Saturday Evening Post Delights in the GAP

“As I pushed off from Pittsburgh’s Point State Park — where three rivers converge beneath a skyline of steel and stone — a wave of anticipation washed over me. The sky was gray, promising rain, but all I could feel was the pull to begin my first multi-day bikepacking adventure,” writes Erin Gifford, setting off on her 150-mile adventure on the Great Allegheny Passage. Gifford captured the joy and energy of the GAP on her ride, remarking that “with panniers loaded — tent, sleeping bag, snacks — I pedaled alongside the Youghiogheny River… [and] by the time I reached West Newton, 35 miles in, I’d found my flow.” Her essay, accompanied by beautiful photos, is published in the Saturday Evening Post, and lists several other well-known trails that are part of an east-to-west cross-country route.