GAPCO Day 2 - July 5

Today was a good day but a wet day once again.  It was a 76 mile (122k for my metric friends) ride through the Pennsylvania and Maryland countryside.  It rained on and off through a good portion of the day.  The humidity and moisture from the last day or so hung in the air and created fog and mist in the hills, valleys and along the water.

As the trip organizer said... the last 20 miles will be good as they are mostly downhill.  When one looks at that description it does beg for the counter interpretation.  The first 50+ miles were mostly uphill. 😳   The positive to that interpretation is we were on a rail trail which means a typical 2-3% grade.  But 50 miles of 2-3% grade is a stretch of the legs.  

The path of today's route took us along the old GAPCO rail lines.  It took us through the most beautiful dense woods on our right and the fast paced rushing waters of the river on our left.

The woods were so dense that light barely could penetrate.  As you looked off into the woods while riding, it would appear as if it were night because of how dark it appeared..  

The ride was dotted with great sites and experiences.  I saw about a dozen deer throughout my ride.  One was a recently born fawn who still had her spots and was rather precarious on her legs.  Another was a buck that was beginning to grow his antler rack which was covered in felt.

We rode over numerous bridges and viaducts some high above the wooded floor and many spanning great distances.  We also rode through 4 tunnels that were bored through the mountains to ease the route of the railroad.  One tunnel was 957 feet long (almost 300 meters) and completely dark inside.  As you ride through it, you could only try to keep your direction by staring straight at the exit.  Otherwise you would become disoriented and ride right into one of the side walls.  But the granddaddy of all the tunnels was a 3,294 foot (1 kilometer) long Big Savage tunnel.  It was so long that you could not see the exit of the tunnel from the entrance or even half way through.

Two other great landmarks that we saw on the route were:

- the actual Mason Dixon line...  it is commonly known as the line dividing the North from the South.  According to the Missouri Compromise preceding the civil war, the line demarked states that could have slaves (south of the line) or where slavery was abolished (north of the line). But actually the line was a survey line that was used to establish resolution to a land boundary dispute dating back to 1763.  It also defined the border between the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

- The other landmark that we came across was the Eastern Continental Divide.

Water that fell on the east side of the divide would flow east to the Chesapeake and the ocean.  And water that fell on the west side would flow into various rivers that ended up feeding the Mississippi River.

And lastly, as we rode along you could see a vein of coal wedged between other rock formations.

    You can see a black coal vein sandwiched under numerous layers of other rock formations.  Coal was the lifeblood and industry of the area.  Chunks of coal still falls of the cliffs:

   A chunk of coal from one of the seems from the cliff.

It was a fabulously wet day.  One that I feel lucky to have experienced.  😊