At long last, on the most perfect hiking day of the year, I made it to the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail's bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike, also known as Interstate 76, the nation's first freeway.
I've driven under the bridge many a time, and I've always wanted to stand on it and gaze down at the busy world below, all the distracted drivers rushing between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
The bridge appeals to me because it's the intersection of two parallel worlds: the forest and the four-lane...which is soon-to-be-eight-lane in this segment.
The forest world is constantly encroached upon by the world of hurried people. 
And yet, the trail, its bridge, the forest in all its hidden beauty--these things are all visible to the travelers below (and vice versa) but completely inaccessible. It's like two parallel universes. Most drivers don't even glance up to notice the bridge.
The Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail is very popular. I met two couples hiking it separately today.
One pair told me they had just discovered the old Laurel Hill Tunnel on an abandoned section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike--not to be confused with the well-known segment of abandoned turnpike near Chambersburg, where "The Road" was filmed. These two have been hiking this area for years but had never been able to find the tunnel before.
Strangely, they found that the tunnel was enclosed with Quonset huts at the mouth and had enormous air conditioning units attached to it. Someone is using it for something, controlling the temperature and humidity inside. The couple suggested that it might be the Department of Defense. The old Laurel Hill Tunnel is easy to find on Google Earth.
Chip gnassi (race car driver/owner) uses the tunnel for wind testing.
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