George Schmidt, Montour Trail Council Dennis Stahl, vice president of the Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association, welcomes more than 300 bicyclists and trail supporters to the "Light at the End of the Tunnel Celebration" at the renovated Western Maryland Railway station in Meyersdale. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Tunnel opening completes bike trail in Somerset County (05/27/06)

Troy Bogdan had them all -- every wrist band from every major trailhead town from Pittsburgh to Meyersdale.

There was the yellow band from Pittsburgh, the orange one from Boston (Pa.), neon green from West Newton, dark green from Connellsville, blue from Ohiopyle, periwinkle from Confluence, gold from Rockwood and turquoise from Meyersdale.

The wrist bands confirmed that Bogdan, an avid bicyclist, had stopped in each trailhead town en route from his home in Bridgeville to Meyersdale to participate in "The Light at the End of the Tunnel Celebration" last weekend along the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.

The two-day event was organized by the Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association, one of the first to realize the value of converting old railroad rights-of-way to non-motorized trails, and the Allegheny Trail Alliance, a coalition of seven rail-trail groups led by Linda McKenna Boxx that is building and maintaining the passage.

Although the festivities were centered at the eastern portal of the Big Savage Tunnel on Friday and at the Western Maryland Railway station in Meyersdale on Saturday, the celebration took place all along the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland.

The only exceptions were the yet-to-be-completed sections of the passage between Pittsburgh and McKeesport, the uncompleted sections of the Montour Trail and the nine-mile section from Woodcock Hollow (five miles south of Frostburg) to Cumberland, Md.

Bogdan, 38, had pedaled on roads from his home in Bridgeville to the Arrowhead Trail to the Montour Trail, back on roads to Clairton, Glassport and McKeesport and then got back on the passage. He camped one night in Cedar Creek Park, one of the jewels of the passage, and spent two nights at the Outflow Campground in Confluence.

I caught up to him Saturday evening as he was finishing dinner at the Mountain Grill restaurant in Confluence. He said the only rain he encountered -- a brief downpour -- fell during lunch Friday at the Firefly Grill in Ohiopyle. He kept his bike dry under the overhang.

Bogdan, who owns an organic farm in Edinboro, said the solo ride into the heart of the Laurel Highlands had given him "a lot of time to think and reflect." He pedaled 101 miles from Confluence to Bridgeville on Sunday.

More than 100 persons attended the formal rain-dampened dedication of the Big Savage Tunnel on Friday. Larry Bilotto of Hollidaysburg was the first to ride through the lighted 3,300-foot-long tunnel after the ceremony. He was followed by riders on a variety of standard and recumbent bikes and trikes and a few pedestrians.

Boxx, acknowledged by every speaker for her tireless dedication to the creation of the trail, was pleased to see more than 300 persons attend the ceremony at the Western Maryland Railway Station on Saturday. Many wore T-shirts color coded to the wrist bands of the trailhead towns they had started from.

While bicyclists pedaled in both directions on the crushed limestone trail behind an old blue Chesapeake & Ohio caboose that served as a backdrop for the speakers, Paul Wiegman recalled how the Great Allegheny Passage came to be.

Larry Adams, the retired manager of Ohiopyle State Park who oversaw the construction of the first section of the trail from Confluence to Ohiopyle, recited the challenges of that accomplishment. "When that section opened in 1986, it was an immediate success," he said. "Within two years, it had more than 100,000 users."

John Oliver, former secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and former president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, praised the vision of former Conservancy president Josh Whetzel and others "who knew what needed to be done to create a first-class trail and then did it."

Oliver said the credit for the development of the 42-mile long completed section of trail in Somerset County -- from Confluence to the Maryland border -- goes to Hank Parke, George Cook and Dave Mankamyer.

He said Parke, then executive director of the Somerset County Chamber of Commerce, Cook, then president of Somerset Trust, and Mankamyer, then a Somerset County commissioner, went to Ohiopyle, rode the trail toward Confluence and decided "then and there" to extend it all the way through Somerset County.

Mankamyer noted the growing number of businesses along or near the trail. Two new ones are Lynn Sanner's bike rental and repair shop in Rockwood (1-888-916-2453) and Lisa Cropper's Mountain Mist Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Mount Savage, Md. (1-301-264-3435).

Rail-trails depend on a variety of people for their creation, construction, maintenance and enhancement. One of the latter is Maynard Sembower, 96, a retired land management/law enforcement employee of the state Game Commission.

For years, he has volunteered his time to operate a small clothing and souvenir stand at the Rockwood trailhead. It's a must-stop shop run by a must-meet man. During the ceremonies in Meyersdale last Saturday, the trailhead was renamed the Sembower Visitors Center in his honor. He was delighted, but said he didn't think he deserved it.

He did.