C&O Canal Towpath to Great Falls (MD)

Another pleasant spring day with some sprinkles in the forecast called for an easy 30-mile ride from home to Great Falls on the C&O Canal Towpath.  I’d forgotten how pretty it was last time, or maybe the weather and the light were just better.  It definitely gets better the farther upriver you go, with perhaps the last two miles to the falls being the most scenic.  On May 18, the path was in good condition throughout and only mildly crowded near the falls.

While sipping a coke and eating our sandwiches, a canal boat came by, hauled by mules from the towpath, just like in the golden olden days.  Let’s do it, Kris exclaimed.  After a pair of aggressive Canadian honkers with cute, fuzzy babies chased us from our picnic table (really), we found the ranger and learned that we could ride the boat for an hour for $8.  The workers dressed in period garb and the guide was excellent, telling us of the life of those who worked the canal in the mid-1800s.  As many as 500 canal boats plied the waters back then.  I was struck by how absolutely quiet it was drifting along behind the gentle clopping of the mules.  We entered one of the locks and enjoyed the full rundown of the operation to open and close the gates and move ourselves through.

 

An interesting factoid noted by the guide:  C&O stands for Chesapeake and Ohio, neither of which were ever reached by the canal.  The original dream was to extend the canal all the way to Pittsburgh, which is where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio.  The transit from one watershed to another would seem to have required either some creative engineering or perhaps a secret river that flowed uphill, but the answer, for now, will have to remain a mystery.

At the National Zoo

 

 

 

When we walk out the door sometimes on the weekend, we have no idea where we’re headed.  A series of random rights and lefts gets us on a path to somewhere and the possibilities begin to emerge.  On May 11, the destination became the National Zoo and a memorable visit with lions and sea lions.  A big old lion roared and growled while we watched from a hypothetical safe place across the moat.  Pretty cool.  Then a walk down the American Trail led us to some animated seals and sea lions who were a pleasure to watch for most of an hour—first from above, then from below through the glass.

Biking the C&O Canal Towpath

 
Biking the 184-mile C&O Canal Towpath, from Cumberland MD to Washington DC, has been on the list for two years now.  But in lieu of doing it all as a single, multi-day ride, we’ve settled on a chunk-by-chunk approach.  Previously, we had only explored the area nearest DC—Kris a few miles from Georgetown, and me a bit more, including a ride to Great Falls and back some months ago.

Taking advantage of a favorable forecast for the third weekend of April, I concocted a two-day, 40-mile shindig between Williamsport and Harpers Ferry.  The plan allowed us to include a short ride on Amtrak at the end to retrieve the truck, thus avoiding the need to shuttle a vehicle, arrange a ride or pedal our bikes both ways, which would have cut into my sparse inventory of off-days from work.  Here’s how we did it:

Day 1 – Drove to Williamsport MD, dropped Kris and the bikes, then drove back 12 rural miles to Martinsburg WV to leave the truck at the Amtrak station.  After some googling beforehand, those 12 miles seemed semi-deadly for biking (too much traffic, no shoulders and a skinny bridge over the Potomac), so I sprung for a pricey taxi ride back to Williamsburg.  In the meantime, Kris found a great lunch spot (Desert Rose Cafe) where we fueled up for the 25-mile ride to Shepherdstown and a waiting room for the night.

 

Day 2 – After a half-day of aimless wandering and sightseeing around town, we mounted our steeds and rolled on down the final 12 miles of towpath to Harpers Ferry.  We timed our arrival to catch the 5:16 pm Amtrak, but left ourselves less than an hour to prowl around this fascinating West Virginia outpost.  We’d been there before in winter and will head back again for more exploring, but for now we hopped aboard the train and were back at the truck in a half hour.

Neither Amtrak nor the regional commuter trains have figured out how to roll bikes on trains here, which is pretty remarkable when you consider how many people own bikes and would love to take them traveling or even just to work or school.  Instead, we locked the bikes up at Harpers Ferry and drove back for them from Martinsburg.  It might sound a little circuitous, but it actually went quite well and there are no regrets.  We’ll likely do something similar when it’s time to ride the upper portion from Cumberland.  From Cumberland, a paved bike path, the Great Allegheny Passage, continues 150 miles more to Pittsburgh.  That one is high on the list as well.

As for the C&O ride, we were impressed by the quality of the gravel towpath overall.  It was easy, smooth riding, uncrowded, bug-free, and with plenty of views, interesting features and historical sites, including a number of old locks and lockhouses, along the way.  Bike camping areas looked good, which we will try on a future trip.  We found drinking water and porta-potties pretty much whenever we needed them.

Trailhead at Williamsport.

The towpath, a fine stretch for whistling Dixie.

A rare obstacle.

A big spring flowing out of the cliff.

An unexpected highlight was a long section above Shepherdstown that had been washed out for years and was recently repaired and reopened—a 1.5-mile concrete boardwalk affair running along the river’s edge at the base of low cliffs.  While it looked a little out of place for an extensive natural area, the ability to ride in that kind of space was a definite treat.  Let’s hope the bright concrete fades soon, as it should, so the structure is not so starkly white against the rock and river.

One of the many locks along the canal.

Dams like this diverted water into the canal.

At Shepherdstown.

The eclectic Lost Dog coffee shop.

Kris had so much fun she grew two feet taller.

Stone church in Shepherdstown.

We missed the performance, darn.

Mary Tyler Moore saved this building from the wrecking ball.

Another lock near Shepherdstown.

A mineshaft for coal perhaps?

The river was running high.

The way into Harpers Ferry from the towpath.

The A.T. passes through here also.

Thanks to W. O. Douglas for making it all a national park.

Sugarloaf Revisited (MD)

Kris, having not yet been to the little “Chuckanut” of the East, agreed it sounded like a worthy destination for a pleasant spring day, so off we went.  Despite a sluggish start, we completed a 5-plus mile loop hike similar to the one I’d done with the Sierra Clubbers in 2011—out to White Rocks and back.  Here’s a couple pics.

Biking around Herndon (VA)

 

In mid-April, to pick up where we left off the last time on the W&OD Trail, we drove the bikes to Herndon, then biked just a short section of the W&OD before turning right on the Sugarland Trail.  I’d spotted this one while browsing the area’s bike route maps online.  The old paved path meanders along, and through, a stream for several miles, and is highlighted by a number of small signs identifying the native tree species, a nice bonus.  We left Sugarland and soon found the town’s small historic district next to the W&OD, as well as a great little deli for lunch and a bakery next door.  A nearby parking lot must have been a pretty big deal, commemorated as it is by bronze plaque on a rock.  We continued west on the main trail a couple of miles before u-turning it back to the truck.

Kris demonstrates her keep-your-feet-dry method for crossing a creek.

A very special parking lot.