BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I love this trail as well.

Camp pizza. Enough said.

Just a bit past West Newton, the old mine outflow; coppery-iron water gushing down the bank, pipes and stone walls up top, and a blast of cool air that feels SPIFFY on a hot day.

It is a great resource. Last year I rode from pittsburgh to hancock, md.

There is some great stealth camping spot at the pa/md border.

does anyone know about the turd rock? we were told to look out for this odd geologic formation off the trail, near west newton, that looks like poop. it's supposedly the only one of it's kind in north america or something.

i should add that i looked for it, but couldn't find it

We did find a number of things that could have been bits of the poop rock of West Newton lore, but more likely these were poop of the dog variety.

Best lean-to ever. I have so much fun on these trips. It's like we laugh for two days and ride our bikes in between.

Trail hoagie.

Is that the poop rock he's eating?

-old ladies riding around with sweatshirts that say "trail monitor"

great camping trip. i've ridden past that lean-to so many times and never stopped to check it out. and to think two hikers were minutes from claiming the camp site, but they stopped to potty as we passed em! ha!

Bar ends with bar ends with grips??? LOL...

How about bar ends that are 90 degrees upright, because they just don't make a stem with a high enough angle for some people?

It was the Montour, not the Yough, but I saw a lady last year with a set of aerobars turned bolt-upright to the sky, using them as bar-ends for an upright position.

I'm afraid I did a bit of a double-take, as she gave me a deserved "what's your problem, bub?" look.

If I keep hurting my back, I have a set of big ape-hanger bars I might be installing on my road bike so I can still ride it LOL...

aerobars bars pointing to the heavens!! wow, that sounds amazing. i wish i couldve seen that. that mustve been like spotting the elusive western pa panther

that mustve been like spotting the elusive western pa panther

Yeah, except for no lingering odor of panther pee...

Back on topic: the Bollman Bridge down near Meyersdale (still being installed when photo was taken a couple years back)

Bugger...having trouble embedding Picasa image for some reason.

SO MUCH FUN!!!

where does a relative noob find out about these (and other) local trails/camping sites/etc?

echoing that last post: i intend to have a few overnight bike camping trips with a relative biking n00b this spring and summer. she'll probably be more concerned with traffic-free routes leaving the city, but for me the hard part is finding out how to choose a camping spot in an area i've never even seen before.

www.atatrail.org

As for free camping: The 3 legal places are dravo cemetary, cedar creek park, and roundbottom. I don't know what mile they are on the trail but all 3 are within 50 miles of pittsburgh.

They are building a free campsite on the montour tail this year too.

thanks! definitely something ill read all the way through

here's a shot from the inside of the cabin at cedar creek



here's the cabin:



so much fun!

> The 3 legal places are dravo cemetary, cedar

> creek park, and roundbottom. I don't know what

> mile they are on the trail

mile 122: Dravo Cemetary

mile 110: Cedar Creek

mile 99: Roundbottom

mile 92: Rivers Edge Family Campground

mile 72: Kentuck Campsite (Ohiopyle)

mile 61: Yough Dam Outflow Campground (Confluence)

mile 43: Husky Haven Campground (Rockwood)

mile 15: Trail Inn Campsite (Frostburg)

For reference, IIRC, McKeesport is mile 136.

From Oakland to Dravo Cemetary and back again is 45 miles (maybe less with a better route)

You can camp in a lot of places, if you are discreet about it.

Anyone know if there's a downside to this? Park rangers and big fines? Vagrancy charges? Little old ladies with "trail monitor" T-shirts wacking you with upright aero bars?

I like Dravo because it's not on a road. The other places seem like modified car camping to me.

Where is this lean to that was mentioned?

How much of the trail from Homestead to Mckeesport is completed? Is the bridge rom Duquesne to McKeesport open yet?

Mick

Correct me if I am wrong but I have looked into this before... Legally you can camp anywhere that the land is not developed or manicured, or other obvious signs of habitation as long as you are a certain distance from homes, and as long as there are no signs posted against trespassing on the land.

I do not know the exact rules, but you can research this and find different information online, and I am sure laws might vary from state to state.

There are also rules about camping in wilderness areas, blah blah blah...

In my personal experience I have found that you can camp in a surprising number of areas via bicycle that nobody will ever know about your presence. Keep the land as good or better than you found it when you leave, etc etc.

Usually having a vehicle while looking for a place to camp is what gives you away, along with a license plate to be able to find out exactly who you are. A bicycle is easy to drag into the woods with you, and you only need to be a short distance from the road before you disappear, even from people just walking by.

If you find a flat place to pitch a tent late at night and are out shortly after sunrise or earlier, chances are you will never be harassed, and even if someone does stumble upon you, the chances are good they will be more interested in what you are doing than interested out of anger.

I have been harassed more camping in LEGAL camping areas than I have otherwise. Park rangers seem to spend more time going through legal camping areas knocking on tents and making sure all fees have been paid than scouring the wilderness looking for some random cyclist who is passing through.

There are places within the city limits of Pittsburgh for example that you could camp out in and be gone before anyone knew you were there LOL... Not that I would recommend it, but I can't imagine getting harassed too badly finding a place to crash in the woods of Schenly Park before packing up and heading out in the morning if I had to...