"Biking the Pike."

I'm not a professional or anything, but when I'm out being active in one of my hobbies, I like taking photos. I use a Sony RX100 and just use its intelligent auto settings.    Anyway, assuming this area of the forum is for sharing pictures, here's my first contribution from this past weekend!

This past Saturday, I went biking and geocaching on the 13 miles of abandoned turnpike near Breezewood, PA. Along this 13 miles are 2 tunnels, one of which is over a mile long and curves through the mountain..., so you can't see the other end, and in the middle, you can't see your hand in front of your face. They had to abandon this stretch because these tunnels necked down to single lane and obviously couldn't handle the increasing traffic, and widening them proved to be impossible. I picked up 9 geocaches along the way!

Beginning the trek!



Just a cool looking curve.



That tree doesn't give a shit.



These are the first in-road reflectors tried in the USA.



Approaching Ray's Hill Tunnel. Looks like something out of The Walking Dead.



You can see the other end of this tunnel. Lots of graffiti.



Some of the graffiti is very good.



I found this stacked rock wall interesting. I wonder what's behind it?



Some more of the graffiti.



Some cool graffiti on top of Ray's Hill Tunnel.



Looking down from the top of Ray's Hill Tunnel



Another cool view of nature reclaiming what once was hers.



1880 something railroad culvert. There's a geocache in there somewhere.



Going in! The cache was halfway in. Fortunately, I wasn't attacked by any spiders, and I just kept looking at the ground so that I didn't see them. I could feel them watching me though.



Approaching Sideling Hill Tunnel.



Going in. You can't see the other side, because this tunnel is over a mile long and curves through the mountain. There's water pouring out of the ceiling here, and elsewhere, but the state claims the tunnel is sound. I've seen caverns that water has carved, I wonder what it's doing to this tunnel's ceiling?



I did get some flora and fauna. These guys are sharing this flower.



This lone daisy has claimed this stretch of abandoned highway.



Another wild flower. I used to be able to identify all of these, but that's a skill long since forgotten. i need to re-acquire it.

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Can you imagine the zombie hoards coming at you?

Cool Pics.
Mountain biking ora motorcycle?

Phil

Those photos are terrific! I felt as if I was on the journey with you. Thanks for sharing them.

Cool Pics.
Mountain biking ora motorcycle?

Phil

Sorry, should have mentioned that. It's a bicycle, a hybrid, the ghost panamao x3.

Those photos are terrific! I felt as if I was on the journey with you. Thanks for sharing them.

Thank you and you're welcome!

Justin

great photos, Justin.

any ideas why this road was ever abandoned?

Yes, as I mentioned in the OP, it necked down to single lanes at these tunnels and they were unable to handle the increasing traffic. They could have bored new tunnels, but it turned out to be cheaper to just reroute the pike.

Justin

Nice pictures. Been through Breezewood on the turnpike a million times, never knew this existed.

Cool! It definitely looks as though it would be a good location for at least part of a movie.

I'm surprised it hasn't been taken by an ATV club and made into a part of a trail.

Cool! It definitely looks as though it would be a good location for at least part of a movie.

I'm surprised it hasn't been taken by an ATV club and made into a part of a trail.

It has been in part of a movie, "The Road."

Good flick you haven't seen it.

Justin

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Nice pictures.  Been through Breezewood on the turnpike a million times, never knew this existed.

It's just outside of the main hub of Breezewood on Rt 30 east as you head towards Gettysburg. The parking area is where the cars are in the picture, and you can see the trail leading to the abandoned pike out of the parking area, marked in red. In the center of the picture, you can see the large chunk gravel of the old bridge abutment that supported the bridge over Rt 30, that obviously no longer exists.

I posted this info in case anyone is interested in hiking/biking there one day. I love hiking/biking and I love modern ruins, so this hit the spot for several of my hobbies.

[Image: 885dbd79-8d05-4df9-8d91-130738f1c698_zps7zwjha7w.png]

The butterfly we saw looked like a Skipper.