GART Day 9 - Pittsburgh!

Well, we finished the Great Allegheny Passage!!! Just as when we finished the C&O Trail, we didn’t have much time to celebrate because we had to jet off to the next thing. After a very busy day, during a celebratory dinner with some beverages, we let it all soak in and we reflected on what we have accomplished. But let’s back up to the morning to see how the GAP ended for us…

We had to contend with Pittsburgh traffic to get to the day’s start in McKeesport. There were at least two bridges at the start, a modern blue suspension bridge for vehicles that was next to an old steel trellis bridge for trains. Pittsburgh is known as the City of Bridges, and man, they are everywhere! We were by them, on them, under them, and over them all day long. We made our way north from McKeesport toward downtown Pittsburgh, and let me tell you, it was a day of transitions. We transitioned into a major metropolitan area. The trail varied greatly. One moment we’d be on a surface street, the next we’d be back on hard pack crushed rock. One moment we’d be between industrial buildings or along a rail yard, the next we’d be on a relatively quiet path along the Monongahela River (which we’ve taken to calling the Hella River, even though it’s pronounced Muh-non-guh-hee-luh).

A note on what’s happening with the rivers in the Pittsburgh area relative to our journey: you’ll recall that we were traveling along the Casselman River a couple of days back. The Casselman led into the Youghiogheny River at the appropriately named town of Confluence. The Yough flows northwestward before merging with the Monongahela River, which flows northward to Pittsburgh. Today we rode along the Monongahela to the point that it meets the Allegheny River that comes into Pittsburgh from the east-northeast. At this point the Monongahela and the Allegheny become the Ohio River, which is kind of a big deal. From Pittsburgh, the Ohio River flows for almost a thousand miles before emptying into the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois.

Back to the transitions of the day. From sidewalks to railroad crossings to wood planked bridges, we bounced along all kinds of surfaces. At one point, we waited while a construction crew put down asphalt and compacted it to form a ramp so that I could get back up onto a sidewalk in a construction zone. We wanted that construction crew back at the two-step bridge on the C&O Trail. They would have put a permanent end to that obstacle in no time!

The Port Perry Bridge over the mighty Monongahela River

We thought of our friend Kenny the Hot Quad when we passed Kennywood, a local amusement park. We’d go from grey, rusty urban scenes onto short sections through woods where the white snakeroot, mugwort and pale jewelweed made us feel like we were back in the hills of the preceding days.

Navigational challenges are our specialty.

The GAP was well marked up to mile marker 147, the last marker we saw. Then navigation became more tricky. At this point we were in the heart of Pittsburgh, among the skyscrapers and stadiums and criss-crossing streets. There were some vague signs pointing out the GAP, but we found ourselves on streets and sidewalks wondering where the hell we were. I don’t know how many bridges we crossed, but it was a lot. Eventually, we kind of stumbled into Point State Park looking for my mom and dad. Unbeknownst to us, we actually rode past the 0 mile marker (or from our perspective, the 150 mile marker) while looking for my folks. They were chatting with Mick Stinelli of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when we found them. We all ate lunch while Mick interviewed me.

After the interview, we backtracked a short distance to the rather discrete end/start of the GAP, took some pictures and briefly celebrated finishing the GAP before loading up into the vehicles to shuttle over to the Montour Trail where people were waiting for us.

Right off the bat I’d now like to thank Rebecca McTaggart for everything she did today. She is with United Spinal, and she orchestrated this afternoon’s meet ups and this evening’s celebratory dinner. Said otherwise, she was the lightning rod that brought people together this afternoon. Rebecca was at the trailhead when we rolled up, along with Karen Mansfield (a reporter from the Washington Observer-Reporter) and Phillip Torrez (Vice-President of the Montour Trail Council). While we were preparing to hit the trail, Jared Quinteros arrived to join the party. He sustained a spinal injury and lost use of his legs in a tragic accident in which he also lost his beloved wife. A tree branch crashed down onto them while they were hiking in June 2021. We were all touched by his story and were happy to have him along with us. I thanked him for making it so that I wasn’t the only one in a wheelchair out there on the Montour.

Dr. B, Jimmy and I have a great time together when we are out on the trail for hours on end, day after day as we cover these long distances. But our tribe is much bigger than that. It’s when others join us on the trail and for post-ride gatherings that we feel most fulfilled, when we feel like we are accomplishing our mission to bring people together, to get outside in the name of community and friendships. From all the people who participate in Sea to Sound to the people who meet up with us at various points on the long Ian’s Rides, we feel unity and inspiration.

We covered about 12 miles on the very nice, smooth and accessible Montour Trail. After that, many of us who met at the Montour trailhead reconvened at the Industrial Public House to relax with some beverages and good food. Jared joined with his sons Oliver and Owen. Lester DeLioncourt of Laurel Medical Solutions (and a long time wheelchair user) joined us. Again, Rebecca did a great job of getting a nice group together. We shared stories, had some good laughs and finally really celebrated completing the GAP.

Jared joined the Vans shoe party not with checkered Vans but with sweet custom Vans with badass wheelchair emblems blazed across them.

At the end of the evening we exchanged a bunch of gifts and swag and got some nice pictures. We went our separate ways, but felt great satisfaction in our coming together as we did.

We had talked about taking a rest day tomorrow. We are all tired after 9 days straight on the trail. However, the remnants of Hurricane Ian will be bringing moisture to our region on Saturday, so we are going to hit the trail tomorrow and get into West Virginia before finally taking a break on Saturday.

Proud partner of