Great Allegheny Passage bike ride along Casselman River
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 07/18/2026 |
Participants:
Ruth Willenborg (Sat and Sun)
Sabine Iben (Sat)
Terry Markoff (Sun)
While the larger group went off to paddle the Lower Yough again, two of us opted to bike the section of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) rail trail between Confluence, PA and Rockwood, PA, a round-trip of 36 miles.
For those of you not familiar with the GAP trail, it is a spectacular 150 mile rail trail running from Pittsburgh to Cumberland that connects to the C&O Canal trail for another 184 miles all the way to DC. The whole GAP is beautiful, but my favorite section is the ride from Confluence to Rockwood. This section runs along the Casselman River with 4 bridge crossings and one tunnel. As it’s slightly uphill on the way to Rockwood, the ride back is a breeze.
Sabine joined me for the Saturday ride. We lucked out with the weather as the storm arrived while we had shelter (and lunch) in Rockwood and we managed to ride back without getting wet. There’s a new food truck in Rockwood, which, surprisingly, is closed on Saturday. However, they opened up to get us ice cream and Sabine and I finished off a 5 gallon container of ice cream (OK, it was mostly empty when it was given to us:-).
Sunday, I did an encore ride, taking Pirate Terry on a shortened version of the Saturday ride, a 20 mile round trip which goes the Pinkerton tunnel and the two gorgeous bridge crossings on either side which look out on the best Casselman whitewater section (Markleton to Fort Hill).
For anyone looking for a day off of paddling, or for non-paddling friends, the GAP provides a wonderful biking experience. Both heading east along the Casselman as I did with Sabine and Terry or the ride west which follows the Youghiogheny and provides nice view points for both Middle and Lower Yough.
