Riding the GAP Trail

Rob and Nikki Fleming came with friends from Tarpon Springs, Florida.  Tom and Carolyn Cassell made the trip from Tucson.  And Jeremy Cline travelled from Connecticut.  Each year, bicyclists come to Pittsburgh from across the country and beyond to ride the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). 

Last year, that number reached 1.4 million, according to an analysis by Dr. Andrew Herr of St. Vincent College. And the GAP’s 2019 economic impact was $121 million for the five counties it passes through: 

Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Somerset, and Allegany, MD.   It’s estimated that $75 million of the $121 million is direct spending by tourists, who come from all 50 states and 35 countries. 

The GAP trail begins in Pittsburgh’s Point State Park and goes east through Pittsburgh’s South Side, Homestead, McKeesport, West Newton, Connellsville, Ohiopyle, Confluence, Rockwood, Meyersdale, Frostburg, MD, and  Cumberland, MD.  In Cumberland, it connects with the C&O Canal Towpath through Hancock, MD, Williamsport, MD, Shepherdstown, WV, Harpers Ferry/ Bolivar, WV, Brunswick, MD and Washington, D.C.

Tom and Carolyn Cassell of Tucson, AZ, devoted seven days for their more than 300-mile ride from Pittsburgh to Cumberland and return ride back to Pittsburgh. Tom, a retired civil engineer, and Carolyn, a nurse, flew into Pittsburgh where they rented bikes for the trip. The Cassells biked from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. last year, and they decided to return to Pittsburgh to make another trip on the Great Allegheny Passage this year. They are posing on a bridge over the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle.

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