The Great Allegheny Passage is a famous rail-trail covering terrain from Cumberland, Maryland to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A connecting section goes all the way to Washington, DC for a total of 334.5 accessible biking miles along rivers, through forests and meadows–all without auto traffic.
From the marvelous Ohiopyle State Park in southwestern Pennsylvania, we have hopped onto the trail in years past, riding lots ‘o miles in both directions. Through luscious forests, a rider (or hiker) is gifted so many of Mother Nature’s jewels such as waterfalls, wildflowers, and bird sightings, not to mention stunning views of the rivers, cliffs, and meadows along which much of the trail has been converted from a previous railroad track.
Naturally, we were excited to be there for three nights on the tail end of this 3-week adventure, eager to ride the trail at least twice, knowing the high likelihood of stopping in the cute little town of Ohiopyle for an ice cream treat before heading back to camp. Alas, none of that was meant to be on this trip…
The rain began in Oregon, Ohio while were still camped at Maumee State Park near Magee Marsh. John drove through a deluge of rain and wind most of yesterday to Ohiopyle, where we set up camp in our fave site–35 in the Cherry loop–all while in a downpour. Fortunately, the site is quite sheltered by trees so that we could open up the awning which allows for a covered, non-rainy access in and out of Vanda. We had lunch, then cozied up for a day of rain. We hoped the rain would diminish enough so that we could ride today, even if it was a short excursion. We’ve done rainy camping previously — the van is so homey that we stay comfy and warm creating a pleasant space to be hunkered down inside, with everything we want at our fingertips. Often we will scamper out in between squalls for a walkabout, then retreat back to Vanda’s warmth, feeling so grateful for the comfort.
John decided to go out for a walk, I happily chose to stay inside the van, as it was pouring rain! He stopped in the bathroom/shower house only to find a sign indicating that there was “NO HOT WATER. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause”!!! No hot water is not always a catastrophe, as we do have a shower on the back of our van, but in 55-degree windy, rainy conditions, an outdoors shower was not a compelling option. Nor was a cold shower in the shower house. Maybe if conditions had been hot and summery, as Memorial Day weekend often is, a cold shower would have sufficed, but not this weekend. The sign said that the shower house in the farthest loop from us had hot water, which would have required a 1-mile walk — in the pouring rain and wind, remember?! WahWahWah.
We looked at the forecast for the remainder of the weekend which showed continued 100% chance of rain and cool temps. We looked at Stonelick State Park in southwest Ohio, which is where we had a site reserved for the last two nights of this trip, only to find the weather forecast for … yep, lots of rain. So. We decided to pack it all up and go home! Early! This is a first for us, taking a Rain Check!
Late in the afternoon, we stopped at a Love’s to fill up and so I could make us dinner. We also purchased a pint of chocolate Haagen-Dazs as a dessert treat, then drove another 90 minutes to the other side of Columbus for a splurge stay in a Hampton Inn, an unexpected comfort. Up at 0500, we arrived home late this morning.
I came home to this:
Just for the fun of it, here are two photos from our rail-trail ride last year.
Sigh. We will try again next year!
