The Yockatomac Trek ™

Resources for planning your bicycle trip between Pittsburgh PA and Washington DC

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About the Trails

The trail between Pittsburgh PA and Washington DC combines the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh PA to Cumberland MD with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath form Cumberland MD to Washington DC. The Great Allegheny Passage is a 135-mile rail-trail, finished in hard-packed crushed limestone. The C&O Canal Towpath is a 185-mile towpath, mostly gravel two-track.

The trail from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC is nearly finished!

The last gap between Cumberland and McKeesport is finished. You can still take the Western Maryland Scenic RR past this section to avoid the long uphill to Frostburg.

There is still a gap between McKeesport and downtown Pittsburgh. We do not know a route that we can recommend to cyclists, though we do have driving directions.. The roads have hills, heavy traffic, and almost no shoulder.

At McKeesport it is possible to follow the Steel Valley Trail southwest to Clairton and pick up the Montour Trail to reach the southern parts of Allegheny County

Need more information about the trails??

Explore the Allegheny Trail Alliance website at gaptrail.org.You can explore the websites of each of the member trails from there. You can ask for advice by joining the Great Allegheny Passage Yahoo Group.

Start with the official National Park Service web site. Other good sources are Bike Washington and Kathy Bilton's pages, and the C&O Canal Association. You can ask for advice by joining the C&O Yahoo Group.

Good C&O Canal guidebooks are Thomas Hahn's Towpath Guide to the C&O Canal, and Mike High's C&O Canal Companion. Read the more recent High before the trip for background, but bring Hahn in your saddlebag for an on-the-path explanation of the canal's operating features. Order through the ATA bookstore.

You are visiting The Yockatomac Trek, copyright © 2006 by Mary Shaw and Roy Weil. We encourage you to link to these pages or print copies for personal use. However, if you want to copy the material for any other use, you must ask us first. Other outdoor publications by the authors. Page updated 19-Apr-2007 by Roy Weil Comments to maintainer.