Connellsville to Confluence - Waterfalls and Fallingwater

Today's shorter ride of 40 miles started with a deluxe breakfast at Ed's Diner right beside our night's accommodations at the Melody Motor Lodge, which reminded us of our favorite motel in Bar Harbor, ME.  Once inside we saw six state police officers that belonged to the 6 state police cars we saw outside in the parking lot right before entering.  We have found that local officer endorsement of an establishment was a strong indicator that the food was going to be good and reasonably priced.  Case in point - once when in New Orleans, we were looking for a place to get a good shrimp po' boy and one of the friendly beat officers recommended a particular hole-in-the-wall place that turned out to have great po' boys.

After breakfast we returned to the Connellsville GAP trailhead where, the night before, we got off to eat dinner and ride to our hotel.   At the trailhead there were open sided wooden huts that bikers or hikers on the trail could use for overnight shelter.  The open side meant that you would be ensured of good airflow on a hot day while at the same time still providing a roof for protection from rain.  We're not sure if there was a fee for the use of the huts but it appeared that they were free and that you could just arrive and claim one for the night.

Connellsville trailhead huts

After we were on our way north in the car headed to the start of the ride a couple of days before, the weather report for this second day of riding predicted even cooler temperatures than had been predicted earlier along with continued rain.  In the interest of not taking everything but the kitchen sink, John decided to not take his rain jacket but Sue did.  It was a roll of the dice that was looking like it might not have a favorable outcome, however, with all the heat generated while riding, everyone stayed comfortable.

Soon after returning to the trail, we were greeted with even more waterfalls as we rode down the mostly covered forested path.  Much like the day before, waterfalls abounded.  As we passed bigger and nicer waterfalls than the ones we had seen the previous day, we kept wanting to stop.  But, unlike all the other days of this week-long ride, this day we had to stick to a schedule since we needed to arrive at our much anticipated tour of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright designed house, Fallingwater, by a certain time.  We purchased our Fallingwater tour tickets online a couple of months ahead of time since the popular tour times were said to fill up and because we were going to be there on a weekend day which we figured would be busier.

While approaching Ohiopyle, PA on the trail, we reflected that the trip off the trail to Fallingwater would bring with it both good and bad.  The good news was that Fallingwater was a mere 4.1 miles off the GAP trail.  The bad news was that there were pitches of up to 13% grade that stood between us at the river on the GAP trail in Ohiopyle, PA and Fallingwater.  John had built in a 45 minute contingency buffer prior to leaving  our hotel in Connellsville but even with our disciplined stops along the way, we had eaten in to most of our buffer.  So without any delay, we left the GAP trail and headed up the hill towards Fallingwater, at times at a blistering 3 - 4 mph.  At that speed, the hills seemed like they went on forever, especially with the extra 40 pounds of gear on the tandem, but we paced ourselves well and rode within our abilities.  We pulled off at what turned out to be about 75% of the way up the hill to address the fogging of John's glasses.  With the rain came 100% humidity.  The heat from his face combined with the cool air on the glasses caused severe fogging.  It wasn't like the fogging glasses was going to cause a problem looking forward since we were going so slow, but the fogging did obscure the view looking back for cars in the helmet mounted rear view mirror.  The fogging issue was quickly remedied during our brief stop by employing a diving technique he learned years ago while getting his open water SCUBA certification.  A quick smearing of saliva on the glasses followed by a gentle clean water rinse from the water bottle got the situation under control and we headed back onto the climb with nary a hint of fogging after that.

We arrived at Fallingwater in plenty of time to take the tour.  There was mention of lockers on the Fallingwater website to store your stuff which we were planning to use.  Sue went in from the parking lot to get a locker but found that there were no lockers available.  Fortunately, a very nice gentleman at the tour desk offered to store the panniers in a locked storage room.  Sue took him up on his offer and we got ready for our tour.

The weekend country retreat, Fallingwater, was designed and then built in 1936 - 1938 for the Kaufman family, owners of  the Pittsburgh based Kaufman's Department stores, over an active stream with a waterfall right under the cantilevered first floor/terrace.  The Kaufman's, when presented with the plans for the first time, save one point, were very much excited by the unique design of the house.  They were, however, a little disappointed that the house design was not such that they would be able to look out and enjoy the waterfall.  Instead, Wright explained that he had a different vision for the house.  He wanted the owners of the house to live with the stream and waterfall all the time rather than occasionally look out and admire it.  His design vision prevailed and that's how the house was built.  Here is the iconic photo of the house looking up from below the waterfall.

Fallingwater House near Pittsburgh, PA

The tour included all three levels of the house.  The first floor had a very open floor plan.  Wright left no detail to chance.  In addition to designing the house, Wright also designed the furniture.  He designed bench sofas along the outside wall, just under the windows, to be extra low so as not to block the outside view.  The Kaufman's liked to entertain guests so Wright designed a spherical vessel for the fireplace that swung into place over the fire to heat up fresh apple cider which they enjoyed on brisk autumn evenings.  In every room we went, there were examples of design details that made the house unique and special.

There were steps in the living room that led down to the stream below to take a cool refreshing plunge.  A byproduct of the steps in the summertime was a nice cool breeze coming off the cool mountain stream which was quite evident while we were standing there on our tour.

Steps from living room leading down to the stream

In the picture above to the right of the steps is a five foot deep pool that that the Kaufman's asked to be added and can be accessed from the steps leading down from just inside the main entryway of the house.

The stone walls of the house were made from Pottsville sandstone quarried on site 500 feet west of the house.  The cut size and stacking arrangement of the quarried stone was done to imitate the way the naturally occurring stone looked in that area on exposed rock faces.

From the special windows on the house corner facing the waterfall that extend the entire length of all three floors that open up to catch a breeze and bring the sound of the cascading waterfall into the living space, to the many terraces that invite you to be outside with nature, the attention to detail that Wright put into the house design was extraordinary.  We have both wanted to see this house for a long time and were very glad we had time on our bike trip to stop and take the tour.

Here are a few more pictures of the outside of the house.  Inside pictures were not permitted on the tour.

Terrace just off the living room overhanging the waterfall

Fallingwater house on a rainy day

Main house entry

Existing rocks used as part of the house foundation

Detached garage located above the house that had a guest room and pool fed by a stream

Cantilevered terrace

Shortly after our inside tour of the house finished, the rain abated and the sun came out just long enough for us to get a few nice outside pictures before then the rain returned and it was time for us to leave.  We retrieved our panniers, loaded up the bike, and then headed back to the GAP trail.  While riding down the steep part of hill into Ohiopyle in the pouring rain, John grew concerned that the disk brakes might be getting too hot so we pulled off.  A wet finger tap on the front brake rotor sizzled so we waited about 5 minutes while the brakes cooled down.  On many occasions we have been very pleased that we decided to get a tandem with disk brakes and the steep, wet, fully loaded descent into Ohiopyle was another time that affirmed our disk brake decision.

Ohiopyle is a local white water kayaking and rafting destination for the surrounding area.  There is an outfitter, Wilderness Voyageurs, right off the trail at the base of the climb to the Fallingwater house that caters to the white water enthusiasts and the GAP trail bicycle riders.  The outfitter was on our list of places to stop since they had a nice bicycle jersey for the GAP trail.  John found one that fit well and he liked but Sue did not.  We would have to continue to look for one for Sue.

After our brief stop at the outfitters, we had a late lunch/dinner across the railroad tracks at Falls Market Restaurant and General Store.  While waiting for our meal, John noticed a spiffy shirt a guy had on at the table across from ours.  It had the entire GAP trail and C&O Canal map on the back.  And, what made it even nicer, the shirt fabric was a moisture wicking technical fabric.  John asked the guy where he got the shirt and he told John he purchased it in Meyersdale, a GAP trail town that we would be passing through in a couple of days, at a converted train depot.

GAP trail crossing the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle, PA

Lots of bridge crossings today

Bridge hopping on the GAP trail

In addition to the many waterfalls along the trail today, much of the trail was also lined with wild rhododendron in full bloom.  We got lucky with the timing of the blooming rhododendron.

Waterfall with blooming rhododendron

Like Connellsville, the town we stopped at the night before, Confluence also had some form of art along the trail that an organization from town produced which made the trail more interesting.

Arriving in Confluence, PA

We stayed at the Parker House country inn in Confluence, PA.  The Parker House was very nice.  They were very accommodating of bicycles (they had a locked dedicated bicycle garage) and were very easy to find just off the GAP trail.

The total mileage for the day 2 was a whopping 40 miles.

Here is our route for day 2.  Clicking on the each bicycle icon will display an info window with the date and time.

The low and high temperatures for today were 52 and 54 degrees F respectively.

Looking forward to another wonderful day tomorrow!