By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 20, 2007

John Markle believes the Great Allegheny Passage that curves near his new trailside restaurant in West Newton one day could attract numbers of two-wheeled tourists rivaling the Grand Canyon.

An estimated 750,000 bikers and hikers a year use the 335-mile trail system between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. — a shadow of the canyon’s 5 million annual visitors — but the man-made passage through Western Pennsylvania’s rural towns is fostering a cottage industry of hotels, restaurants and bike shops.

“I think the trail gives people hope that something good is going to happen in their area,” said Markle, 60, who opened the Trailside Cafe with five employees in January, rebuilt after a February fire and now employing 18.

“It’s been a real economic boost … Not a day goes buy without bikers heading to Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Many of them have means and are prepared to spend whatever it takes to complete a portion of the trail, which runs near or through more than 30 Pennsylvania towns and generates at least $6.7 million a year, according to the most recent survey, in 2002.

Since then, high publicity and the trail’s most significant connection to the C&O Canal Towpath in Cumberland, Md., have boosted spending and the number of cyclists, said Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, a coalition of seven trail groups working to complete the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage, which connects to the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath that runs from Cumberland to the nation’s capital.

Throw in the ATA’s 52-mile Montour Trail connecting from Pittsburgh International Airport to the passage in McKeesport and the tourist numbers increase further.

“It’s very rewarding to see the increase,” Boxx said. “What we’re seeing is a lot of people coming from Washington and Maryland to Pennsylvania. They love the little communities.”

Ed Quigley, 49, of Monaca, traveled the length of the Great Allegheny Passage and towpath twice in three days and once in four with riding partners Mark Conaway, 53, of Franklin Park; and Mike Dalmaso, 40, of Beaver.

“Most of the people out there are not triathletes or exercise fanatics. There are a lot of grandparents out there that do 35 miles a day, stay in a bed and breakfast and take eight days to do it,” Quigley said.

Quigley and his friends — all three are air traffic controllers at Pittsburgh International Airport — try to enjoy the finest foods and lodgings available. In 2006, during a stop in Cumberland, Quigley planned a “progressive meal by bicycle.”

“We would only stop in places with a great meal,” Quigley said.

Paw Paw, W.Va., didn’t have a restaurant that met his standards, so Quigley hired trail concierge Gayle Hall to enlist a Cumberland chef who prepared a meal of crab cakes, Chesapeake chicken, cheesecake and cornbread that the trio ate in a bed and breakfast in the town of a little more than 500.

The men said they could afford to indulge: They burn an estimated 4,000 calories a day when they ride 100 miles.

Fine dining aside, the trail has been a boon to bike shops, said Larry Lynch, owner of Ambridge Bike Shop on Merchant Street.

“I bet 30 percent of our business is associated with trail riding,” Lynch said, adding that a growing number of riders are planning trips on the Montour Trail or parts of the passage.

A trail-worthy, entry-level bike runs from $230 to $450, but most riders spring for a light, pannier, helmet, handle-bar bag, water bottle and a well-cushioned seat, too.

The souvenir business is showing signs it’s getting a boost from well-heeled trail riders, as well.

John Triggs, owner of Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass in Connellsville, offered free tours of his hand-blown and stained glassworks in late June when 500 riders with the Sixth Annual Greenway Sojourn rode from Washington to Pittsburgh and passed by Trigg’s glass furnaces.

“About 400 took us up on it,” Triggs said. “It was like Christmas. Everyone had to have a little piece to take with them.”

Cathy McCollom is regional director of The Progress Fund’s trail town initiative, which began in January to encourage new businesses to open in trailside towns.

For instance, McCollom is working with a Florida-based hotelier to open a lodge along the passage in Connellsville, which has none accessible to cyclists. The fund has loaned $16 million since 1997 to help businesses open and grow in rural Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. McCollom said 31 businesses in Somerset County alone have started in the past few years to serve the “trail market.”

“It’s only one of eight national scenic trails. We’re going to market that, ” McCollom said. “The economic impact is what will really make the difference for people using this trail and living on it.”

Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or 412-765-2312.