Day 3 in 2010 was a long one - 76 miles. Marty and I started in Frostburg and ended in Hancock, MD. The first 15 miles were downhill to Cumberland on a beautiful morning. Through the Brush Tunnel, past Helmstetter's Curve, and an unexpected highlight at GAP Mile 4 - the Cumberland Bone Cave! 

Workers on the Western Maryland Railway discovered this cave in 1912 while blasting a cut along the ridge, and a naturalist from Cumberland identified fossil bones among the rocks. He notified the Smithsonian, and over the next five years, paleontologists explored the cave. They found thousands of bones and fossils of over 40 mammal species - many over 200,000 years old and 20% of which are extinct. The discoveries included mastodons, pumas, a crocodile (!), and two rare finds - an extinct cave bear and a saber-toothed cat. Both of these are on permanent display in the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum (Ice Age Exhibit) in Washington, DC.

The cave system extends over 100 feet straight down and several hundred feet horizontally. How did the animals get there?  Originally, a sink hole extended to the surface, and animals would occasionally fall in and die. Over time, sediment eventually washed into the cave, and the bones were covered and preserved. Research is ongoing and new fossils are discovered each year.

Riding along the GAP trail, you can see the entrance but can’t go inside. It’s worth a stop, though, as the cave is considered one of the most important Pleistocene-era fauna discoveries in eastern North America.

More information: Wayback Machine (archive.org)

Read more in "Get Up and Ride" 

More history of other places along the GAP & C&O: History (getupride.com) 

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter:  Newsletter Sign-Up 

#cumberlandmd #greatalleghenypassage #gaptrail