ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Back in July, my wife, Robin, and I visited the city of my birth...Cumberland, Maryland...and spent some time riding on the C & O Tow Path.  It was a really neat experience.  I was born there and grew up thirty miles north in Bedford, Pennsylvania...but the extent of my time in Cumberland was limited to hanging out at the mall when I was a teenager.  Robin and I had a great time...riding south out of Cumberland and then turning off of the C & O Tow Path, through Knobley Tunnel...straight into West Virginia and then crossing back into Maryland.  Our ride got super nerdy when as we passed the spot of Fort Ohio and Fort Cumberland...both French and Indian War outposts...and then to an old wooden house that served as the headquarters for Colonel George Washington while he was stationed in Cumberland during the French and Indian War.  Not far away, on the sight of what was once Fort Cumberland I paused for a photo with a statue of young Washington.  It w...

85,000.  That's roughly the number of acres that make up Michaux State Forest in Central Pennsylvania.  One would think that after 15 years of mountain biking in the forest that it would be hard to find something new to ride, but the 85,000 acres makes Michaux a big place.  Actually...really big!  There are certain spots that I love where the forest seems to just engulf everything.  I know that there are cars and roads and buildings and telephone poles down there...but the forest just swallows it all up.  The sensory experience...the breeze blowing through the trees, the green that stretches as far as the eyes can see, and the fresh smell of the blossoming mountain laurel...is so rejuvenating.  Nothing man-made or unnatural.  Just the forest. From 800 feet up the forest seems to engulf everything. -- July 7, 2020 85,000 acres allows for so many possibilities.  Even so, it can be easy to fall into the routine of riding the same familiar trail...