Sunday, February 13, 2011

Cumberland Valley Rail-Trail

Today I decided to tackle at least part of the Cumberland Valley Rail-Trail. This is an old, decommissioned rail bed which has been converted to a walking/biking/equestrian trail that runs for 11 miles (17.7 km) from Shippensburg to Newville. I walked to Duncan Rd., which is marked as 3.6 miles (5.8 km) from the trail head, before turning back.

For the first mile of the trail it skirts the southern fringes of Shippensburg University, and there are evidences of student use along that part of the trail, like multicolored birdhouses which look like they were part of a class project.



There are memorial benches all up and down the trail offering rest for weary feet and legs. This one was in the Shippensburg U area and dedicated to a now-deceased professor. I find it interesting that these benches were handmade from store lumber and the messages were carved and painted by someone who was obviously a volunteer. I'm so used to the memorial benches in Newport and along the East Bay Bike Path in Bristol, Warren, and East Providence, RI being commercially available benches with cast bronze memorial plaques that these handmade benches were very touching, evidence that this trail is truly a community effort.


For the first 2 miles (3.2 km) the trail is surrounded by woods, with only brief glimpses of fields and farms beyond the trees. One of those glances revealed this pony calmly grazing in the snow.


But close to the 3 mile (4.8 km) marker the northeast side of the trail emerges from the trees and offers wide-open panoramic vistas of the farms of the Cumberland Valley and the next mountain ridge beyond them.




And that was as far as I got today. By the time I got to Duncan Rd. I'd walked 5 miles (8 km), including the walk from home to the trail head, which would make it a round trip to 10 miles (16 km). That's enough of a hike for a Sunday constitutional!

© 2011 by A. Roy Hilbinger

3 comments:

  1. 10 miles definitely counts as a constitutional--& then some. My favorites here are the close-up of the birdhouses, the bench--good photo & cool object in itself--& the grazing pony.

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  2. 10 miles in the cold! Wow...impressive, Roy. How many other brave souls did you encounter along the trail?

    The Little Miami Trail I walk all the time is also an old railway. It hugs the Little Miami River, which makes it a bird magnet. Did you notice coal spilled along the sides of the trail? We still find lots of railroad ties and coal chunks--all very old.

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  3. Nice walk! Next you'll be telling us that you did the same thing every day on your way to school when you were six! The detail and color on the birdhouses just leap out of the screen.

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