13 September 2014 Paw Paw Tunnel

We were on our way to visit the Paw Paw Tunnel, but took a few moments on the way out of the house to enjoy our closed gentians on a wet morning.

There was time on the way for visits to a few gamelands for some caching and late season wildflowers on our way to the Tunnel.

We hadn't visited the Paw Paw Tunnel since 2004. It was great to be back again. The 3,100 foot long tunnel is a historic piece of the old Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. While we were here, we were also looking to find the old virtual cache at the location. 

 

Standing at the water by the near end of the tunnel, the far end is just a small dot of light.

On prior visits, we hadn't noticed the benchmarks the were placed throughout the tunnel. We're geeks and made certain to hunt for each of the benchmarks as we walked through the tunnel.

The benchmark at the midpoint

There were shafts built in the tunnel where materials excavated from the construction were raised out of the tunnel by horses at the top of the mountain. The horses were hitched to a rotary harness that raised containers of material from below. This was one of the excavation shafts.

The exit end of the tunnel.

The water at the ends of the tunnel were busy with small fish and this salamander.

The loop back the the parking has a nice rise and features a great view of the Potomac.

We spent the evening in Winchester, Virginia. Our visits to Winchester are always pleasant and a great way to start a vacation in Shenandoah.