GAP Trail Day 4: Smithton to Pittsburgh -- 40 miles (June 2021)

The last day was, at least in my opinion, the most interesting from a riding perspective.  Particularly the last 20 miles or so into Pittsburgh. In McKeesport you link up with the Monongahela river and you hop over it a few times over some bridges.  McKeesport is a bit of a maze when it comes to the trail and a bit of a dump in general, but it's kind of fun trying to navigate your way through.  

We ended up stopping in Homestead for our final meal at a Red Robin. Homestead is the site of a famous labor incident involving the Pinkertons and some Steel workers.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_strike

Evidently there is a really cool downtown area as well but we were too tired to seek it out. Next time I go to Tittsburgh hopefully I can check it out. There was also some really bad weather bearing down on us that hit us about 8 miles from the finish.  I've never ridded in that kind of rain and lightning.  I had to get off my bike and take shelter in the Pittsburgh Steelers team offices/practice facility. 

The last few miles of the trail are some of the most impressive I've ever been on, from the Hot Metal bridge to Point State Park.  You are between major highways on a wide trail that knifes it's way through downtown.  Point State Park is a great reward to finishing the trip. We spend a few minutes there but ended up having to get going again as more bad weather was bearing down. 

Brendan's bike gave out at Point State Park, the tires went flat and then a bunch of other failures about 1/4 mile from the parking area on the Smithfield bridge. 

Overall this is a fantastic bike trip. I would say there was something a little off with our particular few days, on my end maybe it's that I wasn't in great shape. But 100 percent worth it and would do the trip again in the future.