Today we went for a very long drive North and ended up in the Moshanon State Forest. I do not have a whole lot to write about except that we found something really cool. I had seen the location on the Ghost Towns page on Facebook, but when we got there, I had no idea how cool it was going to be. We parked right at the edge of the road. There was once a road that led you back to the location, but at this time, the road was overgrown and there was a gate blocking all motorized vehicles. However, one could walk, bike or horseback ride. We chose option 1, although I would have loved to take a horse. The walk was a mere half a mile or so and was really quite lovely. The "road" was tree lined and shaded in some spots. Little Girl suggested we do our old hiking thing and find walking sticks for each of us We did just that and we were off. We came upon a clearing and we were first a little disappointed as all we saw were foundations and some square and rectangle concrete . I knew from Google Maps that there was a structure, we just had to find it. We followed the "road" a little more and there, right on the right, up a small path hill was a structure. It was wide open and had seen some vandilization. Folks, if you go there, do not vandalize these spots. They are left as a watermark on history. Why would you think it is okay to go in, break glass, draw all over the place.
We were able to walk right in and check things out. Not too much to see, except the windows were amazing. There were three layers of very thick glass and the windows were very narrow. There was a very large wood piece in the bunker like structure. Not sure what it was, it had all these slats inside it, and it did not look old. But it was so big, I am not sure how it got in there through the small door. There seemed to be some type of pipe ventilation system outside and some other large concrete structure.
Some history that we found is this:
This was used, before it was a state park, as a testing spot for the development of a nuclear engine. These structures were where we think they held the radiation. We saw they had cooling ponds around the area. In addition, they had what looked to us like heat shields made out of concrete. At some point, the residents wanted it cleaned up as it was full of radiation. It took a very long time, but eventually it was cleaned up. Nuclear engine testing - how freaking cool is that?
We walked back to the car along the "road" trail. It had heated up, we guzzled water and sang some songs.
We took another route home to avoid 80, rode on some seriously awesome roads and drove through some really old unique towns. We found an abandoned school in Girard. We tried to get in, but !. it was all locked up, 2. they had cameras (see the picture - it was funny), and 3. the entries were covered with wasps . So we just took outside photos and headed home. No, this blog entry does not let you know how cool it was, the bunker, the hike, the school, the drive, but it really was. I guess you can't know that unless you are sitting shotgun (which I learned is called that because on the stagecoach the guy that sat next to the driver held the shotgun), laughing at Marc's jokes, dealing with the sarcasm, singing music and seeing our country. Today was amazing, as usual.
We were able to walk right in and check things out. Not too much to see, except the windows were amazing. There were three layers of very thick glass and the windows were very narrow. There was a very large wood piece in the bunker like structure. Not sure what it was, it had all these slats inside it, and it did not look old. But it was so big, I am not sure how it got in there through the small door. There seemed to be some type of pipe ventilation system outside and some other large concrete structure.
Some history that we found is this:
This was used, before it was a state park, as a testing spot for the development of a nuclear engine. These structures were where we think they held the radiation. We saw they had cooling ponds around the area. In addition, they had what looked to us like heat shields made out of concrete. At some point, the residents wanted it cleaned up as it was full of radiation. It took a very long time, but eventually it was cleaned up. Nuclear engine testing - how freaking cool is that?
We walked back to the car along the "road" trail. It had heated up, we guzzled water and sang some songs.
We took another route home to avoid 80, rode on some seriously awesome roads and drove through some really old unique towns. We found an abandoned school in Girard. We tried to get in, but !. it was all locked up, 2. they had cameras (see the picture - it was funny), and 3. the entries were covered with wasps . So we just took outside photos and headed home. No, this blog entry does not let you know how cool it was, the bunker, the hike, the school, the drive, but it really was. I guess you can't know that unless you are sitting shotgun (which I learned is called that because on the stagecoach the guy that sat next to the driver held the shotgun), laughing at Marc's jokes, dealing with the sarcasm, singing music and seeing our country. Today was amazing, as usual.