After we had out fill of windmills, we boogied on down to Centralia proper. It's easy to miss these days. The DEP (or vandals) have removed the signage at the entrance to Old 61 informing intrepid tourists that they're in grave peril due to "Dangerous Gases" and/or "Sudden Ground Collapse" (Taken almost 6 years ago, on a previous trip):
Instead, in front of the large mound of dirt they placed at the entrance to Old 61, they deposited...another large mound of dirt. I don't have a shot of it, but really, it's a mound of dirt. Not that exciting. Moving on...
We parked to the side of the large dirt mound, I grabbed my camera, and we walked up onto Old 61.
Six years ago, when we visited Centralia, we had the old highway to ourselves. Not so this time. The unseasonably warm weather had something to do with it, I'm sure, but, even though there's a mine fire burning beneath the town and highway, the atmosphere was more Magic Kingdom than Mordor. There were folks on ATVs, families with young children, couples walking hand-in-hand with Fido along side. It was a beautiful day for a hike.
We walked the entire length of the old highway, from one dirt mount to another. Six years ago, there was some graffiti; there's more this time, and it's generally of a much higher quality:
The massive crack in the road is also much more massive:
After we made it up to the top, we walked back down to the truck to bring it with us into the town proper. At this point, I should mention that there are two ways to get into Centralia from where the truck was parked. There's "New" 61, which routes around the DMZ that is "Old" 61, and there's "Old" 61, which is protected on both sides by large berms. Last fall, I traded in the Mighty Hyundai for a Toyoya FJ Cruiser, Trail Teams Edition. It's got big all-terrains on it, skid plates covering (most of) the important bits, ten inches of clearance, nine inches of articulation, and pretty steep approach, departure, and breakover angles (34 degrees, 30 degrees, and 27.4 degrees, respectively). Toss in a very capable four-wheel drive system, locking rear differential, Toyota's acclaimed A-TRAC system, and a spotter shooting video (Thanks, Wallio!), and there was no way I wasn't going over "Old" 61.
The trip up the berm was uneventful, and pulling back onto "New" 61 at the other end went without incident. We did get some looks (and waves) from the folks on ATVs and dirt bikes, but it was fun.
We parked outside the SS Peter and Paul Cemetery, and took a few shots of the surroundings.
Followed that up with a walk through the SS Peter and Paul Cemetery:
And then a walk to the St. Ignatious Cemetery:
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| The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in the background |
It was time to do a bit more exploring. We took the FJ up a hill that clearly had smoke coming out:
A bit more light off-roading and it was time for lunch, and a pee-break. We headed to Ashland (the closest populated town) and used the facilities in a Turkey Hill. On the way back to Centralia, I spotted this:
That is a stream with the banks stained orange from mine runoff. On the way back up from taking the shot, I stepped in something that puffed up a cloud of stench, and made me sneeze. I've probably got some form of mine-fire-related Ebola right now, but, so far, I feel fine.
We parked by the Odd Fellows cemetery, passed a few words with some tourists, and one local, and had lunch. There was an aborted attempted at some additional off-roading, but the ridiculously steep approach and the "No Trespassing" signs were a sufficient deterrent. Instead, we took a walk around the Odd Fellows cemetery:
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| Zinc tombstone - (Hat Tip to The Missus, for pointing it out) |
We wrapped it up after that, and headed back to Drums for some frosty beverages and a little NHRA Drag Racing.
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