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| - Great news Pittsburgh cyclists! The last mile or so of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail has been completed! You no longer have to try and bypass the area around Sandcastle. For the first time, a complete trail ride from Pittsburgh to Cumberland is now possible. Actually, if you're really ambitious you can connect in Cumberland to the C&O Canal Path, you could ride uninterrupted to the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Hmm, do I sense a challenge here? Perhaps a vacation idea for me and my husband Rick?
Well my first ride on the new segment was considerably less grandiose. I rode from my house in Squirrel Hill via Schenley Park, the Panther Hollow Trail, the Eliza Furnace Trail, the Hot Metal Bridge, and the South Side Trail (which is part of the GAP Trail) to Homestead--a distance of about 9 miles. I would have liked to have gone down to McKeesport, but it was just a little hot out-not too bad though- and I didn't want to overdo it. I brought extra water and I rode at a reduced pace.
As I rode through the new segment I thought, "It doesn't get any better than this". I thought of all the years of hard work, all of the trail groups coming together, and all of the money wisely invested in this tremendous public asset. It was well worth the wait.
Oh, my bike and I road the bus home from Homestead. It was after all a very warm day.
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