The thunderstorms predicted for Monday morning held off as we prepared to hit the road. We pulled out of Artillery Ridge Camping Resort in Gettysburg in dry conditions around 10am. Our route took us south on US15 into Maryland. We straddled the Mason-Dixon line and crossed between Maryland and Pennsylvania a couple of times. We were mostly on quiet state routes – these are generally slower and took us through some small towns and villages, but we enjoy the scenery much more than most Interstates. Besides, I didn’t want to pay tolls on I-70 in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has the highest fuel taxes in the country yet they still collect tolls!

The route through the Appalachian Mountains was hilly with some very steep grades. Most of the grades were fairly short and topped out around 1,300 feet above sea level. Eventually we ran into the thunderstorms. Thankfully we didn’t have to contend with much wind, but at times the visibility was extremely poor. Even though it was raining, there was a mist in the air as we approached the summits – almost foggy.

Our destination for the day was a Corps of Engineers park near Confluence, Pennsylvania by the dam on the Youghiogheny River. The small town is called Confluence because it sits right at the confluence of the Casselman River and the Youghiogheny River.

Donna had reserved a site for us at the park before we left Gettysburg that morning. We arrived around 1:30pm and checked in. Our site is a 60-foot back-in. With a little maneuvering, I was able to fit our 64-foot length completely in the site without dropping the trailer.

Coach and trailer angled to fit in site 39

We’re within 100 yards of the banks of the Youghiogheny at the outflow area of the dam.

Youghiogheny River Outflow

There are only 30 sites in this campground. We were lucky to get a long site here. It only has 30-amp electric service, no water or sewer. I had dumped our tanks and filled the fresh water before we left Gettysburg. Once I had our rig into the site, we discovered we had a problem. The 30-amp pedestal is at the rear of the site. Our power cord isn’t long enough to reach it. I was about to drop the trailer and reposition the coach when a neighbor stopped by. He saw us trying to hook up and asked me how much cord we needed to reach the pedestal. I told him we were about 10 feet short. He said he had a 30-amp extension cord he could lend us. Nice! That worked.

The campground is full, but it’s fairly quiet. There’s a bicycle/hiking trail along the river called Great Allegheny Passage. We saw several bicyclists stopping for the night to use the showers and tent camp here. Donna hiked a portion of the trail into town in the afternoon. She met a gal riding the full length of the trail from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.

There’s a siren that sounds when they release additional water from the Youghiogheny River Lake behind the dam. This morning, they released water into the outflow at 6am and the siren sounded. So much for morning quiet time.

After breakfast, I retrieved Donna’s road bike from the trailer and pumped up her tires. She rode up the trail past Confluence and through the State Forest to the town of Ohiopyle. The Casselman River has a brown color while the Youghiogheny has blue-green color. Donna shot a photo of the confluence of the two rivers and you can clearly see the difference as the Casselman joins the Youghiogheny.

Casselman River joining the Youghiogheny

The Youghiogheny flows northwest all the way to the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh. Below are a couple of photos Donna took of the trail.

Great Allegheny Passage

Bridge on the trail

We were only able to book two nights here, so we’ll continue our westward trek tomorrow. The weather forecast looks good with light winds and no precipitation for the next two days. We’ll figure out our next stop along the way.