Hank Parke raised the idea of a bike trail through southern Somerset County during an after-work discussion in the late 1980s with attorney George Kaufman and Greg Chiappelli, then a county commissioner.

"The trail from Confluence to Ohiopyle had opened, and I thought we should connect to it," Parke said this week. "Some people thought I was crazy."

But Kaufman and Chiappelli liked the idea.

"I grew up in Rockwood and knew how scenic the [former] Western Maryland Railway right-of-way was," said Kaufman, a veteran bicyclist. "I also knew how easy it would be to pedal a bike on the old railroad grade. I thought it would be good recreation and good exercise."

So did some members of the board of directors of the Somerset County Chamber of Commerce when Parke, then a board member, presented the idea. He later became executive director of the chamber, a post he held for 16 years. He joined PBS Coals Inc. in 2004 as director of business development, government and community relations.

"I told the chamber in 1987 that a trail could really be something some day," said Parke, now 59. "Some directors looked at me and said, 'Yeah, right,' but others recognized the potential. They understood that tourism and economic development can be one and the same."

Some county residents, especially those whose property abutted the proposed trail, didn't like the idea of outsiders trespassing on their land.

"We had to convince them that hordes of hoodlums from Pittsburgh weren't going to come out and steal something," Parke said. "I asked them how many TV sets they thought someone could fit on the back of a bicycle. Most of their fears and uncertainties disappeared after the trail opened."

That will be one of the stories revisited April 16 when Parke, Kaufman, Chiappelli and more than 100 others gather at the Oakhurst restaurant near Somerset to "Toast and Roast Hank Parke" to commemorate his 21 years as president of the Somerset County Rails to Trails Association.

"The trail was a good idea that fell into place, and Hank was the guy that made it work," Kaufman said. He, Parke and Chiappelli were the incorporators of the nonprofit association.

Kaufman donated hundreds of hours of legal work to the trail, including that first year when he and a law clerk spent the summer doing the title work on the bits and pieces of land that make up the trail. "It was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together," he said.

Parke said the opening of the first segment of the trail between Rockwood and Markleton was easy because the 6.5-mile segment didn't include any bridges or tunnels.

But the remaining 35.5 miles included the renovation of bridges in Confluence and Harnedsville, two between Fort Hill and Markleton, one between Garrett and Meyersdale and two between Meyersdale and Deal, a crossroads community that sits on the Eastern Continental Divide.

The biggest obstacle of all was the 3,300-foot Big Savage Tunnel. It took more than two years and cost $12.5 million. It had to be completely rehabilitated because there was no way around it. Few bicyclists would want to walk their bikes up and over the mountain. I did it once, and once was enough.

Parke noted a number of pivotal moments in the development of the trail -- garnering the support of public officials and private citizens, obtaining the funds to buy the right-of-way and do all the bridge and tunnel work and joining the Allegheny Trail Alliance to help make the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage a reality.

"Hank learned how to work through all the bureaucracies in a patient and disciplined way," said Henry Cook, president and chairman of the board of Somerset Trust. Cook is a longtime bicyclist and trail supporter who has known Parke since the sixth grade.

Parke, in turn, said he is "only one of many" who worked countless hours to build the trail.

"It's so much fun to ride; we really enjoy it," he said, referring to himself, his wife Linda, their four children and six grandchildren. "It's flat, easy, accessible and free."