Allegheny River Trail: Belmar to Kennerdell

On Sunday, October 20th, we went for a bicycle ride on a portion of the Allegheny River Trail. 

The Allegheny River Trail is 30 miles in length.  The trail runs on asphalt between Franklin and Emlenton for 27.5 miles and on an isolated section between Foxburg and Parker for 2.5 miles. It meets the Samuel Justus Recreation Trail in Franklin, crosses beneath the Sandy Creek Trail in East Sandy, and passes through two old railroad tunnels. 

We completed the Samuel Justus Recreation Trail in August 2018. 

We have yet to ride the Sandy Creek Trail. 

As for the Allegheny River Trail, we are riding that trail in segments.  In early May of this year, we completed our first segment — Emlenton to Rockland (6 miles).  In mid-August of this year we completed our second segment — Franklin to Belmar (5.1 miles).  In September this year we completed our third segment — Rockland to Kennerdell (6 miles).  We completed our fourth segment — Belmar to Kennerdell — on Sunday’s ride (10.4 miles).

We parked at Brandon and rode north to Belmar.  We turned around at Belmar and drove south, past where we parked, to Kennerdell and back to the parking lot.

This is a video that Bob took with our GoPro7 camera during our bicycle ride.

I took several still images, while bicycling the trail.

Allegheny River Trail parking lot at Brandon.
We were the first car there, making our arrival around 10:00 am.  We are parked in front of the trail.  We began our ride by traveling north (past the white car).

I believe Sandy Creek is entering the Allegheny River here, with the Sandy Creek Trail crossing over the bridge.

In the distance is the Belmar Bridge.

I captured a short video clip of a boat going underneath the Belmar Bridge.

These stairs lead up to the Belmar Bridge. Bob is checking out the “bike path” alongside the stairs. We didn’t climb up to the bridge. The bridge crossing will be another day.

We are now riding south, making our way to Kennerdell. The Sandy Creek Trail crosses over the Belmar Bridge.

We saw birdhouses frequently along the trail.  The birdhouses are the result of Nathaniel Sedlacek’s 2012 Eagle Scout Project, according to signs posted on the birdhouses.

The stairs lead down to a deck with table and chairs. The stairs continue down to the river’s edge. There are no houses anywhere near this structure.  There wasn’t a sign indicating that this structure is private.  I wonder if it is there for the enjoyment of anyone using the trail.

I LOVE how this picture of the trail turned out!

We made it to Kennerdell Tunnel!

Neither Bob nor I rode through the tunnel on this ride.  Bob rode through this tunnel, as well as the Rockland Tunnel, in September.  I rode through the Rockland Tunnel in September, not the Kennerdell Tunnel.  I had no desire to ride through Kennerdell Tunnel during this ride.

We turned around at Kennerdell Tunnel and made our way back to the Brandon parking lot.

a River View

Allegheny River Trail is paved from Franklin to Emlenton, except for 3/4 of mile. The unpaved portion of the trail is gravel. I hated it! The trail detours here.

We look for eagles, whenever we are on our bicycle rides. We haven’t been fortunate yet to see an eagle, leastwise not a living, breathing eagle.

Allegheny River Canadian Geese

I captured a short video of the geese, in addition to the still image.

What a beautiful day it was for a bicycle ride on the Allegheny River Trail!

It was an enjoyable ride along the river.   

Ride Statistics:

• Bicycle Miles Ridden – 18.32 miles

• Total Moving Time – 2 hours 33 minutes 41 seconds

• Maximum Speed – 11.1 MPH

• Average Speed – 7.1 MPH

27.5 miles down and 2.5 miles to go on the Allegheny River Trail!

Advertisement