Pittsburgh, PA to West Newton, PA
MM 145 to MM 113, about 5 miles from hotel to Hot Metal Bridge, about 37 miles
1:30pm to 7:30pm, about 6 hours
Day one of bike ride. Was a rough start but once we got on the trail I had high hopes.
During the day we had a pretty decent breakfast at the Hampton Inn on Smallsman St and then walked along the Three Rivers trail to the car rental thinking Pittsburgh is not a bad town. We rented a car to scope out our path to the GAP and had hopes to then maybe eat at Primanti Brothers or see another Pittsburgh site. We failed. The directions my gps was giving me was not very direct at all. The most direct was to take the Three Rivers Heritage Trail to the Hot Metal Bridge and then connect into Homestead. This is very direct only the last mile or so is unconnected with just railroad tracks and rocks. I had read about this and realized we may have to do some not so kosher things. We got off road after a fairly pleasant ride (after a small detour through downtown Pittsburgh) and had to walk our bikes on rocks to Sandcastle amusement park. A nice stranger said that is the path many people go but he just feared that the Sandcastle parking lot may be closed. We really had no other choice and went ahead. And of course the fear was realized and the parking lot was chained up. The two options were to go up a big hill into traffic which was highway speeds (scoped out before) with no bike lane, or keep going along the tracks. So we did the latter and finally made it to the other side. First major obstacle of the trip.
Thinking what do we do next at Sandcastle.
We still didn't see the trail right away and rode through the parking lot of the mall/stores in Homestead but tried to stay near the river. Eventually we found it and the first portion of the GAP had parts that go on road but with dedicated bike lanes. We had on and off pure path and going into traffic with bike lanes, some of it confusing at times but overall signs were helpful. About 10-15 miles to our goal it was getting dark and we realized this was going to be an issue for the rest of the trip. We had bike lights of course, but the batteries only last so long. I had an extra head lamp and also we had a maglite which we never had to use until the last day and that was to fix the bike. The first (or last) portion of the GAP has the most "traffic" surrounding it which we were actually appreciative of.
I regret not taking more pictures on some of the foot/bike bridges in the beginning because they did have nice views of Pittsburgh.
I felt bad for being so late to our first B&B but it seems like it is not uncommon for late arrivals. The Bright Mornings B&B was literally on the trail and we were thankful for that. I only wish more of them were! Surprisingly for a small town of West Newton there was a Fox's Pizza Den open until 10pm on a Sunday. We had decent pizza, good garlic parm wings, and nachos (irrational craving). Pizza leftovers were handy several days later. Our accommodation were on the 2nd floor which was a little painful on the knees, but it was a nice suite with private bathroom, reading room and bedroom. I never stayed at a B&B before but it was a good first impression.
If I were to do this entire trip again I would either wait until they connect Pittsburgh to Homestead, get a bike shuttle from hotel to Homestead (need to do in advance, we tried the day of and it was unavailable), or otherwise somehow get a car/taxi ride to Homestead. The part that is unconnected is such a big pain. We even considered using the rental car, taking apart our bikes, dropping it off at Homestead and then take a taxi there.
GAP:
http://www.atatrail.org/tmi/map5.cfm
Three Rivers Heritage Trail:
http://map.friendsoftheriverfront.org/
Hampton Inn:
http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/pennsylvania/hampton-inn-and-suites-pittsburgh-downtown-PITDNHX/index.html
Sandcastle:
http://www.sandcastlewaterpark.com/
Bright Mornings B&B:
http://www.brightmorning.net/
West Newton:
http://www.dwni.org/
Fox's Pizza Den:
http://www.foxspizza.com/
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