August 19 Bridge Building and a Beautiful Rail Trail
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/100319018
We left this very picturesque area to travel on to rejoin our route at Zanesville. Although we paralleled the Licking River and traveled on Pleasant Valley Road, it had some pretty challenging hills. So it wasn't so pleasant for us! It also had a limestone quarry and a number of dump trucks traveling to and from the quarry. We also saw a HUGE junk yard-- estimate there were 40+ acres of cars over the hills. After leaving that road, we traveled along a section of the old National Road and saw an old bridge where a stagecoach carrying some famous politicians overturned as it came down the hill approaching the bridge. Fortunately, no one was hurt. In Zanesville, we got to cross the famous Y-bridge built to carry the National Road over the Muskingum River where the Licking River joins it, and connect the 3 parts of Zanesville separated by the rivers. We worked our way through some city streets to get to our hotel--and the last block was up a steep hill!
We had homemade breakfast sandwiches and pear slices at our hosts, so we were all fueled up fto begin our day. The hills on the roads we took to leave were more fun than challenging, unlike on the way there! A few miles away, we went by the largest Longaberger basket in the world!
Due to where lodging was located along our route and the mileage between what was available, we had a shorter day mileage-wise. So we decided to ride and hike at a park our hosts had mentioned. BlackHand Gorge State Nature Preserve has the Licking River and a beautiful 4 mile rail trail running through it and several hiking trails. A deep cut through the rock was made in 1851 to lay the tracks.
We saw a spider web lit up by the sun with multicolored shimmering. Each strand was visible, but in the photo a lot of the detail is lost. It was about 10 feet off the ground and 8 to 10 feet between trees, so it was quite amazing that this spider was able to spin its web in midair so to speak.
We also saw some amazing roots growing down the side of the rock.
At one end of the park, a bridge was being replaced over the Licking River. We watched as workers dropped an 80-foot cylinder of re-bar into a hole they had bored down to bedrock. They will then pour concrete into each hole around and inside the re-bar. There are are 6 that will support the bridge, 3 on each side. Jim is standing next to the above-ground portion of re-bar after putting it in the hole.
We left this very picturesque area to travel on to rejoin our route at Zanesville. Although we paralleled the Licking River and traveled on Pleasant Valley Road, it had some pretty challenging hills. So it wasn't so pleasant for us! It also had a limestone quarry and a number of dump trucks traveling to and from the quarry. We also saw a HUGE junk yard-- estimate there were 40+ acres of cars over the hills. After leaving that road, we traveled along a section of the old National Road and saw an old bridge where a stagecoach carrying some famous politicians overturned as it came down the hill approaching the bridge. Fortunately, no one was hurt. In Zanesville, we got to cross the famous Y-bridge built to carry the National Road over the Muskingum River where the Licking River joins it, and connect the 3 parts of Zanesville separated by the rivers. We worked our way through some city streets to get to our hotel--and the last block was up a steep hill!
The desk clerk told us that the two of us were her heroes for traveling by bicycle and asked a lot of questions about riding bicycles as she doesn't know a lot about it. Jim came down and chatted for a while after we were checked in and settled, then even brought down some of our gear to show her.
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