top o' the pile

I won't say that I neglected to go some where that I should have gone yesterday, but I did go somewhere that I wanted to be, even though I should not have been there. But that's neither here nor there.
I drove (yes drove I say. new transportation has been acquired. more on that latter.) out to Ohiopyle for a ride in the multiple mountains. I say multiple because there is more than one mountain. Mind blowing, I know.

From Worthless Garbage

Pretty eh? Photo credit goes to someone who has never met me, and certainly is not me

For those of you out of the know, the pile is next to this place:

From Worthless Garbage

Though I can't say I've ever been there (this picture also pirated)

But anyway. The ride. The ride was good.

From Worthless Garbage

(Clicky make more biggy. My route is outlined by the multicolored lines. I changed colors every time I changed direction. Just to keep it interesting. Ya know. And no, I did not ride the magical pink arrows.)

Every trail in Ohiopile either goes up a mountain, or comes down a mountain. That of course excludes the (im)famous rail trail. I started in town and worked my way over to Great Gorge. GG is just full of rootles and rocks, and I must admit I had to walk a large portion of it. At the top I turned left and headed over to the scenic Kentuck overlook. The overlook more than lives up to its name (scenic, not kentuck. I don't know what a kentuck is.) It would have been a perfect spot for a picture had I brought a camera.
I headed back down Kentuck, then really down, all the way to the bottom of the other side of the mountain. After a quick roll down to the rail trail, I headed up sugar run.
Sugar Run is pretty uneventful in the upward direction, and at the top I rolled to the bottom of that mountain. And then back up (That's three mountains we've climbed so far boys and girls) On climb back I ate an uncrustable, which was quite yummy.
Coming back down Sugar Run was a little more hectic. The geography of Ohiopyle is really strange. There are a lot of rocks, just like Laural mountain, but unlike Laural, all the rocks are loose, and about the size of baseballs. On a steep, loose part of one decent, my front wheel hit one of the aforementioned baseballs, and bounced off. Since I was indirectly attached to said wheel, I nearly bounced off of my cycle. I ended up straddling the bike with one leg on a log and the other on one of the rolly rocks. I'm not sure how I manged not to leave part of my face on those rocks.
At the base of the hill I turned onto the rail trail, and pedaled it back into town. The three or so miles I spent on it were more than enough to remind me of my immense disdain for crushed limestone paths.
My final ascent of the day was up Sugar Loaf. The loaf is steep, long, and just filled with loose rocks. Near the top I turned around and coasted (after a bone jarring descent) back to the parking lot. Total ride time was 4:01. Hurray!