My friends had woken up by the time I finished yesterday’s blog at the cafe where I had found the Internet connection. I went back to the motel room to get ready for the day while they were having their own breakfasts. I then joined them as the day’s activities began.
This is the little place where I had written the previous blog.
I walked around town by myself for a little bit before going back to the motel room. The others had gone back to the motel to get ready to check out.
The towns that we are riding past are next to the primary CSX freight line that runs between this part of the east coast and the rest of the country. There is always a steady train traffic nearby.
This is a picture of the Low bridge over the Yough in the morning light.
We set out on a hike to Cucumber Falls after I returned to the motel.
The activities on the river had already started.
We stepped off the path to go down to a stream to see the natural water slides.
We could not figure out how anybody could actually slide down this stream and stay alive!
We were trying to follow the Meadow Run Trail to get to the falls. We got lost after this stop by the Yough river.
We had to work our way back to the main road to get to Cucumber Falls. It was a good climb up a hill.
The falls were spectacular!
Here is Koushik exploring the falls.
Ram was next.
Shankar also walked behind the falls.
We then hiked the Great Gorge trail to get back to town.
Here we are at the place where we had stopped for lunch during our ride of the GAP in 2016. We were nicknamed “The Blues Brothers” for the day.
This picture is from the High bridge over the Yough. It was taken from the GAP trail at the tail end of the hike.
I thought this was a good day to relax.
We stopped here for lunch.
This picture was taken as we were leaving for Confluence. This is where we had stayed the night.
Here we are back on the trail again. It is good to stretch before doing any exercise!
Since we were only riding a short distance, we took some extended stops along the way. 
We had to climb down to get from the trail to the river.
Even though it had felt quite hot when we had been walking in the sun earlier in the day, it was very comfortable riding under the trees.
These pictures are from a second stop by the river.
And then it was back on the trail.
This is a picture of the confluence of the Youghiogheny and Casselman rivers. It was taken from the trail.
We went for a walk after arriving in Confluence, putting our bikes away, and cleaning up. We were staying at the at The Confluence House Bread & Breakfast.
It turns out that Confluence is not just the confluence of the Youghiogheny and Casselman rivers. There is also the Laurel Hill creek that joins up with the two rivers.
We tried to walk to the area of the confluence of the rivers but it was all on private property.
We then proceeded to the Lucky Dog Cafe for dinner. It was the same place we had eaten at in 2016.
We walked a little more after dinner.
We crossed over the Yough during this walk
and ended up at the Youghiogheny dam. We did not attempt to walk up to the top of the dam to see the lake behind it since there was a “No Trespassing” sign on the pathway leading up.
That was the last stop before we walked back to our place for the night.
We retired for the night after some drinks, music, and conversation.
We walked about 8 miles during the day, and rode over 11 miles.
Today promises to be a rainy day. We will probably be riding in our rain gear. The ride is also going to get a little more challenging because the trail is going to get steeper.
The river was extremely muddy on the morning of the second day of the ride due to overnight rain. You can see the mud from the abandoned railroad bridge below.
The sediment had cleared up by the time we crossed the 
This is view of the town of Confluence from a bridge over the Casselman.
The skies had cleared by the time we got to 
This is a section near Hancock.
The river itself was quite peaceful for the most part.
The red waterfall shown below is the 
The following picture is taken on the road that we biked from the town back to the Yough river. The tunnel takes you to the bridge across the river. We did not cross, but took the road that you can barely make out on the right before the tunnel. This took us to the trail head.
And then it was time to ride once again!
There had been a spectacular storm late the previous night that we had observed from the front of our hotel rooms. Fortunately, the trail was not too wet. This was the only place where a tree had fallen across the trail.
This chap is trying to get down from the trail to the river.
This is an abandoned railroad bridge across the river that we encountered. It appeared to be falling apart. You had to watch where you were stepping.
Crossing a gorge on a trail bridge. The GAP trail that we have been riding is a rail trail which was built where the railroad tracks once used to run. This bridge would have been carrying train traffic in the past.
There was steady freight train traffic on the other side of the river.
The section of the trail that we covered today was just amazing.
The Yough river seen from one of the trail bridges just outside of Ohiopyle.
One of the bridges over the Yough carrying the trail into Ohiopyle. The river meanders in a U-shaped loop in this section, and there are two bridges over the river.
At Fallingwater, PA. This house was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in the the 1930s.
The house is spectacular, both inside and outside.
These are the folks in Ohiopyle who provided us with the shuttle to Fallingwater.
It was quite late in the afternoon after the trip to Fallingwater, and had another 10 miles to ride to Confluence. We were hungry and got a snack to eat at a waterfall. We never found the waterfall, and ended up eating in the woods.
We made a few rest stops during the ride, including this one betwen Ohiopyle and Confluence. The bike being examined was making some strange noise. We will try to get it checked out in Cumberland, our destination for tomorrow.
This is Parker House, the place we are staying in Confluence. It is a beautiful place with lot of space. We are getting ready to go out for dinner.
The crew was famished!
It was dark by the time we left the Lucky Dog Cafe. The sky was spectacular (due to the absence of light pollution) and folks were identifying the stars and the planets. We walked back to Parker House using the faint light from a smartphone to show us the way through the dark streets of Confluence. Went to bed after a night-cap. Goodnight from Confluence, PA.
Our bikes arrive at the hotel.
With his proud family!
The riders are ready to depart.
Crossing the Monongahela river.
The Youghiogheny River in McKeesport.
Climbing the hill! This is after they returned back to the bottom of the hill after the initial attempt. They wanted to start the ride back up the hill in first gear!
In Boston, PA.
Along the Youghiogheny river.
He had to get his feet wet in the river.
Enjoying theplas made by Kalpana.
The red waterfall, which is basically waste water from an old mine. This is an unfortunate part of the legacy of industrial development in the area.
Lunch stop.
Bridge at West Newton. We crossed the bridge over the Yough into town for kicks, led by our fearless leader.
Under Interstate 70 on the trail.
The last rest stop.
Bridge over the Yough.
Koushik goes to the Byzantine church in Perryopolis on Sunday.
Chinese food for dinner at our motel.
Goodnight from Perryopolis, PA!
Splattered Brains 