Single Track Sunday
Place: Settlers Cabin Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Ridden: November 2014
Click on video to play
Both Joël and I will admit that Single Track Sunday this week is a bit lacking in excitement and adventure. A work related conference took us to Pittsburgh, PA for the weekend. Clifford had to stay home but we did bring the bikes along intending to find some local trails to ride. The conference encompassed more hours than expected, and thus time to ride dwindled. After looking at maps and reading trail reviews on the internet, we would be passing Settlers Cabin Park on the way home. Trail reviews seemed decent so we decided to stop there.
The park is named Settlers Cabin due to the fact that archaeologists from Carnegie Museum of Natural History identified origins of a 1780 log cabin in the area. The theme of the park is also the Native American heritage of the area; shelters and groves in the park have Indian names.
The area where the park is located was originally a maze of abandoned open and back-filled mines when the county secured it. Active wells and exposed oil and gas lines were initial problems but the grading and reforestation of the land has restored it to rolling wooded slopes and meadows. At 1589 acres, this park was intended to be the largest of the regional parks and still has a wild, rugged, and unexplored quality not found in the other parks.
The park contains opportunities for all sorts of activities, Picnic groves, playgrounds, a wavepool, tennis courts, hockey rink, and trails for walking/running, cycling, and equestrian use are spread throughout the park.
So what was our impression of the park? It is a great place for family adventures, taking your dog for a walk, or a relaxing hike on a fall day. The cycling trails would be great for a beginner or a easy recovery ride day, but certainly don't expect to get tons of quality miles there. We ended up just cruising around for a bit and then decided our time would be better spent getting on the road for the long drive home. Definitely a very nice park, just not what we were looking for.
- words by Jess
- video by Joël
- words by Jess- video by Joël