Roadtrip, Day 10...A Day in Wildwood

Day 10

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

     In March of last year, I stopped here in Wildwood.  Being off peak, it was like a ghost town.  This time, the official summer shore season started the day before.

    Since I was already up, sunrise beckoned.  Except for a few runners, cleaning crews and some birds, I had the boardwalk to my self.

   

      The northern end of the boardwalk...

     According to Google maps, I had walked a little over a mile and a half at this point.

   From the walk back...

       After lingering on the boardwalk with a coffee, it was time to walk back, shower up and go explore.

     On the southern end of the island  is the Two Mile Beach section of the Cape May National Wildlife preserve.  

    Everything on the beach side is closed until the end of October for nesting season.  That leaves one short trail out to a swamp overlook.

     The weekend revelers seemed to be all gone.  They're sometimes referred to as Bennies by the locals, and not in the best way.   It started as a more northern shore thing.  It refers to the folks from Bayonne, Elizabeth and Newark who come down and disrupt the calm. 

    As for me, I was enjoying the peace.  It did feel a little weird with most of the boardwalk games shut after the weekend.

      Very few people walking around, too.

  Even the folks working the custard stands and pizza places seemed bored.

     

        At one point, a little kid dropped half a slice.  The seagulls swooped in and mayhem ensued.  

    One would try and fly off with it and get pounced.     It was down to about a two inch square when one finally carried it away. 

     The promised rain came and went.  It was only 8:30P.  So, I went back out.  All this walking really felt good.  I don't use a fitness tracker, and have no desire for one.   But today, I'd love to know.  

    No sunset, but that blue...

     It's a mile and a half to the end of the boardwalk.  This was my third trip of the day.

    Before I made that commitment, I asked an officer how late can I walk.

     There's a curfew for kids at 10P.  Then he said, "But, for older people such as yourself, you can walk all night."  Ugh. 

      I realize at 61, I'm not exactly a kid.  But, I'm not ready to be labeled as "older person."

Roadtrip, Days 26-27...The Road Home

Thursday June 12, 2025

     A half hour east of Cumberland is a section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal I had visited years ago.  The full canal runs 184 miles from Washington DC to Cumberland.  The Park Service maintains a trail following the full length.  

     Near the Maryland and West Virginia border, the designers had a problem.  The canal mostly paralleled the Potomac River.  In this stretch that meant a whole lot of tight twists and turns.  

     To avoid that, they build the Paw Paw Tunnel, named after the town on the West Virginia end.  Pawpaw trees grow in this part of the country that bear fruit similar to mangoes.  The name is derived from papaya.  

    The trailhead was easy to find.

    The unlit tunnel runs 3,118 feet.  There's a path on one side with a railing.  That's it.  

     As you can see, the ground isn't smooth.  Where the walls drip, there's standing water.  There is even a sign suggesting you use a light. 

     Coming out he other side.

     Since the car was on the other side, that meant the inevitable return trip.  There were a bunch of bobbing lights heading my way, so I waited.  It turned out to be a group of cyclists.  They started in DC and are headed to Cumberland.  From there, they're picking up the Great Allegheny Passage all the way to Pittsburgh.  

     As for me...

    Without the additional light....

      From here, it was time to start the drive home.  But first, a detour through Richmond, Virginia for lunch with my cousin Jonathon. As always, it was great catching up on family and just chatting about life.  

     Considering the amount of driving still ahead of me, I left around 6P, with the hope of putting three hours behind me.  At a rest stop, I made the decision to press on a little further to Durham, the half way point.  

     I booked a room at the Sonesta and checked in.  Clearly they hadn't anticipated a booking this late and expected the room would be empty for the night.  The room was fine and certainly clean.  But, the air conditioning was turned off and the room uncomfortably warm.  I cranked the AC way down, turned the fan on high and was still out cold in minutes.  Two hours late, I did woke up freezing.  

     But, a good night's sleep was just what I needed.  There was a time I would have pressed on and arrived home around 4A.  So glad I stopped though.

     

Day 27

Friday, June 13, 2025

    The last six hours home were mostly painless and I pulled into the garage shortly after 1P.  While I do love a good roadtrip, there's always something good about being home.  

Roadtrip. Day 25, The Great Allegheny Passage

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

     While poking around on the phone last night for hiking trails, I came across the Great Allegheny Passage.  It's a rail trail just outside Cumberland, MD to just outside Pittsburgh. PA.  

     In total, the trail runs one hundred and fifty miles.  As an added bonus, there are viaducts and tunnels all within a short drive.

     The day started at the Frostburg Railway station, the trail's eastern terminus.

     From here, you can either hike the trail, take a ride on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad or rent these rail bikes.  

    Public art by Scott Cawood.

     I started my hike around 8:30A.  After talking with a few fellow walkers, I should have started earlier.  More on that in a bit.

     As expected from a rail trail, it was nice and flat.  It began wide enough for one track.  

    Perhaps a quarter mile in, another another abandoned section of track curves in, making it twice as wide...

     As you approach the tunnel, you can clearly see where the two lines merge before going through. 

    Borden Tunnel sits at the two and a half mile point.  The tunnel was built in 1911 and runs 957 feet.

    Once inside, motion sensors trigger and illuminate the interior.  They're powered by a solar panel on the back side.

     The turnaround point was just beyond the tunnel.  If I had gone three more miles, there's an even longer one.  It was tempting.  But, I was fine with the five miles out and back.

    Just across the state line is Myersdale, Pennsylvania.  Or as they call it, Maple City.   When the railroad came, they used it to ship syrup.  It's still the site of the annual Pennsylvania Maple Festival.

      I was here for two reasons.  First there was the Salisbury Viaduct.  The bridge's height is one hundred fifty feet and runs over 1,900 feet in length.

    There's a trail entry point close to the bridge. 

    The view...

     On the other side of Myersdale, sits their old depot, complete with a caboose parked out front.

      That's where I picked up the trail again.  

    Just over a mile and half up is the Bollman Bridge, designed by Wendell Bollman.  He kept his designs simple.  Every piece had markings that correspond with another part, so crews could simply match the markings.

     This isn't it's original location.  While it began as a railroad bridge, it was repurposed as a road bridge.  Eventually, it was moved here for the trail.

    Another half mile up the trail is the Keystone Viaduct.

While I never got to see any trains running underneath, about a 

mile back up the trail, I heard that familiar sound.  It was so close,  the ground vibrated.  I just couldn't see it.  No complaints though.          There was one more stop I would have liked to squeeze in, but the day was waning.  Another night in the Cumberland Best Western was fine by me.