The GAP & C&O Trail Day 2

Our morning offered clouds and threats of rain but the cycling gods smiled on us and after our 12 mile break at Round Bottom Slush Run we were seeing blue in the skies.  There were lots of colorful comments about the name of our rest stop for sure.  

Sometime in the past day we moved off of paralleling the Monongahela River to one of its tributaries called the Youghiogheny River.  Even though we’re usually within 50 to 100’ of its bank it’s almost impossible to see because of the thick forest.  We stopped for a photo on this abandoned bridge to no where for our first good look at the “Yough”.  It was beautiful and would only become more so.  

Close to Noon we dipped down the valley into Connelsville where we were tipped by a local we could find a nice place for lunch. 

We had a great lunch at the Kick Stand Cafe less than 50’ off the trail in Connelsville. It was also right next to a bike shop.  This town really knows how to cater to cyclist it seems. 

As we approach OhioPyle about about 40 miles into our day (I really need to research that name!) we had more great views of the wild Yough from an old train trestle. 

Sue and I finally had a chance to get to the waters edge of the Yough near the end of our day because someone had put some stairs down the steep embankment to the river.   It was very peaceful but we couldn’t enjoy it for long because time was running out to have dinner in Confluence at the only place to eat in town!  BTW Youghiogheny ( pronounced yoka-geini is Lenape for “stream flowing in a contrary direction”.  The Yough (pronounced yok) runs south to north from Maryland to Pennsylvania.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youghiogheny_River

In the process of trying to find a bike mechanic for Donnas’s rear tire (more later) when we arrived in Confluence around 4, this gentlemanly man about town, Larry, offered us help. Not only did he tell us the bike store was closed for the season because the guy was on vacation, he went so far as to lead us through town (hazard lights a flashing) the safest way to our B&B, helped take us back to town before the restaurant closed and filled us in on tons of history of the town and its people in a very entertaining way. Truly a treasure of a man. 

We got to Mitch’s in time for a nice meal of salads, soups, grilled cheese, strombolis, pizza and Yuengling beer (we had to buy at the bar down the street). Larry told us that Mitch’s isn’t named for the owner as you might expect but rather for a local man who was driving his wife to a medical appointment when a tree fell on their car, killing Mitch and putting his wife in the hospital.  Definitely a well connected small town of 776 people, also according to Mr. Larry!

So, Donna’s rear tire had an incident with a small branch on the trail.  The branch was easily cleared but now her wheel is making a “squishing” sound with every rotation, but only when it’s loaded with a rider. After checking all of the more obvious potential issues without success she checked with her son Michael who works in the bike industry and is all things bike.  He hypothesized a couple of the spokes might be rubbing and suggested we put some plastic between the squeaky spokes.  Not knowing which spokes we’re squeaking we put a little electrical tape between them all-sadly without success. The mystery continues to tomorrow!


After dinner we all chatted in the great room of the 175 year old Hanna House and got to know one another a little better. Tomorrow we finish the GAP Trail in Cumberland, MD. The C&O to DC will be next.