Day 1 - Duquesne to Dravo Cemetery Campground

Well the day finally came! The weekend was a mad rush to get packed, organized, and driving around picking people up, but here we are at the end of Day 1 at The Dravo Cemetery Campground! We had no trouble at all getting dropped off at Grant Ave in Duquesne. We were running behind schedule so we didn't actually start our trek until 8:05pm. We knew we couldn't make the campground by dusk, so the flashlight headlight setups became essential!

At first I was very much concerned about the amount of weight I was putting on my rear rack. So far so good though. I will say one thing though, I forgot what it's like to ride a loaded bike! You make one false move that throws you off balance and you're going down! It's a very weird feeling riding with all that weight loaded and feeling it start to cause your bike to move ways you don't expect.

The ride though McKeesport was nothing special at all, in fact you ride through the projects (not an area to ride after dark) and are on the road much of the time. When you do have a designated trail it's paved.

We came through the town of Boston around dusk and basically headed into the wilderness setting from there. Here is where the flashlight headlight setup came into play and I was in no way disappointed! Except for the fact that on the front of my bike on my front rack is my sleeping bag which is inside of a very reflective dry sack. This sits high enough on the rack that it interferes with the flashlight, so I got a lot of reflected light back in my face at times. (I probably looked like a ghost coming down the trail!)

I kept telling myself tonight was only 13 miles and so I just had to bare with any discomfort. I chose not to wear bike shorts since this trek was so short. I'm feeling it though!

Camp setup went well, although a little rough in the dark with flashlights. We arrived at about 9:20pm. There are at least two other parties here as well, though we haven't had any contact with them. This campground is nice; we have picnic tables all around, tent pads spaced out, a fire ring, a bathhouse (no running water), and a water pump. We are situated about 300 feet of the Yough river.

Tonight we made a fire and had hot dogs, beans, and s'mores. It very quickly became 11:00pm and so Phil and Mark hit the hay (party-poppers!). It's almost midnight now and they're saying they want to leave by 9am, so I need to get to bed as well. But before I leave here are a few photos taken before dark:

Ok, it seems I don't have enough signal to get the pics uploaded! I'll try again tomorrow. And keep an eye out on my Picasa site too- I'll see if I can upload them there (that web address is in a previous post).

Goodnight!