Pittsburgh, PA and the Monongahela River

Total Miles Traveled 1278

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Our plan to explore the Monongahela River was to visit the small river towns along the way and pass through the last two locks of navigable waters on the river.  Timing the weather and lock operations was the real challenge as the last two locks, the Hildebrand and the Opekiska locks, are only operated eleven days this year.   During our cruise, our only opportunity to pass through the locks is a one-day operation on August 22.  The Opekiska Lock has a twenty-two-foot lift at 857 feet above sea level.  It is the highest elevation of water in North America from where a vessel can cruise and reach the ocean.  We departed Key West Florida on the Atlantic Ocean March 14^th and passed through the Opekiska Lock on August 22^nd.

On Thursday August 12^th, we departed South Side Marina at Pittsburgh and traveled 30 miles to Monongahela City, PA.  The river and city are referred to locally as the “Mon River” and “Mon City”.  We tied to the wall of the Aquatorium, which is a 3000-seat amphitheater style venue built on the river.  There were no concerts scheduled during our stay, but this would be a back stage pass for sure.  It’s amazing the little know facts you learn from these small towns.  This was the home of former governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels and NFL quarterback Joe Montana.

A few views traveling up the Mon,  the hills just rise up from the river, an awesome river to cruise on.

Although the temperatures are in the upper 60's at night, morning fog is almost an every day occurrence.  Some of the hills going up the Mon are over 1000 ft above sea level.

 

We cruised 34 miles up the Mon to Millsboro, PA at the Holiday Harbor Marina, then on August 15^th cruised 36 miles to Morgantown, WV.  The weather has been unstable the past few days with pop up thunderstorms and hurricane Fred has made landfall in the Gulf and is on track to pass through our area in a few days. 

We are at the solid blue dot at the top of the cone.

Morgantown was a great place to stop for several days, a nice dock, close to town, and many restaurants to choose from.  The downside was no marinas and no power or water at the docks.

The Morgantown Aquatorium

The city dock is on the left just below the Morgantown Lock, our home for a few days.

We found a rooftop restaurant that provided a great view of our boat and Morgantown.

Not only is Morgantown the home of West Virginia University, it was also the birthplace of Don Knotts.

Mountain State Brewing Company has a pretty good local beer and the wood fired pizza oven makes good pizza too.

We've seen a few wood fired pizza ovens but this is the biggest one so far.

On August 21^st we passed through the Morgantown Lock and anchored a mile or so downriver from the Hildebrand Lock.  We have found that anchoring is a real challenge on this river.  The riverbed is rock and its hard to set the anchor when it just bounces off the bottom for several yards.  My other concern is the anchor getting wedged in the rocks and not being able to retrieve it.

We weighed anchor on August 22^nd and passed through the Hildebrand and Opekiska locks.  I would have liked to continue to Fairmont, WV but considering the locks are only open for one day, we didn’t want to take a chance of not getting back through.  The last two days the locks will be operated this year are September 4^th and 5^th.  

Approaching the Hildebrand Lock.

We anchored at mile 117 for an hour or so, ate our lunch, then started our return down the Mon to Old Lock #7 wall at mile 85.  We attempted to anchor on the Cheat River but after several failed attempts to set the hook we decided to continue down river.  A busy day of passing through 6 locks and traveling 43 miles.

Old Lock #7 lock wall.

Views on the Monongahela River

On August 23^rd we departed Lock #7, cruised 53 miles back to Monongahela, Pa and then 29 miles on August 24th back to South Side Marina at Pittsburgh.  We will stay here for two days to provision and prepare for our journey back down the Ohio River on Thursday August 26^th.