Tuesday, February 7, 2012

What in Blue Blazes?


Embarrassed astonishment is as close as I can describe it. One day after hiking the Perryville to North East section, our official, latest-n-greatest maps finally arrived in the mail. "You're not going to believe this," Rene chuckled, "but you know that railroad section? It's not there anymore. We were supposed to hike down a greenway." No way. I snatched the map from her hand, and sure enough, there it was - descriptions of hiking past historic taverns and looking back over your shoulder for grand views of the Susquehanna river. We had looked over our shoulders alright, but it was to keep from getting splatted by a train. Do it again? Uh, no. Well... maybe.



Our neighbors Robi and Linda dropped by and left us with a nice gift of encouragement: a copy of Walkin' the Line by William Ecenbarger. The author follows the actual Mason-Dixon line, from east to west, over some 365 miles of its length. Interesting topic, and we're anxious to dig into this book while we wait for the next hiking day to arrive. But here's a point about the Mason-Dixon Trail that isn't immediately obvious, given the name: it is only marginally associated with the Mason-Dixon line itself, and doesn't coincide. The trail concept originated with Robert Yost, a chemist with the Getty Oil Co. and former head trail maintainer for the Wilmington Trail Club. Originally called the Brandywine-Susquehanna Trail, it was eventually renamed the Mason-Dixon trail for brevity, and for the fact that it crossed the Mason-Dixon line several times on its way from Chadd's Ford to Whiskey Springs.

A nice history of the trail was published by the Mason-Dixon Trail System in their October 2011 Bulletin.

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