3/14/2020
After riding in West Virginia, we had to drive back out on the difficult road that we came in on. It was a three and a half hour drive. After the first hour, things started speeding up. Before we knew it, we were at the Pennsylvania state line with a surprise!
It had started to snow!!! I heard that we could get snow flurries earlier in the morning, but we were there a few hours before it was supposed to begin. We were not going to let a little bit of snow delay our trip. The ride was set for the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP Trail). It goes from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD where it joins the C&O Canal Towpath all the way to Washington D.C. We were only set to ride a very small portion of this large trail system.
We were headed to the Big Savage Tunnel. Its too early in the season we learned, so we would only be able to look at it.
We were not going to let a closed tunnel or a little bit of snow slow us down. But the GAP trail would, as the path was soft and very difficult to ride on for the first quarter mile. We both questioned if it was a good idea going out into a growing snowstorm on a path that was difficult to ride with insufficient gear. But since its two guys, you know that we chose stupid and kept going.
The snow would continue building during our ride out.
Eventually, we arrived at the tunnel you see in the photo. Its the Eastern Continental Divide.
Looking at the different elevations of the ride, we’re at the top, but didn’t see that much total elevation for the ride.
We eventually got to the prize of the Big Savage Mountain Tunnel.
They were not kidding, it was closed. We couldn’t figure out why they would want to close the tunnel.
Yep, its time to climb.
The view from the top.
You didn’t seriously think I was going to let Corvin have all the glory climbing to the top?
The snow is starting to accumulate. We only have to go 2 miles back!
Of course we made it back or I wouldn’t be blogging about our adventure. This trail was unique due to the snow and the huge closed tunnel. I”m not sure the quality of the whole path, but about 1/4 of what we went over was not very unicycle friendly. Maybe a mountain bike. But definitely not after a rain. We had fun but were very happy to get back in the car and start warming up.
Corvin’s Journal Entry
Our Strava Entry.
Our map of completed states.
Stats:
Total Trip Miles: 164.46
Total Moving Time: 31h 37m
Total Elevation Gained: 4441 feet
Total Hogan UPD: 15
Total Corvin UPD: 9
Hogan Haake