7-Day GAP & C&O Canal Trail Historical Bike Tour

Please meet your leaders and shuttle to nearby Homestead. The group will review the trip plan after arriving in Homestead and have a bike fitting, followed by a ride into Pittsburgh. We’ll follow the GAP trail to Point State Park, which sits at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers. Known as “The City of Bridges,” Pittsburgh is the city with the most bridges in the world -- even more than Venice! So enjoy the many steel bridges you’ll see as you begin the ride. We’ll turn around at this start of the GAP trail and ride back out to Homestead for the first night’s lodging and group dinner.
Accommodation: Courtyard by Marriott Pittsburgh West Homestead/Waterfront, Pittsburgh
Meals: Dinner

Biking: 17.1 miles (27.5 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 405 feet (123 meters) ascent, 403 feet (123 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier

The riding of the GAP trail begins in earnest today, heading out of the city, through the suburbs and into the country. Stop for lunch in West Newton, with its quaint storefronts. You’ll end your ride in Connellsville, once lucrative in coal mining and coke production; more than 40,000 beehive shaped coke ovens used to light up the evening sky. Dinner will be at 6:30 PM.
Accommodation: Comfort Inn & Suites, Connellsville
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Biking: 52.1 miles (83.8 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 1,207 feet (368 meters) ascent, 1,067 feet (325 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier to Intermediate

In the first 26 miles from Connellsville to Confluence, you will ride along the Youghiogheny River. The river has cut its way through the mountain ridge, forming the deepest gorge in Pennsylvania. Enjoy the beautiful Yough River Gorge Overlook before reaching Ohiopyle. Famous for its white water rafting, Ohiopyle, also known as “Falls City,” is where George Washington was famously forced to turn back because waterfalls made the river unnavigable. Enjoy the tunnels and bridges through Pinkerton Neck. At Garrett, you’ll pass through farmlands and wind farms.

Just before ending today’s ride in Meyersdale, the highest town on our journey, you’ll ride on the Salisbury Viaduct, a 100-foot high steel trestle that runs for more than 1,900 feet through the valley.

We’ll have dinner tonight in Meyersdale.
Accommodation: Yoder's Guesthouse, Meyersdale
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Biking: 59.5 miles (95.7 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 2,787 feet (849 meters) ascent, 1,655 feet (504 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier to Intermediate

Though today is our last day of riding along the GAP trail, you won’t be disappointed -- there’s a line-up of one awesome sight right after the next! Shortly into your ride, you’ll come across the 910-foot-long Keystone Viaduct. After a few more miles of pedaling, you’ll come to the Eastern Continental Divide. At 2,392 feet, the divide marks the boundary between the watershed of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Less than two miles later, you’ll ride through Big Savage Tunnel, the longest tunnel on the trip. The last twenty miles descend gently alongside the Maryland Scenic Railroad line. You’ll ride through Mason Dixon Park, honoring the two gentlemen who surveyed the land and created the famous Mason-Dixon Line. Enjoy lunch in Frostburg, a popular college town, before riding past Helmstetter’s Curve and Bone Cave.

You’ll end the day in the attractive and vibrant city of Cumberland, where the GAP and C&O trails combine. Tonight’s dinner will be on your own in Cumberland.
Accommodation: Fairfield Inn & Suites, Cumberland
Meals: Breakfast

Biking: 61.4 miles (98.9 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 1,025 feet (312 meters) ascent, 2,496 feet (761 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier 

Today you’ll begin your journey along the C&O Canal Towpath. You’ll see many aqueducts and locks, each with their own story to tell. You’ll come across the 0.6-mile-long Paw Paw Tunnel, one of the world’s longest canal tunnels. The canal company opted to tunnel through 3,118 feet of the mountain rather than construct five miles of canal along the winding river.

You’ll end the day in Williamsport.
Accommodation: The Country Inn of Berkeley Springs, Berkeley Springs
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Biking: 57.3 miles (92.2 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 779 feet (237 meters) ascent, 953 feet (290 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier to Intermediate

You’ll see more aqueducts and locks today. Consider stopping at the Fort Frederick State Park to learn about the fort and its role in the French and Indian War of 1754-1763 as well as the Civil War. A little while later, cross the footbridge to Harpers Ferry. Deemed a National Historic Park, Harpers Ferry is the site of Brown’s Raid of the Federal Armory, which was the trigger that sparked the Civil War. Settling into Harpers Ferry, you’ll have opportunities to hike trails and battlefields. 
Accommodation: Light Horse Inn, Harpers Ferry
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Biking: 47.4 miles (76.3 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 701 feet (214 meters) ascent, 813 feet (248 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier to Intermediate

Pedal along the C&O Canal Towpath. Visit Great Falls, one of the most spectacular natural features in the Washington DC area, with its cascading rapids and dramatic waterfalls. At Widewater, see the nearly 500-foot wide wall built to dam up water for navigation and to carry the towpath. Enjoy the final miles into the Washington DC area where we will say our goodbyes.
Accommodation: Not applicable
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Biking: 58.1 miles (93.5 kilometers)
Elevation Gain/Loss: 445 feet (136 meters) ascent, 643 feet (196 meters) descent
Terrain: Easier to Intermediate