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| They say you can sometimes hear Robert Plant's voice resonating among the trees. |
- It is considered one of the best rock songs of all time by many fans and music critics.
- The lyrics have almost nothing to do with a stairway to heaven.
Regardless of how convoluted its lyrics are, "Stairway to Heaven" plays off the idea that there is a connection between Earth and the afterlife. If only such a path existed, right?
As it turns out, it does (to an extent), and it's in the backyard of many central Pennsylvanians.
Aside from sounding like a generic StairMaster machine, the Thousand Steps is a staircase that climbs the side of Jacks Mountain between the boroughs of Mt. Union and Mapleton in Huntingdon County.
The steps are giant slabs of stone. There are no handrails, ramps, escalators or elevators to escort you along the way.
The steps are giant slabs of stone. There are no handrails, ramps, escalators or elevators to escort you along the way.
So how were these stones fashioned into a staircase? Plate tectonics? Egyptians?
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| Courtesy: imgur.com |
The answer is slightly less ridiculous than this but still quite insane.
Jacks Mountain served as a "gold" mine for ganister -- a "Tuscarora sandstone used in the production of silica bricks," according to the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation and DCNR.
Silica bricks served as good material in the construction of industrial-sized furnaces because they're heat-resistance. These bricks played a vital role in central and western Pennsylvania during the railroad, steel and limestone eras. Mt. Union became known as the "Silica Brick Capital of the World" because of its abundance of Tuscarora sandstone, according to DCNR.
Unfortunately, for the poor saps who mined it, their commute consisted of scaling the side of a mountain every day. The workers for Harbison-Walker Refractories Co. -- the company that owned the quarries on both sides of the valley known as Jacks Narrows -- decided something needed to be done.
In 1936, the workers fashioned stone slabs from the quarry into the staircase that exists today.
Returning to the present, the Thousand Steps have become a tourist attraction for those who feel like re-enacting the commute of the workers, or they're just bored with their StairMaster.
The trail on the way up offers splendid views of the valley below and the mountain on the other side.
There's also a sense of community on the Thousand Steps. Cassidy and I ran into several people going up and down the mountain when we hiked it one October. Despite dealing with the strain of the climb and descent, the people on the trail smiled and greeted one another, not seeming to mind that their leg muscles were screaming in agony.
Not everyone possesses the strength and mentality to make it to the top of the Thousand Steps, and there's nothing worse than having a false sense of assurance that you're "almost there." Therefore, someone got smart and marked each hundredth step with paint to show climbers where they're at.
A thousand steps might not seem like a huge climb for some people, but when you've been climbing for 15 minutes and are only at the "200" mark, your confidence tends to say "screw it" and turns around without you.
Despite the challenge, people of different ages are drawn to the hike. Cassidy and I saw kids as young as 6 years old and seniors in their 60s climbing the steps on the same day. Some of the children seemed to have a harder time than the adults. That's what happens when the new generation does nothing but tweets and twerks, I suppose.
As an avid hiker and cyclist, I had little problem making the climb, but Cassidy had some trouble. I had to really push her motivation to get her up that mountain, but we did it. There was a lesson about love mixed in with it since we did the hike on our one-year anniversary as a couple. We found that supporting each other got us to the summit -- but excellent calf muscles help, as well.
Oh! I forgot to mention the irony: There are more than a thousand steps at the Thousand Steps; however, you do not need to climb every step to make it to the "thousand" mark.
There's a mailbox at the thousandth step that contains a notebook where people who make it can sign their names, the date they climbed and leave notes about their journey. The "extra" steps take you to what looks like an old storage building and eventually to an overlook that trumps everything else you see on the climb.
The overlook gives you a glimpse of Mapleton, the Juniata River, the valley below and the mountains beyond. If you had superhuman eyesight, you could see Raystown Lake just over the horizon.
When we made it to the top, the sun broke through the clouds and cast rays of light on the vast area of land before us as if we finished some divine challenge.
Because it was our anniversary, the climb for Cassidy and I was truly romantic. It will be a story we'll pass on to our kids as they pay us no mind and sit on their phones reading about how big Kim Kardashian's ass was or how the color of a dress nearly triggered World War III.
If you're in central Pennsylvania and get bored with videos of llamas being chased by police officers, you should make the effort to climb the Thousand Steps on a nice day. Even if you fail to finish the entire hike, you will still be taken aback by the beauty of the area and the experience of making a hike that long-ago residents made as a way to get to work and back each day.
Directions: From Altoona, Hollidaysburg or Duncansville, take Rt. 22 east past Huntingdon, Mill Creek and Mapleton. The trailhead to the Thousand Steps will be less than a mile outside Mapleton on the left side of the road. Look for parked cars; They're usually a good indicator.
From Tyrone and north of Tyrone: Get on PA-453 South off Interstate 99, turn onto Rt. 22 east and follow the same directions as above.
Silica bricks served as good material in the construction of industrial-sized furnaces because they're heat-resistance. These bricks played a vital role in central and western Pennsylvania during the railroad, steel and limestone eras. Mt. Union became known as the "Silica Brick Capital of the World" because of its abundance of Tuscarora sandstone, according to DCNR.
 |
| On the plus size, the workers probably had god-like legs. |
In 1936, the workers fashioned stone slabs from the quarry into the staircase that exists today.
Returning to the present, the Thousand Steps have become a tourist attraction for those who feel like re-enacting the commute of the workers, or they're just bored with their StairMaster.
 |
| One of the views from The Thousand Steps. |
There's also a sense of community on the Thousand Steps. Cassidy and I ran into several people going up and down the mountain when we hiked it one October. Despite dealing with the strain of the climb and descent, the people on the trail smiled and greeted one another, not seeming to mind that their leg muscles were screaming in agony.
 |
| Her excitement is masked by crippling fatigue. |
A thousand steps might not seem like a huge climb for some people, but when you've been climbing for 15 minutes and are only at the "200" mark, your confidence tends to say "screw it" and turns around without you.
Despite the challenge, people of different ages are drawn to the hike. Cassidy and I saw kids as young as 6 years old and seniors in their 60s climbing the steps on the same day. Some of the children seemed to have a harder time than the adults. That's what happens when the new generation does nothing but tweets and twerks, I suppose.
 |
| There's the excitement! |
Oh! I forgot to mention the irony: There are more than a thousand steps at the Thousand Steps; however, you do not need to climb every step to make it to the "thousand" mark.
There's a mailbox at the thousandth step that contains a notebook where people who make it can sign their names, the date they climbed and leave notes about their journey. The "extra" steps take you to what looks like an old storage building and eventually to an overlook that trumps everything else you see on the climb.
 |
| The borough of Mapleton and the Juniata River as seen from the top. |
When we made it to the top, the sun broke through the clouds and cast rays of light on the vast area of land before us as if we finished some divine challenge.
Because it was our anniversary, the climb for Cassidy and I was truly romantic. It will be a story we'll pass on to our kids as they pay us no mind and sit on their phones reading about how big Kim Kardashian's ass was or how the color of a dress nearly triggered World War III.
If you're in central Pennsylvania and get bored with videos of llamas being chased by police officers, you should make the effort to climb the Thousand Steps on a nice day. Even if you fail to finish the entire hike, you will still be taken aback by the beauty of the area and the experience of making a hike that long-ago residents made as a way to get to work and back each day.
Directions: From Altoona, Hollidaysburg or Duncansville, take Rt. 22 east past Huntingdon, Mill Creek and Mapleton. The trailhead to the Thousand Steps will be less than a mile outside Mapleton on the left side of the road. Look for parked cars; They're usually a good indicator.
From Tyrone and north of Tyrone: Get on PA-453 South off Interstate 99, turn onto Rt. 22 east and follow the same directions as above.
