5 hrs, 18 kms

I thought I had this next stretch all planned out nicely: follow old Route 22 up the mountains, then railroad turned trail that runs parallel to it ... then a trail to the Portage Railroad Historic Site... then head north on a road to Tunnelhill, the first of my series of Cambrian towns.

Things start just fine. The leaves are changing color so the scenery is beautiful. There's a dam a reservoir which makes for a nice photo op. But after 2 hours or so I start to wonder if I missed the trail. Then there an overpass and a what clearly looks like a railway turned train above it... except it runs backwards. I decide to take it anyways, figuring I must have missed the first turn off. I hike for a ways until I find a trail heading north up the the mountain. I figure I'd better take it and hope it's the trail I was supposed to take.

This trail clearly hasn't been cleared in a long time. At some point its got so much brush covering it, I figure it'd be easy just to blaze my own trail straight up the mountain. I figure, Tunnelhill has to be right over this mountain somewehere, right?

I've attempted blazing my own trail several times, and usually it's ended badly . Yet here I am again, putting my orientation skills to the test. It's an arduous climb to the top, and other then a few sections of brambles I manage to find a decent route up. Once at the top, there's a wooded plateau, then the ground starts sloping down. This means I've crossed the ridge and am heading north towards Tunnelhill, right? These Appalachian ridges are predictably long and straight... up one side and down the other...

I find a path which is nice... but it seems to be running parallel with the mountain rather than down. So I abandon it and go back to trailblazing. I hear a highway up ahead, and I assume it must be the freeway I have to cross to get to Tunnelhill.

Finally I reach a dirt road and heave a sigh of relief. No more trudging through the forest, not sure of where I'm going. I quicken my pace and start heading down hill.

The road turns and, looking at the sun, I get the uneasy feeling that I'm going south instead of north . Should I turn around and go the other way? That would be a long uphill climb--with the possibility of it being the wrong way. I decide to just continue on downhill to the highway below.

... And... it's basically where I started two hours ago. I've just walked in a giant circle. Once again, my orientation instinct has failed me.

Oh well. It's not as bad as having my car break down like it did last time, I try to reassure myself. I should still be able to recoup my losses. Maybe I can even convince myself that I wanted to wander around the woods for a couple of hours...

The Portage Railroad

Then, suddenly my day gets better. Much better.

I'd been planning to check out the Portage Railroad National Historic Site simply because... it's a national historic site. I didn't think much of it, assuming it's some sort of inclined railway--which I've seen many of .

I guess I missed the word "portage", which I've only heard before in the context of, like when you have to carry your canoe to avoid rapids or to get from one lake to another.

I never thought that "Portage Railroad" means exactly that: its a railroad that once carried canal boats over the mountains. Suddenly, I am absolutely fascinated.

I reach a beautiful stone bridge which was actually an overpass for horsecarts to cross over the railway (I guess even 180 years ago Americans didn't like to have to wait to cross a railway!) Then there's a straight, grassy incline up the mountainside. I read the historic markers and it gets more and more interesting.

Let's back up a little. Back in the early 1800s, there was a fervent passion to connect different regions of this new country, to be able to move people and goods back and forth easily. As in Europe, water seemed to be the best option . But as people moved west there was one seemingly insurmountable obstacle for keeping America connected: the Appalachian mountains. Just moving goods over the mountains by wagons and mule trains wasn't going to hack it.

Massive canal projects were underway. The Erie Canal had just been completed, an amazing achievement, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic. The C & O canal along the Potomac was underway.

Then, here in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains, it was felt that another route was needed. I can only imagine what the reaction must have been when someone suggested the idea.

"How about if we carry the canal boats over the mountains?"

That sounds pretty crazy now... I can only imagine how it sounded back then!

But that's exactly what they did. Canal boats arrived in Holidaysburg, then were loaded onto railroad carts, and were hauled by mule up a series of ten inclines . Then, once over the peak, they would go down another series of inclines to Johnstown, where they'd then be dropped into a new network of canals, thus making it possible to haul goods over the Appalachian Mountains... by boat.

I continue on up to the ridge. Here still stands the station at the top of the incline. During the 20 years that this system was in use, mules were replaced by steam engines at the top of the incline which used a system of ropes and cables to pull the railroad carts loaded with canal boats up the mountainside. It shows how there was even a "safety car" which hauled a heavy anchor that would catch the car if/when the rope broke, hopefully stopping the cars from speeding unrestained down the mountain.

As I observe this display I'm struck by a number of things which give me new insight into the character of my country. One is the crazy originality of this idea. Instead of just unloading boats, hauling the cargo over the mountains onto other boats, as was done elsewhere ... why not just haul the boats themselves? This shows the wild optimism of Americans (and the financiers) to try things never done before. This attitude, I believe, was one of the key components to making America the powerful country of innovation that it is today.

Another thing I think of is this sheer determination to keep America as one single cohesive economy. In other parts of the world natural barriers become borders as they limit interaction between people on both sides. Cultures evolve separately and people remain somewhat isolated.

But in America there was a determination to streamline the connection between all corners of the country, keeping it united and big... and as a result... very powerful.

I suspect that profit was more of a motive for this than patriotism. banks, ferry companies and railroad lines knew that the farther they could reach the more money they would make. But this did help result in making America the most powerful country in the world which hasn't had a civil war or an invasion in over 150 years.

Of course, there are many dark aspects to this nation's rise to superpower status. Genocide... slavery... the military industrial complex...

But today, I'm just going to gaze out on these slopes... imagine the sight of bigass canal boats being hauld up the mountainside... and be inspired by the "can do" spirit of this nation.