Blog of Josh Hall

As I said in the intro post, I had done from my townhouse in Pittsburgh’s Hill District to the Waterfront a long time ago. The Hot Metal Bridge had just been completed. It was a flat ride and interesting to see all the places I’ve only seen from the road. There’s been a lot of work to improve the trail, on all sides of the 3 rivers, and I’d only expect that to keep going in the coming years.

Trip 1: My house in Bethel Park is near the Montour trail, so I just needed to follow it to the GAP, right? well, sounds easy enough, but it’s not that simple and probably never will be. Amanda and I set out to cover the trail through Bethel Park, South Park, but the first frustration is having to get on a road by Sunset Golf, all because some storage unit has the land where the rail road used to be.

It’s definitely a bureaucratic problem that will likely never be simple. The next unfortunate spot is not being able to continue through Green Man’s Tunnel. That would have been sweet. Just a little stretch of nice open road and trail gets you sucked in enough to be surprised when it all goes away once you cross over Gill Hall Road. You’re not par of vehicular traffic without any pavement markings. Beware. Peters Creek Road is peaceful enough, but it’s still a road, and I hate riding a bike on roads. Helmet for sure.

Entering Large is the wildest irony. It’s like a bunch of houses and a bar got discarded into someone’s field. I don’t know why it’s called Large, because it’s not. Up an over a hill and you’re at route 51 and of course I recognize this from going to Century III as a kid. This is one of those times where it’s tough to have to turn around, but you have to be mindful of your distance and elevation to make sure you can make it back in a reasonable time.

Trip 2: Picked up from the park and ride. This lot is unreasonably LARGE. It’s probably as big as Large, honestly. nice little path into the woods on the way to McKeesport. Past a nice park, but then get your wits about you for a steep hill on 837. Traffic will pass you. Lots of big trucks with surrounding industry. It’s not for kids. Cross the Glassport Bridge, and barrel down into town. Steep hill coming up to Mansfield Bridge. I ignore all stop signs and red lights. I don’t even know the rules, I just want out. Over the 5th avenue Bridge and loop around the the left and there we go. We’ve reached the GAP at McKeesport.

A few weeks prior, I had taken my bike to connect the Sandcastle to McKeesport section that I had missed a decade earlier. It’s totally smooth and I really like coming over that big bridge and ride down into McKeesport. It’s a weird thing again that the GAP goes under the bridge and along the river but then dead ends, even with the destination in site. Seems stupid they’d even maintain that.

One of the cool things about the trails is that you can use google street view or revisit, forecast, or live vicariously.

Click through for the rest of the journey:

Here are the things I’d mention if we were talking in person and you were thinking about doing the trail.

Make sure you get your shirts, stickers, and gear from Amanda GAP Trail and C&O merchandise.

Do it in the spring, when days are longer and the tunnels are open.

Elevations are a thing. Factor in elevation changes to set your expectations of what mileage you’re going to cover each day. Uphill and downhill.

Lots of cool info in facebook groups. https://www.facebook.com/groups/505456612991195

My favorite part, and one I’d like to become a family tradition is starting at the caboose at Meyersdale and riding all the way to Cumberland. You got some great views, a tunnel, coasting downhill, landmarks, the mason-dixon line, fun 17 mil cruise down hill, easy in and out, places to eat and sleep, and benches. My girls were 11 and 9 and were able to do the +30 miles without complaining. Even enjoyed it. Solid day’s ride with breaks.

Do not feel bad about getting on the Western Maryland Rail Trail at lock 56 and Hancock, Md. Make sure you check out the Indigo Tunnel that way too. The bypass was like a middle finger to the C&O for me, it was wonderful. It was redemption.

Make sure you check on alerts and closures. Some weren’t even posted on the site. I don’t do riding on the roads, especially country roads.

Plenty of camp grounds on the C&O. In my view, doing it all in 1 long trip is just a 3-way balance between “how much stuff can I take with me”, “how much can I buy along the way”, “how low can my standards of personal care and quality of life be”. Some people get a kick from that. Some people want to bust it all out in 3 days or less and survive on energy bars and sports drinks. I think that’s a slippery slope into performance enhancing drugs. I also didn’t want to have a rain plan. That’s stupid. There’s no metal for that.

Don’t be stupid. Know how to change a tire and a chain and have spares with you.

I really enjoyed tracking my speed, distance traveled, and ETA to my destination. It was fun seeing how much stuff I ended up buying along the journey. I started off with just me and a bike. Then I got saddle bags. The I got the phone mount. Then I got vertical grip bars. Then I got the mirror. So many other things you can get.

If you do decide to use something for directions, make sure it keeps your path on the trail. MANY times, it would give me biking directions that got me off the path and onto roads, probably for speed, but it would throw my expectations off because I would obviously just keep riding on the trail. So even though it said the ride would take 5 hours, sometimes it really would take 6 hours because there was an a hour shorter route had I followed a road.

Nutrition is a thing. I didn’t realize how much of a thing it was. I could tell a difference when I just went out and rode for 3 hours vs going out for 6 hours with energy blocks and hydration packs. Worlds apart. That said, I didn’t really like the aspect of having to manage eating and such. I just wanted to ride. Maybe you’re differen.t

If you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy journaling about your trip or even the thoughts you have. I loved being in my head and sorting through all my mental jewelry. And listening to music.

Maybe I’ll update this page with more as time goes by and conversations happen, but it’s pretty straight forward.

Click through for the rest of the journey:

I’ve heard about her. I didn’t think I’d have anything to worry about. I thought my expectations were low from my experience on the GAP. My dear, sweet GAP. How fair.

I arrived for our first date with such ignorant bliss. I didn’t know she’d change me. I didn’t know she’d get me so angry. I didn’t know she’d make me so scared. I didn’t know her at all. Sometimes, I think she wants it like that. She’s got scars from her past that I can’t heal and I’m not sure time will either.

She’s a monster feeding on determination and the unrelenting. Devouring the type As from DC and sucking the life from the yinzers out for recreation.

She’s a creature I learned to respect but I also grew such a sense of compassion for her. Her bitterness is valid! She’s betrayed! She’s seen the ambitious before; they created her! They couldn’t tame the Potomac, so they took their ball and went home…only to get their shovels.

Can you imagine the cheering for George Washington and his vision? He started this. He bought the wedding dress for her and promised her a full life of prosperity. Her groom never showed. These puddles that I run through are fragments of her tattered veil and train. Trains. the mistress that stole her suitor. Industrious men discarded her because they learned they could harness her essence.

Steam. She boiled over at the abandonment. These lock houses are blemishes on her epidermis. She wants to hide in the woods now. The locks are the sharpie drawings of college frat boys as she slept, trusting her creators for a future.  She can’t wash them off.

Powerful men want control. She learned to be envious of the Potomac. The Potomac’s whispers from the distance drives her mad. The Potomac was an unbridled horse that killed men without reserve. Men cowered and fled, but they wanted to ride high on the saddle and pull the reins to their whim. Nay, The Potomac said, as she bucked them off. How she wants to cause waves. She wants rocks. She wants to overflow into her surrounding terrain. She hasn’t been domesticated; she was born in a cage, and if it weren’t for the Potomac, she might not have ever known any different.

Decades went by with her in the dark. She nourished the oaks at her edge. When they fell, her soul was lifted ever so slightly. Each branch brought her to a height she hadn’t reached. Leaves fell and pond scum grew on her surface. She’s incognito. She’s the angler fish of the shallows. She wants you to be forgotten by your loved ones, just like she was forgotten by those who loved her.

When I met her, I was lost. I didn’t think she was there. Was I in the wrong place? Did I arrive too late? I felt stood up. I felt abandoned, just like the muddy path I was on that wasn’t much more than a foot wide. Am I supposed to be here? Does she want me here? It was clear to me that many others decided they did not want to be here. It was clear to me that even those who were supposed to be here wanted to let her be.

After an hour, I sensed her danger. She was here, but I didn’t know where. I pedaled faster. I pedaled harder. My legs cried and eyes dried. As it got darker, I saw her. I stared the spirit in the eyes.  I thought I could pass through, but she wants to be seen.  She’s dragged trees and branches in as accessories.  She heard the torments of the Potomac.  She sees the kayaks and knows she’s been betrayed by her makers.  She was supposed to be the solution. She will not rest until she is useful. She will not rest until she is given what she was built for: her purpose. The reason why she was born was to transport the ambitions of mankind between Pittsburgh to DC and back again.

She’s alive and reaches out from the Paw-Paw tunnel. The murder scene of her husband that never was.

The first was guided by her mind

Took life by the horns until she’d find

A man that could juggle it all

Then she started to fall.

The other, quiet and bright,

Grew strong and kept her sight

On the end of the line

Crusading for one she’d call “mine”

One again, traveled far and wide

“Not lost, just exploring”, she would confide

While the one from back home

Is the one to call her own

And yet another was carried

Delivered until she was married

To the first one who’d fight

For her for the rest of his life

But I’d wish in the end

Put the lord first, and write your last verse

He’d know whose he’s got to be

He has to be him, and I hope that’s anybody but me

“If you’re making music that everyone can agree on, you’re probably making pretty S—- music.”

• Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage

Teach them the way they should go, but go with them.

Show them how to persevere, without severing.

Show them patience, and help prevent them from becoming patients

Be in tents with them, don’t be too intense with them

Raise your children right, don’t raze them until there’s nothing left.

Use the words that lift the soul, not the words that put them down

Respect their body, so that nobody matters.

knowing “No means no” means to know, and knowledge is power.

Show them the edge, so they never have to fall off alone.

Be present.  That’s the best present.

work to play.  Show them it’s possible to play for work.

encourage compassion.  encourage passion.

Teach them to grow.  Teach them to put others above themselves

Dance. Sing.  Dream.  Dancing dreams.

Fail, succeed, and show them everything in between.

Serve.  Give.  Sacrifice.  Get uncomfortable.

Comfort them.

Someone is always better than them, but no one is better at being them.

Cliche, boys vs girls, anyone can fight or twirl, if they want.

Give them time.  Give them your time.  They’re going to take your time.

sit.  rest.  relax.  Reset.

Read;  the always present tense. not just 2 and 4, but to and for.

enable, instruct, build. Deconstruct, understand, rebuild.

Save them.  Save for them.

They’re never complete, as long as you’re raising them.