Day 1, Mon: Homestead, PA to Perryopolis, PA - 44 miles

    Today our travels began in Homestead which is directly across the river from the city limits of Pittsburgh.  This borough gained international notoriety for the Homestead Strike of 1892, a violent clash between locked-out steelworkers and hired Pinkerton guards, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United States.
    Our entire trip of more than 350 miles is going to be very rich in history stories, many more than we can share and many more than we will be to able remember.
    Today our trail was a lovely canopy of trees with the Youghiogheny River on one side of the trail and bluffs on the other side.

 

                               Going there!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                 Been there!                                                       

 

We saw many small hillside waterfalls on the bluffs.  The Red Waterfall was the largest and most unique.  The water here is acid and iron-rich, coming up to the surface from underground mines, staining the rocks rust-red.  The Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is a major source of water pollution and the cause of extensive stream degradation and environmental damage.

 

Lenora's Inn in Perryopolis is our place of rest for the evening.  Due to missing our turnoff, we added an additional 8 miles to our travels today.  The ice cold fresh fruit water and homemade chocolate cookies were greatly appreciated after a 44 mile day.