July 21 Wildflowers of the Cranberry Wilderness Area

July 20-21 Greenbrier River Ride

Roughly, one month ago, a "thousand year rain" occurred in the area near Lewisburg WV. With 8-10 inches of rainfall in an 8 hour period, creeks and rivers quickly filled. The Greenbrier River and many of its tributaries flooded. It was the 3rd highest death toll due to flooding in WV history, with 23 deaths. I didn't know what to expect on the Greenbrier River Rail Trail which runs alongside its namesake river. The hardest hit area was the southern end of the trail as it approaches Lewisburg. After parking in Anthony near MP 14, I decided to ride north because there was a makeshift yellow tape barrier across the trail headed south.

Riding to Remick, the trail was in good shape with some obvious repairs. I'm certain those areas will require additional work, but for now, the trail is passable north of Anthony. I saw many freshly sawed trees which had uprooted. Usually the result was a pile of rubble. Once the tree uprooted, there was nothing to hold the surrounding soil and rocks in place. 

After returning to the trailhead, I bicycled past the yellow tape heading south. About a mile away, right at MP 13, the trail abruptly ends with a landslide. I read later the slide is 400 feet long and 150 feet deep. It is estimated it will cost over $2 million to repair with the biggest issue being, where to put the debris. The area is tightly situated here with almost vertical land on one side and the river on the other. Right now, it looks precarious, as if more will come down with the next rain. I was afriad to climb up on the slide but I have seen photos of others who have climbed up. 

If you had been staying at this campsite, the tentpad, picnic table and water pump all survived completely intact but only a few feet from the edges of this slide. The adjacent outhouse is underneath the rubble and a camp shelter got tossed around but might be salvageable. 

It was quite a sight to see!

The following day, I am riding north from Marlinton toward Cass and back. This little skunk didn't want to move out of the way. Whenever I started to move toward the critter, it raised its tail up. So I had to wait until this guy moved along before continuing to bicycle.

Near Cloverlick, there is a very pretty river scene. In the photo above you can see two buttresses from a former bridge, laying in the river. 

Some paid a good deal of money to restore this depot in Cloverlick. It looks great but doesn't seem to serve any purpose. Not far from here I decided to turn around. There was a hardtop road right next to the trail which I assumed would take me back to Cloverlick. I began riding on this road. It followed the river and trail for a bit but then climbed and I soon realized I was riding away from the river. Rather then turn back and retrace to the trail, I pushed on. At the first intersection, I turned back in the direction of the river and eventually ended up in Cloverlick. My short ride through the country passed several abandoned homes and a very interesting building which looked like a schoolhouse but was actually an Episcopal church. It was engulfed in weeds and bushes. Someone did care for the small cemetery adjacent to it. 

Although this looks somewhat like the inside of a cathedral, it is the Sharps Tunnel near MP 65.

July 8 Walk through Millionaires Row

The lumber industry brought great prosperity to some in the Williamsport PA area. At one point around 1870, there were more millionaires per capita in Williamsport than any other US city. The lumber barons owned the land the trees grew on, the boom which collected the logs on the river, the sawmills which processed the logs and the railroads which transported the finished product. As they grew wealthy, they also owned businesses in town, became politically well connected and thrived in many ways. The workers who labored in the mills, on the boom and in the forest, barely survived financially. There was labor strife and riots but the gap between the rich and poor grew steadily throughout this period. Some comparisons are given now with the riches the Marcellus gas deposits are bringing to some in the area.

Not all the fabulous mansions of the lumber barons are being restored. So many of them became boarding homes and were chopped up. They had exterior fire escapes added, window air conditioners adorn many windows. Yards were sacrificed for parking. It appears to me, only 10-20% of these old mansions are in a state today which could be renovated. 

July 8 Susquehanna Bicycle Ride

The west branch of the Susquehanna River flows past Williamsport PA. The scene above is from a bridge over the wide river. A greenway on either side of the river makes for a nice bicycle ride. The greenway sits atop a levee. Initially I thought the route was an old railbed but after making some tight turns, I realized it could not be a railbed. The levee was quite high on both sides of the river. It appeared to have relief outlets on the exterior side to allow some water to escape should the river attain a threatening level. 

The riverbanks are US govt property. The levees were built and are controlled by the Army Core of Engineers. It must have been an easy decision to put a greenway atop the levee. 

This area of Pennsylvania was heavily timbered in the latter part of the 1800s. In 1851, a 7 mile boom was built to collect logs being floated down the river. Dozens of sawmills operated in Williamsport area. Getting the logs to the sawmill was, at that time, best accomplished by floating them to the sawmill. In order to corral the logs a boom was built extending 7 miles upriver. The boom consisted of 352 "cribs". Cribs were man made islands of lumber and stone. There were placed about 100 feet apart and stood 22 feet high. Between these cribs, chains were strung to catch the logs. There was a curve in the river which forced all the logs to naturally flow to the south side. Here the boom caught them. "Boom rats" identified the logs by markings and rafted them to the proper sawmill. The boom operated for over 50 years. In 1894 a flood damaged it, losing 2 million board feet of lumber in the process. By 1909 the timber had been cut to such a degree, there was no need to continue lumbering operations. 

Here are remnants of cribs along the river.