67: flying monkeys, bone cave, inspiration, go in style, woodcock, switchback art, road sign, deet vs. helmet, mason-dixon, #9, fishing permitted, stacking gold, a savage offer, an entertaining deejay at the divide, keystone, brush, bollman, donges

June 18, 2025

Cumberland to Meyersdale

I'm ready for more mosquitoes, which are worse than flying monkeys. I carried every single one of these bottles, and by god was prepared to used all of them if necessary. I will NOT run out of insect repellent, even though it doesn't work.

If you recall from when I first started on the C&O, it's all uphill for a while. Today begins the steep section in the middle.

No mud, though, for which I'm extremely grateful.

Image not found :( — The Bone Cave - sounds creepy

I had no idea that Thomas Jefferson was also a paleontologist. In 1797, he examined fossil bones in a WV cave and initially believed they belonged to a large lion. He called it "Great Claw,” or Megalonyx (a term he coined, creating a new genus), and presented a paper about his findings to the American Philosophical Society. Later, after seeing an illustration of a Megatherium skeleton in a London magazine, he realized the remains were similar to those of a giant sloth from South America. The French naturalist Anselme Desmarest later formally named the species Megalonyx jeffersonii in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

We met Susan and J. W., from Kentucky, heading in the opposite direction and ended up talking for about half an hour. Susan, like Heather, is still working, also at the Veterans Affairs. J. W., like me, has retired, although he was a mail carrier for many years. We talked mostly about bicycling, but I would like to have heard some stories from his experiences. That's a profession in which I bet there a dozens of interesting tales.

This is Susan's first tour, from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, and she said she's enjoying it. J. W. has taken a number of them, including one from Key West to (if I recall correctly) the Pacific Northwest. Historically, he's always travelled with his brother, who generally does all of the planning. Now that his brother isn't as available, I encouraged him to start planning a trip without him. The same thing many of us tell people: "If I can do it, so can you." He seemed get excited about the prospect, and even said I inspired him.

As we were riding away, Heather noticed me smiling.

“What are you grinning about?” she asked.

With a smug grin, I responded, “Did you hear that?"

"What?"

When we were talking, "He called me ‘an inspiration.’”

A small chuckle.... “I believe you misheard him. He actually used the word 'perspiration.'"

Maybe, but I didn't stop grinning.

I couldn't believe this "Go In Style" portable toilet. It's bigger on the inside, like a Tardis, with enough room to walk around. The walls are burnished gold, and the place smells of lilacs. The seat, also gold, was warm and soft, and there was background music playing on the best sound system I’ve ever heard. I was a little uncomfortable with the two people inside with me: one with a palm frond, and the other ready to assist me in washing up afterwards, but they were very professional and turned away at the appropriate moment. “Go In Style” indeed.

There was a group of about 15 of these electric-assist cars on the track. We have one near us in Boone, Iowa, and they're a lot of fun.

This guy was the trailing car in case anyone has problems.

Of course I snapped a picture of this, a caption already forming in my mind. Like the previous Squirrel Hollow street sign, this tells you that you're in the boonies. The only thing that could've made it more rural is changing the name to "Squorl Holler," so that it's pronounced correctly.

As we were passing it, Heather quipped, "I was going to say 'I'd like to see a woodcock,' but I didn't because that would just set you up for one of your corny jokes."

I let her know that I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about. A joke about a woodcock? I can't, because... it's just too hard.

These machines are designed to remove and replace railroad ties. The last time I saw one I completely stopped to marvel for twenty minutes, fascinated by the engineering and how they work.

It started raining so we rode a little faster to a bridge a couple of hundred yards ahead....

....only to find it wasn't preventing the water from falling on us. Fortunately, it cleared up shortly thereafter.

There are a couple of Points of Interest in Frostburg that I wanted to see, so that meant a lot of climbing. This is the first section, with switchbacks. The second section went straight uphill with no switchbacks, and topped out at a grade of almost 35% - I didn't even try riding up it, and could barely push my bike to the top.

There are several cool bicycle-related pieces of art along the way up the switchback.

This is me, right before I started pushing my bike.

In the 1750s a British General, Edward Braddock, marched 2,000 troops through the Allegheny Mountains toward what is now Pittsburgh. His advance party of road cutters and surveyors placed a 2000-pound rock near Frostburg, engraved with distances and directions to places such as Captain Smyth’s Inn and Redstone Old Fort. People called it “The Braddock Stone,” and it was eventually removed from the roadside and stuck in a storeroom.

Surprisingly, no one seemed to want it. Frostburg State University had it, but didn’t want it, and tried to give it to a local high school but the school was torn down. The Stone ended up at the Allegany (spelled correctly) County Board of Education, but they didn’t want it either. Locations were suggested and rejected: a local church, a local theater, another local high school.

Finally, according to the Cumberland Times-News, the Stone found a home here at the Frostburg Museum.

I *think* this is America's second oldest road, and its first and oldest military road, built in 1755.... If not this one, I do know it's SOMEwhere close. Of course, Native Americans had roads all over the place... it's just that these were the first two to be surveyed.

We had a long lunch in Frostburg, after which we again sprayed ourselves down with insect repellent, then coasted back to the GAP.

At 957 feet (291.6 meters), the Borden Tunnel is the second longest tunnel of the four on the GAP. It uses solar-powered motion sensors to turn on the LED lights, so the tunnel lights up as you pedal through it.

About half an hour after we left Frostburg, Heather asked me if I got DEET on my helmet when I was spraying it on.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You're gonna need a new helmet."

Let me be your cautionary tale: Don't let any kind of spray get on your helmet unless you want to buy a new one. I actually knew better - I don't know what I was thinking.

I can safely say that no mosquitoes bit my helmet.

I always thought the Mason-Dixon Line arose as a result of divisions which ultimately led to the Civil War, but I was mistaken. It was originally established way back in the mid 1700s to settle a border dispute between the Penns (William Penn of Pennsylvania) and the Calverts (Lord Baltimore of Maryland).

It’s a long and complex history so I won’t go into significant detail, but the interesting parts to me are that: The conflict escalated from an attack on some settlers as a result of mistaken identity (followed by a lack of judicial reaction because the attacker was a “liver in Maryland”) to another attack in which 50 men broke down the door of a woman, threatened to kill her servant (but not her?) then stole a “hogshead of rum” (about 63 gallons). The number of people involved in the fighting continued to rise until there was an actual war (Cresap’s War, which I'd never heard of), and King George II had to tell them to knock it off. (If you're reading this on your phone, you might not be able to tell that the concrete blocks spell out the words M A S O N D I X O N.)

The name, Mason-Dixon, comes from English astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon, who were charged by the King to survey and demarcate the precise boundaries. They were known for their expertise in surveying and astronomical observations, and employed advanced (for the time) techniques and equipment, including a zenith sector, an astronomical clock, and 16.5-foot rods, to accurately measure and plot the boundary line.The Line became a practical boundary between free and slave territories and, consequently, an ironclad symbol of the North-South divide.

Wait....WHAT?!?!? Am I reading this correctly?? What sort of mysterious and kind stranger IS this???

We met some riders going in the opposite direction who stopped at the same sprawling vista above. One of them, an energetic man in his sixties, became very excited upon hearing about my trip, although it's possible he's simply one of those people who gets excited about everything. I shared my blog with him, and he gave me his YouTube channel's website. He has 193,000 followers, and I was intrigued about what kind of content it was, especially after I asked if I could take his picture. He initially said yes, then changed his mind because he'd shared his name with me. It's very important to him that no one links his identity to what he posts.

I took a look at the YouTube channel later and found that it's about "gold stacking," a term I wasn't familiar with.

According to the internet, "stacking gold" refers to the practice of consistently purchasing physical gold, typically in the form of bars or coins, over time as a way to accumulate wealth and potentially protect against economic uncertainty or inflation. It's a strategy employed by people who want to diversify their investments beyond traditional assets and build a personal "stack" of gold for the future.

I looked at some of his posts and maybe I'm wrong, but it seems the gold stacking is for the upcoming economic devastation about to happen. The most recent post was to warn us about the "Marxist running for mayor of New York City." "Mamdani's nomination is not just a threat to the largest city in our nation, it's an existential threat to America!" and "WAKE UP, AMERICA!"

At 3,294 feet (1004 meters), the Big Savage Tunnel is the longest of the four GAP tunnels, and longer even than the Paw Paw Tunnel on the C&O. The most likely etymology of the name "Big Savage," based on surviving historical accounts, involves a surveying party in the mid-1700s who became trapped in a heavy snowstorm on a remote ridge and were facing starvation. One of the men, John Savage, is said to have volunteered himself to be killed and eaten by the others so they could live. Even without cannibalizing him the entire party survived, and the mountain where this event occurred was named Big Savage Mountain in his honor.

Because of the grade, I hadn't expected to average as much as 10 mph, but I also didn't expect to average the tortoise pace of 6.5 mph, which is what it was by the time we reached the Divide.

I haven't really mentioned anything about the physical riding today. The grade is a gentle 2%, but it's unrelenting: a long, continuous climb that never seems to end, and with sections that are definitely more steep than that. It isn't difficult, but it makes you feel like you have no energy because you can't even tell you're going uphill. It was a slog of a different color.

Eventually, we arrived at the Eastern Continental Divide: water on the eastern/southern side of the Divide drains to the Atlantic Ocean, and water on the western/northern side drains to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Divide is a Happy Place... every biker who arrived stopped and celebrated. If you're here, from this point on you're going downhill regardless of where you started today.

We started talking to one rider, D. J. from New Jersey. When I introduced myself he said, “Mark? You’re the second Mark I've met on this trip,” then went on to tell about the first one.

After leaving Pittsburgh yesterday he was riding along and came upon a man in his 70s and a woman in her 20s who were stopped on the side of the trail. When he asked if they needed help the woman said yes, so he pulled over. They introduced themselves, and she asked if he knew anything about bike repair.

As soon as he answered that he's a part-time bike mechanic, Mark, the older guy, bolted away with barely a goodbye.

Coincidentally, they ended up stopping in the same town last night and had dinner together. D. J. said in spite of Mark's abrupt departure, he turned out to be an okay guy. Listening to his entertaining stories, I found myself smiling during our entire conversation.

As we were chatting, I noticed an interesting peculiarity. He recognized from our accents that we aren't from the East Coast, and introduced himself as being from "New Jersey." However, when he found out another rider was from New York he shortened it to “I'm from Jersey.” The interesting thing to me is that only people from New Jersey do that. New Yorkers don't say, "I'm from York." What's up with that?

D.J., from Jersey, whose dry humor was entertaining to everyone he talked to

Look how happy the Stick Men are. So were we. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the "no more than 1.75% grade" is complete horseshit, even if you don't ride into Frostburg.

The Keystone Viaduct, a 910-foot blend of truss and girder, passes over Flaugherty Creek. It was almost removed in the 1990s because of liability issues, but a moratorium imposed by the governor saved it. I'm not sure why this bridge has high fences and the other don't.

The Parkersburg Road sign seemed out of place because, as you can see, there's no road. We eventually realized that it's referring to the overpass behind us.

The Brush Tunnel is the shortest concrete tunnel in Maryland (not something I'd brag about) and has solar-powered motion‑activated lights. It's my understanding that you don't want to be in the tunnel when a train comes barreling through.

The Bollman Bridge was designed by another self-educated engineer (like Benjamin Wright, who designed all of the locks on the C&O), which makes me think educating oneself back then was commonplace. If that's so, what are the final exams? And if your self-training is subpar, do people die when your bridge collapses? And how do you get that first job? Is an apprenticeship considered to be “self-training?”

Fortunately, in Bollman’s case, not only did it survive, it’s one of the oldest standing iron railroad bridges in the United States, and the only surviving example of a revolutionary design in the history of American bridge engineering. It was built in 1852 with both wrought iron and cast iron, and has been in use since it was first built.

I'm not exactly sure of the pronunciation of this place, but I hope I'm wrong. Regardless, the food was good. I had a chocolate shake with my meal, then another one for dessert.

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Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 1,786 miles (2,874 km)

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Mark BinghamShortly after we finished this section, there was a landslide "triggered by recent heavy rain and high winds" which resulted in the closure of more than six miles. The GAP's website announced, "The earth continues to move and rocks and trees are falling each day. Do not bypass the barricades. Conditions are unstable. There is no detour." Fortunately for those behind us, the GAP Conservancy arranged for a free shuttle. My fantastic luck is holding and, hopefully, it will continue for another 66 years.
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