The Long Green Tunnel...and Ultrarunning

That's how some hikers refer to the Appalachian Trail, especially the thru-hikers who have covered all 2100+ miles of it--that's commonly one of their lasting recollections.

Well, the bride and I were up visiting her mother in Tower City, PA, near which the Appalachian Trail crosses.  I did a 10 mile trail run along the Stony Valley Rail Trail, which hits the AT at Raush Gap.

The long green tunnel of the rail trail:

Not a religious memorial, but rather a spare rail holder, which would have come in pairs, on which rested spare rails for repairs if the regular rails failed.  Such failures must have been fairly common, to require the placing of spares every couple of miles (see the rail holder on the left of the first shot above to get an idea as to scale):

And finally, an unknown (to me) pretty yellow flower that grew in the gravel along the side of the rail trail.  About the size and shape of a dandelion:

The link to Ultrarunning, of course, includes the side trip I made up the Appalachian Trail to the Raush Gap Shelter, where one finds the sweetest spring water in the world.