I really enjoy your videos. I have ridden most of the trails in your videos. As far as the end of the bridge being blocked off it is because of and active rail line. On the other side of the rail line is the Treadway Trail that runs into Freeport. From there you can connect to the Butler Freeport trail that goes back north to Butler. They are discussing installing a fly bridge to go over the active rail line to connect to the Treadway Trail but it would be very expensive. If they did that you could ride all the way from Brookville to Butler on the rail trails. Over a hundred miles. There is also a spur trail off of the trail that you rode that will connect to Leechburg. It's said to open in the fall of this year. Don't know it is open yet. It will be about 5 miles long
I'm one that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. My grandfather and his brother had a summer camp just downstream from the Belmar bridge back in the 60's and 70's. I spent summers there helping clear the land to the river. Fishing and swimming in the river. He had a small travel trailer, well and outhouse. Some of the best memories of growing up. I need to come back and check it out sometime. Thanks for the video tour.
@@troutslayer101 I can imagine what great memories must have made there. I hope families, like yours, haven't all been crowded out by the gigantic houses
@@robkeener6709 That's progress. I'm Arkansas now and progress is all around me. At least they made some real nice rail to trails out of the infrastructure the railroad built. There needs to be more of that. That's how I ran across your video. Wanting to do some bike touring and wondered about the old rail lines up at camp.
We were on this trail near Cass and a bear cub ran across the trail so close if I had not hit the brakes I would have hit it. I knew momma was nearby, so we shagged ass out of there but quick !! .. then a large cat trotted onto the trail.... they say they don't have cougars but we saw it !! ... we stopped while it watched us for a few minutes then started walking our way. We decided to go back toward the bear as fast as we could and hope for the best. We couldn't get back to the truck fast enough. We had a very brave fearless Manchester terrier with us that would have got killed by either one of those if we got any closer, because he would attack and lose.
So where was your bear spray and gun? WV is a constitutional carry state. Also, cougars are all over the Appalachians, despite the constant denials of the bureaucrats. Hundreds of people have seen them, so why deny it? They will say you saw a bobcat, or some such lie.
Pro tip, ride in the other direction, starting from New Bethlehem, that way the ride back to the car is downhill. If you are on e-bikes disregard. BTW, that definitely looks like they've cleared a good amount of debris out of that tunnel.
The gopro uses a software that zooms in and cuts the edges of the video off to stabilize the video. it works, but it also diminishes the quality of the footage. (don't get me wrong, i'm still contemplating getting one lol
The stuff that I pull from the GoPro to my computer is pretty incredible. It loses more resolution after it is uploaded to RU-vid. All that pixelating that happens there is never on my computer.
I am jealous. I would love to have a trail nearby to my house. The nearest trailhead to my "home" trail is 6 miles away. on roads that I don't want to ride a bike on.
my brother lives in kent never seen his house I got lost once trying to find its general location but he works so much he is seldom home. that trail wasnt half bad. was that west branch lake? we used to go t here as kids to swim. that campground do you have to reserve or is it first come first serve?
If a campground has an empty spot they typically will let you take it. We have been finding that it is increasingly difficult to find a campground that is not full up, especially on the weekends. Getting a last minute reservation is not easy. Sometimes you get lucky and there will be a last minute cancellation that you can get. I wouldn't count on it though. We had imagined this impulsive nomadic lifestyle were we could just go and find a place for the night. It ain't so.
Great ice cream place in the middle. Also great free concerts at Sally Buffalo park at Cadiz,Oh nearby in the summer. General Custer statue nearby in New London,Oh - hometown.
Everyday I wake up early and go walk by local towpath. Today it was blocked off by some kind of event so I came home and decided to work out there. This video was recommended to me … you ended up connecting to my local path and I saw the part in at daily… 🔋🙌🏽
Love this trail on the Belmar Bridge over the Allegheny, however I'm not a big fan of grafitti. It's been a couple of years since I've been on the trail, but it seems the grafitti is getting more and more prevelant, what a shame! It's not "art."
Those are nice trails. The trails are solid and the views are interesting. Your conversations are amusing. Thank you for sharing your really cool adventures with us armchair travelers. Well said about e-bikes! 😊😊 (subscribed) The Empire State Trail runs alongside a portion of the *modern Erie/Barge Canal* (b. 1905--1918) It was built without towpaths; specifically for motorized barges. [Prism size: 150 feet across (side to side) the top/? feet across the bottom. Depth 12+ feet] Where the most recent (modern/in use) canal was built near the old canal, the (now called the) " *Old Erie Canal* " and the original Erie Canal (aka: " *Clinton's Ditch* ") were used as feeder canals and waste weirs (overflow) channels. There is a *Canalway Erie Canal Trail* that goes through the Erie Canal Heritage Corridor (sponsored by the National Park Service and NY state. In some places the Empire StateTrail intersects the Erie Canal Trail and the bicycle, hiking/walking trail is the original canal towpath. *Original Erie Canal* / " *Clinton's Ditch* " (b. 1817--1825) [Prism: 40 feet across the top/ 26 feet across the bottom Depth 4 feet. Towpath: about 12 feet across; usually on the south side of the canal] There was a Cholera epidemic along the canal in 1832. After that tragedy clean drinking water was pumped down from clean resevoirs for the canal workers. *Expanded/Improved Erie Canal* /" *Old Erie Canal * "(b.1835 --1862) It was built parallel to the original canal. [Prism 70 feet across the top/ ?' across the bottom, Depth 6 feet with a towpath] This version of the canal was continually upgraded (larger locks, etc. added) until about 1900. By then motorized barges had begun to appear on the Old Erie Canal. *Barge Canal* (b. 1905--1918) took a new route from the older canals; using canalized rivers and incorporating natural lakes (Oneida Lake, Cross Lake, etc..) and using reinforced cement rather than cut stone for its infrastructure. This canal was expanded until the 1970's when it could no longer compete with the newly built (1954--1859) St. Lawrence Seaway. The Erie/Barge canal channel is still maintained along with the working locks. This interactive site shows all 3 canals: *Erie Canal Mapping Project* eriecanalmappingproject.com/
I lked riding this trail. I will have to get back to it soon. The first time I rode this trail, I saw three bear cubs running away from the trail. Thankfully, Mama Bear was not visible. 😮
Most of the men who built the Erie canal were Irish.Many of them settled along the Erie canal. It was called Clinton"s ditch. The canal was built under budget & ahead of schedule. They made their money back in 9 years.
@@robkeener6709 It cost approximately seven million to build. At the time the Erie Canal was being built, the last of the UK canals was completed and opened for business (i.e. Scotland's Union Canal, 1822) UK had 5,000 miles of canals at that point. Clinton's Ditch (original Erie Canal) was only 363 miles long. It was the first successfully built canal in the USA at that point in time and sparked a Canal Mania throughout the USA. The Erie Canal was built through wilderness (1817-1825) westward from Rome, NY. The Mohawk river valley was the Frontier during the Seven Years War/French and Indian War (1754--1763) It was still lightly populated after the American Revolution (1776--1783) Some American Revolution battles were fought within the basin of the Mohawk River. The Mohawk River basin began to be settled after freedom was achieved and migration from the British Isles (highest percentage of imigrants at the time) increased. Germans, French, Swedes Norhtern Italians (stone cutters) and others came to the Mohawk valley in smaller numbers. Many went westard to the "Old Northwest" (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, later Michigan) after the Erie Canal was built. Although there was always some immigration from Italy and Greece. Those countries (in particular southern Italy) sent immigrants once the Industrial Revolution kicked in for the USA. What we now call the American Midwest was opened much later (in the mid to late 1800's because of railroads).
