Inaugural MMXI

I had my bike tuned-up this week to get it ready for the coming biking season. Even though the temperature settled in the low-50s today, I decided to take it out for the inaugural ride. I decided to ride west to check out the new South Street bridge which open late last year. Recalling the old saw that a Platypus is an animal designed by committee, I call the South Street bridge the Platypus Bridge. It quite literally was a bridge designed by committee, with a contentious history pre-dating my arrival in Philadelphia. As far as I'm concerned, it's a big improvement over the old rickety structure it replaced and now gives me a better, much safer route west than Walnut Street.

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I stayed on the same road, which in turn became Spruce than Marshall street, for about five miles. My lungs, unaccustomed to working hard in the cold, burned. Gusty winds out of the west were more inhibiting than the cold weather. I slowed my pace after I turned off Marshall in to the residential neighborhoods of Upper Darby. Working my way north, I eventually intersected Haverford Road, a direct route back in to the city. My ride abruptly ended near the UPenn campus. I walked the last three miles back to my apartment.

Statistics
Length: 18.5 miles (21.7 incl. walk)
Ride Time: 1 hours 51 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 52 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10 MPH
Max Speed: 23.9 MPH
Max Elev: 337 ft.
Cumulative Ascent: 1,200 ft.

The High Line

In the 1930s, the New York Central relocated a section of freight railroad off of New York's city streets on to an elevated line that cut down the west side of Manhattan. The line fell into disuse a few decades later, with sections eventually being demolished. About half the line remains today as public park. The first section opened in 2009, with the second planned to open later this year. While in New York yesterday to send off some friends who are moving to California next month, I made a side trip to walk the the ten block section that is currently accessible.

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The track is a little erratic due to GPS interference from the tall buildings, but if you zoom in you can see the High Line quite clearly.

The High Line at 20th Street Entrance

Phase 2 (Opening Soon)

The Statue of Liberty through High Line Arbor

The High Line Passing Under Old Factory

South End of High Line

Discontiguous Section of the High Line
(Yesterday and Today View)

Feather River Scenic Byway

I spent last Labor Day driving the Feather River Scenic Byway, a stretch of CA-70 that hugs the river as it flows through the northern limit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The lowest pass through the mountains, I seen this route described as the dividing line between the Sierra Nevadas to the south and Cascades to the north. It it gorgeous route that requires creative engineering on plenty of occasions to make way with limited options. The highway is actually a latecomer to the canyon. The Western Pacific RR blazed the first route, tracks which are still in use.

I dedicated a whole day to the byway, an easily justifiable decision. The pins in the map recount most of my stops on the 120 mile journey.

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Feather River

Grizzly Dome Tunnel

I hoped to reach this peak, Ben Lomand, but...

3.5 miles (about 75%) up the trail, it disappeared into this dense underbrush.

All was not lost. There was plenty to admire from where I stopped.

Keddie Why

Eureka Peak

Eureka Lake

Clio Trestle

Airports 2010

In one of my earlier posts, I mapped all the airports I had passed through up to that point. Though I've flown a lot of miles over the last two years, I've only added five airports to my total, which stands at thirty-seven. Northwest's merger into Delta brought hub airports Atlanta (ATL) and Salt Lake City (SLC) in the fold. Atlanta is the only new addition that hasn't served as an origin or a destination. The other three new airports are Key West (EYW), San Diego (SAN) and San Jose (SJC).

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Cass Scenic Railroad

While in West Virginia last Autumn, I spent a morning riding the Cass Scenic Railroad, a tourist line that runs on the best extant collection of Shay locomotives. Unlike the vast majority of steam engines pistons and rods moving parallel the track, the Shay design arranges these critical elements vertically. Principally this modification allows Shays to navigate tighter turns; though at the expense of top speed. Logging and mining railroads adopted the design for winding narrow-gauge lines into rough mountain terrain. The Cass line descends from a lumber company that harvested the slopes of Back Allegheny Mountain.

I booked a ticket on the first train of the day, the 9:30 two-hour round trip to Whittaker Station about four miles up the line. I later train traveled further up to the mountain to bald knob one of the high points in the state. In the cold morning air, I found a seat the first car, which was actually the furthest from the engine, so that I could see the track ahead. The route passed the ruins of the lumber mill that once process the railroad's quarry; shifted off the mainline at a junction with a classic water tank and started the tough assent up the mountain. I especially enjoyed my front row seat at the two switchback required to gain elevation quickly. For a spell, I was at the back of the train.

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The train stopped at Whittaker Station, a replica of an old logging camp. I bought some lunch and hot cocoa before catching up with a guide talking about aspects of the logger's life. Also during the break, I watched as the engineer oiled part after complex part on the Shay engine. On the ride down we passed the the Bald Knob bound train via fascinating maneuver at the upper switchback. Back in town, I enjoyed watching the black-smoke belching Noon train depart from the station and then took a quick turn at the guided tour of the logging company town.

Cass Scenic Railroad

Cass Junction

Cass Lumber Mill Ruins

9:30 to Whittaker

Whittaker Station

Greenbriar Valley

Upper Switchback

Noon Train Departing Station

Cass, WV (Company Town)