Cycling the Montour and Panhandle Trails
/We recently completed a cycling trek from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC riding the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath, then we headed to Rhode Island to spend some time with Lin and family. A sudden change in plans resulted in our being back in Pennsylvania, so we decided to continue cycling west from Pittsburgh.
We’ve done bits and pieces of the GART, the Great American Rail-Trail, which is a proposed biking path from Washington, D.C. to Washington State. When completed, it will be one contiguous route stretching 3,770 miles across the USA. The ultimate goal is that it will be off-road and comprised primarily of existing trails. According to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), there are about 2,026 miles of existing trails today and 1,744 of identified gaps that need to be developed.
Our goal is to ride the trails of the GART that currently exist. Using maps.me and other guides, David has been able to identify the trails and trail segments that will allow us to travel west. Where a trail exists, we ride it. Where there’s a gap, we drive to the next trailhead and continue on.
The Montour Trail
The connector trail between the GAP and the Montour is not yet completed. We picked up the Montour Trail at its southeastern terminus in Clairton Park, Clairton, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. Honored as the Pennsylvania Trail of the Year in 2017, the Montour is the ‘nations’s longest suburban rail-trail’ and the main line stretches about 47 miles. In 2019 and 2020, readers of Pittsburgh Magazine named the Montour Trail Best in the Burgh in the hiking/biking category. It’s an awesome trail, extremely well maintained by volunteer members of the Montour Trail Council. We cycled about 31 miles of it until it intersected with the Panhandle Trail.
According the Montour Trail website, “The Montour Trail began life as the coal-carrying Montour Railroad in 1877, feeding the area’s steel mills. At its peak, the railroad carried 7 million tons of coal per year. Around the turn of the 20th century, it added passenger service (1902 to 1927). American heavy industry sagged after World War II, and the Montour Railroad declined to its final end in 1984 when the steel rails and any railroad ties worth salvaging were removed.”
Day 1 - Triphammer Road East (MM37) to Clairton Park (MM46) - 18 miles RT
Our first day on the trail should have been an easy 18 miles round trip. I was, however, nervous as a cat, tentative with my speed and turns. For some reason, it was hard to get back into cycling mode and I was off to a slow start. Ever-patient David let me dawdle along until I got back into my groove.
A steep hill through narrow entry gates over a trestle was the first obstacle and I felt verklempt, but negotiated it without a problem. We hadn’t ridden another quarter mile when I noticed my kickstand was rubbing. David had every conceivable tool in his pannier except the correct size wrench to tighten the kickstand. We rode back over the trestle bridge and up the steep hill to take care of the problem, then started out again. It didn’t take long to get my confidence back in tact and we were tooling along comfortably on a pleasant wooded trail.
Most of the trail this day was fine along wooded paths and along picturesque creeks. We saw several deer and a wild turkey hen and her chicks blocked the path for a few minutes while she herded them across.
A Montour RR caboose was on display and provided a rest stop as well as some of the history of the railroad and the trail.
There were also several segments on roads which were not as pleasant. One segment in particular required crossing a busy highway and riding alongside heavy traffic for a few blocks. Neither of us enjoy this type of riding and we were glad when we turned off onto a quiet country road once again. We reached Clairton Park in a more urban, industrial type area then turned around and did it all over again.
Day 2 - Galati Road (MM 21) to Triphammer East (MM 37) - 35 miles RT
We were a bit more ambitious today and the trail was much better. We parked Blanche at the crowded Tandem Connection Bike Shop trailhead and rode back to Triphammer East. Though there were a couple of road segments and crossings, it was mostly crushed limestone trail and the riding was awesome. The weather was cool and dry and perfect for riding.
On our return trip at the trailhead, just outside the bike shop, several members of the Montour Trail Council had set up a table with information about the trail and membership as well as Montour shirts and souvenirs for sale. The trail hosts were enthusiastic and ardent in their support of the trail. So much so that we each bought a shirt and bought a year’s membership. We were enjoying the trail so much, we figured it was the least we could do to support the trail efforts.
After a rest and a look-see in the bike shop, we headed to the Galati Road trailhead to finish up our ride on the Montour. We crossed over trestles and small bridges and passed through the long, well-lit National Tunnel. Named for the nearby National Coal Company mines that the railroad once served, the tunnel is more than 600 feet and it’s curved, so you can’t see the other end when you enter. The lights and reflectors made the passage easy enough.
Back at the Tandem Bike Shop, we loaded the bikes and headed back to our campground, ready to complete the rest of the Panhandle Trail the next day.
Day 3 - Burgettstown to Galati Road (MM 21) - 29 miles RT
We parked at the Burgettstown Trailhead and rode a segment of the Panhandle Trail to the one mile long Montour Connector Trail that intersects the main Montour Trail. This portion of the Panhandle is paved. The connector trail was limestone and a bit rough in spots, but easily negotiated. A big fat groundhog greeted us as we entered the connector, but darted out of view by the time I reached for my camera.
The highlight of the trail today was the McDonald Viaduct, the longest bridge on the Montour Trail, spanning nearly 1,000 feet. The bridge crosses over local roads, and a stream, and offers great views of the verdant landscape below. It also crosses over another rail-trail, the Panhandle, which we didn’t realize as we were crossing it. Forgot to do our homework on that one. Darn!
The Panhandle Trail
Day 4 - Burgettstown, PA to Weirton, WV on the Panhandle Trail - 23 miles RT
The route of the Panhandle Trail was created by the merger of several railroads in the 1860s: the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (PCC & StL), familiarly known as the Panhandle taking its name from the small sliver of the northern West Virginia panhandle that it crossed. We’d already ridden 8 miles of the Panhandle to access the Montour Trail Connector, we only had ~11 miles left to ride to complete the Panhandle.
The trail is quite scenic. It does follow a railroad grade through the hilly terrain of the Appalachian Plateau, but ‘there was only so much the railroad builders could do to flatten the route’. It was a steady climb to Bulger, the high point of the trail. Because it was paved and smooth, it wasn’t a bad ride though we certainly knew we were climbing all the way.
The Pennsylvania portion of the trail was wide, paved and easy riding.
Once we crossed the marked state line into West Virginia, there was an immediate change to a rutted, grassy cart road for the remaining 3.75 miles of the trail to its terminus in Weirton, WV.
With little fanfare at Weirton, we reversed direction and headed back to Burgettstown.
A Quick Tour of Steubenville, OH
The next segment of our ride would be on the Conotton Creek Trail in Ohio and as such, we decided on a hotel night in Steubenville, Ohio. Since we still had a bit of energy left at the end of our ride, we figured a quick tour of Ohio’s first city might be in order.
We started at historic Fort Steuben. According to the NPS website, “ The First American Regiment built the fort with the purpose of protecting surveyors who were tasked with mapping the United States’ Northwestern territory [which ultimately became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin] to prepare it for settlement. Fort Steuben was abandoned in 1787 and later eradicated by a fire in 1790. The town of Steubenville was established after the abandonment of the fort.” The present-day fort is a reconstruction of the original fort and we decided to give it a pass.
We did, however, find out that Steubenville was the hometown of Dino Crocetti, better known as singer/actor, Dean Martin. A corner of the visitor center was dedicated to Dino and the infamous Rat Pack.
The city also has several murals commemorating its history and with a map provided by the visitor center, we visited a few… including one on the side of a Kroger supermarket dedicated to Steubenville’s own Dean Martin.Take a look.
A full day and we were tired. We grabbed a roaster and some potato salad at the local Walmart and headed to the hotel for dinner and hot showers. Tomorrow we begin exploring Ohio’s rail-trails. Join us!