I’d have company if I decided to stay here, because I wasn’t camping here alone with a potential crime scene.
As promised, a SUV with three uniformed police officers showed up to check out the campground. I led them to the site and told them what concerned me, and then let them do their thing. I’d done my part. In followed the advice I’d heard repeatedly in so many public service announcements: See something, say something.
The police did their thing for about an hour while I chatted with the four other campers nearby and let them know I was the one who called the cops and why.
The police continued to poke about the area for the next 45 minutes, checking out the shelter and the surrounding area all the way down to the water. But in the end, there wasn’t much more to it.
With no signs of an injured person or specific crime, there wasn’t anything they needed do other than document the scene. Maybe the person would return for their belongings. Maybe not. But at least there weren’t any mangled bodies in the vicinity.
And so I set up my tent (not too terribly far from the other four campers). The mosquitoes were out, and I was too tired to even wander down to the river tonight. I’d stick to my tent and read my book instead.
Highlights
- Discovering the Bloom Brew Draft Wagon was a lovely surprise this afternoon. My mood was boosted instantaneously with just one sip of their cold hard cider!
- Although the scenery along the GAP was mostly mediocre today, there were a few lovely surprises – like the random waterfall beside the trail and the lovingly restored historical P&LE passenger car in West Newton.
Challenges
- The high humidity and heat were definitely back today. I felt as it I was riding through a roasting oven and wanted to stop to jump in the Youghigheny River more than once!
- Figuring out what to do when I came across the shelter at Dravo’s Landing was a difficult choice. The mess could be caused by a random animal scrounging for food, or it could have been a sign of a something more nefarious. Did I want to risk camping here alone if there was any risk of violence?