Finger Lakes Cycling Club

It was pretty late Sunday morning when Steve Powell called about doing a ride. We’ve both had quite a few miles of rail trails and canal paths and bike tracks, but Steve wanted a day off the highways and proposed that we drive down to the Pine Creek rail trail in Pennsylvania. He had learned that there was a new stretch of it finished on the northern end that neither of us had seen, so that was a pretext to visit the place. What with the time change and all, it was pretty late already, but we figured we’d have time to go down about 25 miles and back before dark.

The weather forecast was for a sunny day, though on the way down the skies were pretty gray and there were even a few drops of rain at one point. But, once we arrived at the trail head, the promised day began to reveal itself. The clouds thinned out, showing more and more blue, and the sunshine had the kind of brilliance I see only in fall and winter — when the fields and trees are wildly luminous and the shadows are as dark as a cave.

As we got to the gorge and rode through the narrowing gap, the afternoon sun would go behind the hills at intervals. Steve commented it was like an eclipse — it was as though the whole world got dark. But, then, we’d emerge into the sun and I’d grope for my big sunglasses again.  A few miles into the gorge, there must have been some shelter from prevailing wind and the fallen leaves were accumulating on the path. What a sensation, to ride through the leaves without having any glimpse of the path! Mile after mile, we rode through that sound of crinkling leaves and the alternating brilliance and dusk.

When we got to Blackwell, our designated turn-around, we learned that everything was closed for the season. No place to warm our feet or grab some hot food. So we set to the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Steve had packed, filled up our water bottles, and headed back.

The return trip was visually even more beautiful, since the sun was that much lower and the effects more dramatic. But, there was also the little penalty of going up the grade of the rail bed. Heading south you can be forgiven for thinking it’s flat — some of the literature says it’s 2%, but I’m positive that stretch isn’t even 1% for the most part. But if you have to go 25 miles up a 1% grade, and do it on crushed stone that adds the equivalent of another percent or two to the resistance — well, it definitely begins to seem like work.

We got back to the trail head with probably a half hour of good light left; no opportunity to play with our lighting equipment this time. It was a beautiful workout that left us relaxed, satisfied. Like so many great fall rides in this region, I felt that if this was the last ride of the season, that would be ok now.

This Pine Creek Gorge trail keeps intriguing me as a gateway to further trips. The trail is actually a 60-mile piece of Pennsylvania’s Bike Route G, a designated route that goes from around Corning south to the Maryland line. Down there, it connects with the east-west C&O Canal trail (to D.C.)  and Great Allegheny Passage (to Pittsburgh). Continuing south, it should be a way to get into Virginia. One of these days, I’m going to head down that way with panniers on my bike.