3/14/2020
Our thirty state and third in a single day. We were pushing our stamina and daylight, but we wanted to get this ride done. When we left, there were concerns about the Corona virus, but we left for the trip anyway. Getting done faster and getting back home seemed like a good idea.
There was snow for the state sign, but it was just very drizzling rain by the time we got to our riding location. We were at the Paw Paw Tunnel Trailhead.The plan was to ride north about a mile to the tunnel, then go through and see the trail on the other side. Come back and ride the other direction on the trail to meet our distance and time goals. It was our second tunnel this day.
When we got there, I was worried that we encountered another closed tunnel, but there was a way through. If you’re curious, go read about the Paw Paw Tunnel’s history.
We walked the unicycles through the tunnel using our cell phones as flashlights. The path wasn’t smooth and it would have been a bad fall down to the water if we fell the wrong way. We found a hole in the bricks on the inside of the tunnel. We counted 8 layers of bricks used to make up the tunnel. This is a heck of a lot of work. Add this to the fact the tunnel is 3,118 feet long. It took a while to walk all the way through. We were both amazed with the quality of the finishing around both sides of the tunnel.
On the far side, a wooden walkway stretched a long distance. We were amazed that somebody thought it was a good idea to put a train track through this area!
Once we got back to the parking lot, we needed to keep riding to get our distance and time in. Here is another interesting part of the path. Again, lots of stone work on the side to drain water.
When we finished our ride, we were exhausted. We finished our third state in a single day. We were cold and wet and just wanted to call it a day. In fact, we were so tired, I left the tracker on and logged 37 miles back to the hotel for the night…
In order to compensate for this mistake, I went to Google Earth that night and measured the distance we rode. You can see in the photo from Corvin’s Journal our actual values.
Our incorrect Strava entry is listed above.
Our map of completed states. You’ll have to look close as its a smaller state.
Stats:
Total Trip Miles: 168.47
Total Moving Time: 32h 35m
Total Elevation Gained: 4456 feet
Total Hogan UPD: 15
Total Corvin UPD: 9
Hogan Haake