4 hrs, 5 kms

Actual date: April 2, 2015

I like to say that the reason I'm doing this big loop up through Huntingdon, Cambria and Bedford counties is because I want to experience the real Appalachia . But that's more of an excuse... the real reason is that ther are lots of incorporated towns lined up one after another along these narrow valleys. I need to add more towns if I'm going to make my quota--and this looks like just the area to do it.



It seems a bit ironic, since this area is much less populated than, say, the Cumberland Valley. However it seems here towns have clung to their identity and self-determination, whereas in the valley much of the growth is sprawled throughout the countryside with fewer actual towns.

So today I start with Shade Gap, which is a bit different because it's partway up the hillside rather than on the valley floor. Just one street, it's got a bit of a scruffy feel with houses in need of a paint job (including one that has a plaque saying it was a hotel in the 1920s...) but with a neighborly feel with folks out and about.

On up the road, a side road reads "covered bridge". Can't pass that up for sure, so I follow it for a mile or so and--sure enough, there's a nicely painted red and white covered bridge across the stream.



I think I'm going to go through my photos and put together a collection of all the covered bridges I've come across...