Why I Hike

I've talked about travel. I've talked about housing; I've talked about a lot of different places I've been. But now, even more so than when I did my Boy Scout post, I feel obligated to make a post describing the top 5 reasons why I hike. Hiking, or glorified trail walking, is an activity that used to be essential for survival. With modern technology and conveniences, is become a long-lost art to too many people. However, there are still others amongst us who enjoy the act of hiking. Here is why I do it.

1) You are constantly experiencing new environments.

When you are out there hiking, you're constantly being exposed to many different types of terrain at any given point in time. It really challenges your physical and mental limits. Not only have that, but everybody’s body reacts differently to different climates and environments. When you're out in wilderness, anything can happen, and it teaches you to be engaging in your surroundings and to be completely present in whatever task you are doing.

2) It keeps you in shape.

This obviously depends on the frequency of what you go hiking, but in general, let it be known that it is a great cardiovascular activity. Even for the infrequent hiker, it is still a good break from utilizing the treadmill, jogging the neighborhood, or of course, from being a couch potato. You really learned to utilize every muscle in your body to its Advantage as you scale steep terrains, go for miles on end without stopping, and put yourself at the mercy of Mother Nature. And eventually, with perseverance and practice, you might just become like the guy that I saw sprinting up and down the Shenandoah mountain range, trail running an average of 10 miles every day.

3) You get away from Modern conveniences.

It is the 21st century. We currently live in a world marred by technology that lives around every single corner. Regardless of creed, personal agenda, or any other opinion, it is generally agreeable that too much technology can be detrimental to one's well-being. After all, none of our settlers had iPods or cell phones. Although this deficit of Technology may be startling to some, two others, it is sacred. You get to experience life without modern conveniences, which in and of itself can teach people if thankfulness for all of life's little things that otherwise wouldn't be mentioned.

4) You get a huge system detox.

Having been around patients on concentrated oxygen through nasal cannula, I can firmly attached that nothing beats Fresh Air pump to straight from the trees and the clouds. You also get a huge vitamin D boost, and read your bodies of impurities while sweating out toxins on the trail. Take Along some trail mix filled with antioxidant berries, pack some leafy greens, drink a cup of green tea, and you've got it made.

5) You will never see these sites or meet these people hiding inside your house.

I have met so many wonderful people just by saying hello on the hiking trail or in a Pit Stop Restaurant. You’ll never know what you’ll find, and when you might find it.

This is a short list, but a comprehensive one. So what are you waiting for? Strap on your boots and hit the dirt highway!

Haunted Highway

About 2 hours West of where I grew up, and about 40 minutes west of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, there is an old stretch of highway that has been desolate and abandoned 4 the last 40 years or so. This stretch of highway is simply called the abandoned PA Turnpike, because that is exactly what it is. Always curious for more urban exploration, I decided to go and check this place out for myself.

For the backstory of this 13 Mile long stretch of highway, it was first commissioned around since 1941 by the Pennsylvania highway agency. It served as a main route for transportation until the 60s, where it was deemed impractical because it became so heavily trafficked due to the bottlenecking of the tunnels at Sideling Hill, Tuscarora, Rays Hill, and blue hill made traffic and absolute nightmare. Around 1964, a plan was laid down to expand the turnpike, which was partially followed through, until the highway was eventually shut down with the construction of the new Turnpike in the 80s. Although the tunnels and Highway roads have not been maintained for over 30 years, the tunnels are still intact, and parts of the highway and Turnpike themselves, although littered with graffiti, are still approachable.

And so, two of my friends and I set out on an adventure to check out as much of this Turnpike as we possibly could. We first came up on a stretch of road in Buchanan State Forest called Oregon road,

where we parked in a lay-by and climbed to the top of a tunnel to see the first stretch of abandoned highway. Other than a beautiful place to take a few pictures of the surrounding Forest, there wasn't much to see in the ways of graffiti. However, this is where my GPS deemed the tunnels to be, and this is where my first stop was. We consulted a few other blogs before moving forward with our next destinations.

One blog suggested we take 30 West through Chambersburg until we get to Blue Mountain Road followed consecutively by Pump Station Road. And so we did just that, getting to another section of Turnpike that was just as Bland as the last. However, we still did not see any tunnels. As a last-ditch effort, we drove to a location called "Pike to Bike", a non-profit company run by the community that is going to be turning the abandoned turnpike until public domain Rail Trail. It started sleeting, and my shoes were soaked, but we found a pair of joggers about a mile into our walk down the road then insured us that we were about threequarters of the way towards one of the bigger tunnels on the turnpike. So, now that we knew that we were on the right track, we forced on words.

This time I was about 18 minutes from Rays Hill Tunnel, so I believe it was the Tuscarora tunnel in Breezewood Pennsylvania. Walking 5 minutes into it, we saw a lot of graffiti, and we were still just as it, we saw a lot of graffiti, and we were still just as close to the light at the end of the tunnel as we were at the beginning. Although we can see the light, we determine if there was an incredibly long tunnel. There was a rusted maintenance room in Boiler Room nearby, as well as an observation tower, but all the doors were rusted shut, so even upon entry by crawling through a broken out window, we couldn't see much.

After dropping a few pieces of metal and running through the dark like bumbling idiots, we decided to depart from the turnpike. Whether or not it is haunted remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure; I will be going back to see the tunnels another day.

Looks inviting, right?