Skookum Traveler: 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.