Deth

Fitness and everything else

PA Delorme and All Counties Challenge Road Trip

Last week was Molly’s vacation and we had wanted to work on the Pennsylvania Delorme and all county challenges. We were able to hook up with Geometeacher from York and had a great two day trip in western Pa.

We got to see some pretty cool things. One of the caches we did gave you a view of the I 80 bridge over the Allegheny river. I had been over it and never realized how height it actually is. It turns out it’s 270 feet above the river according to the cache page and was the highest bridge east of the Mississippi when it was built 40 years ago.

We made it across I 80, went to Ohio to add that state and got to Pittsburgh and got a room. Not bad for a day. The next morning we went southwest then east towards home.

Wednesday we stopped by some really interesting places. The first that comes to mind is the site of the rescue shaft from the Quecreek Mine accident in 2002. It’s hard to imagine how they were able to know where they were underground and rescue them from above. I couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through the miner’s heads. I’ve always wanted to visit this area but had no idea there was a virtual cache here.

It was too bad we didn’t get to visit the sight where flight 93 went down. We really didn’t realize we’d be as close to it as we were but next time through the area we are going to try to stop by.

We were pretty surprised how route 30 winds up and over the mountains out in that part of the state. I guess we are just used to it being a highway in our area and east towards Philly.

We also did a cache called the coffee pot. It was at a a coffee pot shaped structure along Lincoln highway. It’s always interesting to see these odd shaped buildings.

One of the last caches of the day was the Len Miller bridge one. I have been wanting to do this one for years. It’s a really nice place. I would love to return to that area and explore some.

I really feel lucky to live in Pennsylvania because it has a lot of history and diverse geography. You just really don’t know what you may find.