Pittsburgh to Bridgewater PA

Day 2:  Sunday, August 14, 2015

We awoke early after a great night’s sleep.  Our daughter-in-law, Claire, prepared us a fine bacon and cheesy egg breakfast with good hot coffee.  Our plan for the day is to have Scott and his family join us for the first leg of the journey. 

We piled the kids in their car and we followed them to the town of Beaver PA where they dropped off their car.  All 6 of us squeezed into the truck for the trip back to the marina and the boat.  We finally got underway at around 11:00 for the 30 mile

trip down the river to Beaver.  As one might imagine it was an exciting start for the 5 and 3 year old little ones.  Pittsburgh is a city of bridges and before we left the city proper, we had passed under 7 bridges, all of which the boys executed their responsibility of assuring that the mast would not hit the bridge.

There are many interesting things to see as we travel down the Pittsburgh waterfront.  We passed their

The Convention Center

beautiful modernistic convention center, the old Heinz factory where they process all of that ketchup, the PNC Park- home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Heinz Field – home of the Steelers, the famous Confluence Point with her beautiful water fountain, the Duquesne Incline – built in 1877 that travels from the Monongahela River up Mt. Washington 400 feet at a 30 degree angle and the Carnegie Science Center with her interesting “E-motion Cone” which sits atop the Science Center building. In the river alongside of the Center is moored the USS Requin, a WWII submarine which is open for tours.

Heading on down the river, we passed numerous old rusting facilities that remind

PNC Park, Home of the Pirates

one of the hay day when steel was king in Pittsburgh.  We passed a number of barges filled with coal but were amazed by the lack of barge traffic as compared to the first time that we made this trip. In the entire trip from Pittsburgh to Beaver, we passed only one relatively small barge. We saw quite a number of tow boats sitting idle along the shore.

A few miles downstream from Pittsburgh, it started to rain and it continued to rain off and on for the remainder of the trip.  The air was in the upper 70’s so Scott and I were both quite comfortable although we were really wet.

Heinz  Field

At 6 miles below the confluence of the two rivers, we encountered the Emsworth Lock and Dam.  I called the lockmaster and he told me that it would be at least an hour before we could be carried through.  It turned out that the largest of the two lock chambers was closed down for repairs and barges coming through the small lock had to split their tows in half to get through.  Luckily, we were the only downstream vessel trying to get through so in the suggested hour, we received the call to enter the lock.  Passing through a lock is old hat for Janine and me, but it was real excitement for the passengers on the boat.  We thanked the lockmaster and realized that there were probably 6 or 7 upstream barges waiting

Carnegie Science Center

to pass through.

While we were waiting above the dam, we sat out in the river with the motor idling.  Our 6 year old grandson, Wyatt, decided he needed to steer the boat so he proceeded to drive the boat in tight circles for at least a half an hour.  The only thing more exciting to the boys than that was the thrill of seeing the numerous freight trains that roared by as we waited. 

At mile 13 (the numbers start at the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela Rivers), we came upon the Dashields Lock and Dam. Again we called the master and he told us to come on into the small chamber.  Once inside and stopped along the wall, the lock hand drops down a hook and takes your line, which is attached to the bow of the boat, hooks it over some u-shaped structures up on the lock wall and drops the loose end back to me in the stern.  As the water leaves the lock chamber, I feed out line while holding the boat in position.  This system of securing the boat is used only in the first several locks on the Ohio River.  The remaining locks have floating bollards around which you hook you line and it descends with you.  This is a much easier system. 

Second Wind at rest near the historic Beaver Bridge built in 1907

We traveled on down the river to our final destination at the dock at Bridgewater, PA.  As requested, the rains stopped just before we arrived and allowed an uneventful landing and disembarking.  We said our goodbyes and began preparing our evening meal.  This night we dined on Italian sausage and cheesy grits.

After dinner we walked about and talked to a number of local fisher-people who whetted their bait from the dock at which we were moored.  We pulled out some chairs and watched as the day faded away.  We also faded away at around 9:00.  It was a great day!