OHIO RIVER TRAIL COUNCIL
Great Allegheny Passage - Meyersdale, PA to Mason-Dixon Line or Frostburg, MD
Great Allegheny Passage 30 or 40-Mile Bike Ride
Come out for a ride! This is part of a trail ride series sponsored by the Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC) intended to bring awareness to the wonderful trails in our quad-state region (Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia). All cyclists are welcome for this rails-to-trails, moderate-paced ride!
This rails-to-trails experience is an ORTC Featured Outing and is one of the best rides to enjoy the scenic vistas on the Great Allegheny Passage.
Join us, as we visit the Great Allegheny Passage. This ride departs the Meyersdale Trailhead (Train Station & Visitors Center) and travels north about 2-miles to the Salisbury Viaduct, before returning south and traveling to the Eastern Continental Divide and the Big Savage Tunnel. It is highly recommended that you bring a headlight. Once on the eastern side of the divide, we will take a snack break enjoying the panorama of the Cumberland Valley.
Once refueled, we continue on to visit the Mason-Dixon Line where we reach the 30-mile turnaround point. The 40-mile ride continues to Frostburg. The roundtrip is 40-miles of scenic biking, but you are welcome to ride as many miles as you like.
Do not forget your camera!
Trailhead
Meyersdale Trainstation Trailhead - 527 Main Street, Meyersdale, PA
Trail Mileage Chart:
Trail Elevation Chart
Features and Points of Interest:
The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is presently the longest rail-trail east of the Mississippi River and the crown jewel of the Mid-Atlantic Rail Trails. The GAP spans two states in its 150-mile course along scenic rivers and across mountain passes. The greenway connects with the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath at Cumberland, Maryland to create a 334.5-mile route between Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. The Montour Branch links McKeesport to the Pittsburgh International Airport and Coraopolis, Pa.
The proposed Ohio River Trail beginning at Coraopolis, links the Montour Trail to the 110-mile Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway in Ohio forming approximately a 500-mile contiguous trail from the Great Lakes Region to our nation’s capitol!
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the Mason–Dixon line (or Mason’s and Dixon’s line) between 1763 and 1767 in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It is the demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (originally part of Virginia). In popular usage, the Mason–Dixon line symbolizes a cultural boundary between the North and the South (Dixie). After Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1781, the western part of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River became a border between slave and free states, although Delaware retained slavery until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865.
Social
Following the ride a social gathering and dinner will be held at the 218 Java Café, 218 Center St., Meyersdale, PA 15552. (814) 634-5960.