July 26, 2023
Tea Time Returns, the Sequel: Confluence PA to Cumberland MD
After producing our daughter in 1990, my wife and frequent biking partner Carole left corporate life and eventually became a teacher. She retired from that a few years ago and has an expanding circle of retired friends inviting her to do stuff. One such invitation was from a friend who had moved out to the Uniontown PA area and asked if Carole wanted to join her at the "Mad Hatter's Tea Party" at the Uniontown Country Club.
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I checked my work calendar and told her I could take the day off, and I'd do some Great Allegheny Passage biking while she tea-partied with her friend. Rather than do the 200 mile one way trip twice in one day, I burned some more Bonvoy miles and booked the Cumberland MD Fairfield Inn and Suites at the Eastern terminus of the GAP.
The plan was Carole would drop me off in Confluence on the way to Uniontown and I'd bike east on the GAP to the hotel. She'd drive back, we'd grab dinner and in the morning head home. As part of previous Camp John's I'd done that 60 mile segment several times - I actually prefer doing it east to west, trading the fast downhill from Deal going W-E for the long gradual slope from Deal down to Confluence going E-W.
I outfitted the Jamis Escapade with my bikepacking saddle bag to carry some clothes to change into since I would probably get to the hotel before my wife got there in the car and loaded up the Subaru Outback.
The downside was doing the trip this way meant I wouldn't get on the bike until 1130am or so and would be riding during the hottest part of the day. Weather-wise the timing look pretty good - a heat wave was moving in the following day but for the day of the ride Meyersdale was predicted to have a high of "only" 86 when I should reach the visitor center there as a rest stop and no rain in the forecast. From there, after a final nine mile slog up to Deal, it was all downhill to Cumberland.
We reached Confluence at about 1130 am and I was on the GAP heading east by 1145. The trail was in pretty good shape, looked like some recent mud scraping and blowdown removal had been done. At the Casselman River, two bridges and a tunnel short circuit a long loop in the river, though there is a river path you can bike as well.
The Pinkerton bridges and the tunnel were also dry and nicely renovated and the view of the Casselman River from the Low Bridge just as good as ever.
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The Rockwood visitor center/rest stop came along 18 miles in (and 500 or so feet up) from Confluence. I did fluids input/output, chatted with a few folks, enjoyed the trail art and landscaping and pretty quickly got back on the bike.
From Rockwood it is 12 miles horizontally and about 300 feet vertically to the excellent visitor center at Meyersdale. In the increasing heat, I had emptied a water bottle over that stretch and decided I needed a cooling lunch.
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As I gained elevation a breeze was kicking up and from Meyersdale you could see the big wind turbines spinning up on the ridge about 10 miles away.
The stretch from Meyersdale to the high point at Deal crisscrosses Flaugherty Creek and is one of the least attractive stretches on the GAP. Saw a big black snake and I inadvertently saved a rabbit by causing it to run off the trail just as a big bald eagle was swooping down on it. At the Deal trail head I helped a cyclist with a small dog in a milk crate on the back of his bike use the trail air pump doo-dad, which is always tricky, and put my headlight on my bars for going through the tunnels. There were some sand/fine gravel filled low spots in this section, which made me glad I had left the 40mm semi-knobby tires on the Jamis, and not much shade.
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I didn't stop at all for the next 25 miles, so didn't take any pictures of the tunnels or the Continental Divide map or the Mason Dixon line, but everyone has probably seen those dozens of times. I didn't even stop at mile zero and the traditional photo at the Towpath mule statue. I had a nice breeze going high speed down the winding trail but I could feel the temperature rising as I got lower.
I just kept going until after 62 miles of pedaling I reached the Fairfield Inn and Suites that is right at the junction of the GAP and the C&O Canal Towpath, where my wife was waiting for me with an enormous chunk of apple pie from Curt's Family Restaurant in Markleysburg PA.
A so-so dinner at the Queen City Creamery, Cafe and Deli (warning: the Grill closes at 3pm, only fried stuff or cold stuff after that) that night, a great breakfast at the Fairfield Inn (who provides baggies for "Make Your Own Trail mix along with every other breakfast item you could think of and a stop at Basecamp Coffee for a latte for Carole and coffee beans for me, we loaded up and make the 2 hour drive home.
Another 20% or so of the GAP was on the books.
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 94 miles (151 km)
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