Across the Great Divide. Looking west - The Great Allegheny Passage at the Eastern Continental Divide
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On Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends we travel for miles on these roads without seeing another vehicle, then cross a federal highway and look at cars strung bumper to bumper to the horizon. Scowling faces inside. Kids crying in the back seat. I keep wishing there were some way to tell them something but they scowl and appear to be in a hurry, and there isn't... - from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig.
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This past Friday morning, traffic was at a standstill on I-70 east. In the red Ford pick-up next to me, a young boy with a buzz cut looks forlorn. Too old to cry and too young to scowl, he poked his elbow out the window and dropped his head onto his arm. When I tried to tell him something he looked away...
The Friday before, my car “The Itty Fit,” was headed west on I-70 for Cumberland. No traffic, crying, or scowling. My third annual summer pilgrimage was about to begin. On Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day, I will bicycle a portion of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). Riding the GAP, a 145 rail trail from Cumberland MD to Pittsburgh PA, i will not appear to be in a hurry.
There were few runners and bicyclers on the GAP. Mostly, it is just me and the wildlife - six wild turkeys dart nervously back, then scatter.
The advantage of a rail-trail is that it is never steep. The Western Maryland Railroad cut 4 tunnels through the mountains to get a train over the Eastern Continental Divide.
That Friday, the Divide - 24 miles north, was my turnaround point. It is highest point on the GAP at 2,392 feet. Westerners may scoff (scowl?). An Oregonian muttered, “There is nothing there but a sign.”
Exactly!
Yes, 800 million year old mountains are, like me, well worn. I could scowl at the uphill ride. Well, no…, I can’t. What could be better than riding a rail-trail up Big Savage Mountain on a 74-degree sunny July day?
Riding down of course…
Oh, in 48 miles, I did not see a (motorized) vehicle.
How about you? How to you get away? Share a story!
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