Hill and Dale: Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C Via the G.A.P. and the C&O Canal Towpath

In the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington DC for lunch after a 5-day, 360-mile bike ride from Pittsburgh. Not sure how this pub got wind of it.

Note: This blog post was originally in my gardening blog, Beetnik Urban Farm, as I had yet to start my hiker/biker blog. I noted this trip on that blog as I took a week off from my farm chores.

The Great Allegheny Passage runs from Pittsburgh, PA
to Cumberland, MD. The C&O Canal towpath and
national park runs from Cumberland 184 miles to
downtown Washington, D.C.

Leaving Pittsburgh, weighing at least five pounds more than I would five days later.

Depot in West Newton, 26 miles SW of Pittsburgh.

Our first night camping in Ohiopile, Pennsylvania.

Many a beautiful high trestle along the Great Allegheny Passage.

The Great Allegheny Passage was train grades and very easy rolling crushed limestone, quite different from the rutted, rocky, tree-root filled C&O Canal towpath.

After more than fifty miles of steady climbing, we crossed the Eastern Divide and had a pleasant twenty-three mile downhill ride into Cumberland, Maryland.

Two days of riding and 160 miles from downtown Pittsburgh to Cumberland, the last town on the GAP and the start, from our perspective, of the C & O Canal Path.

The towpath is the spine of the C&O Canal National Historical Park. The C&O Canal was built in the mid-nineteenth century as a transportation route to bring goods from the Ohio river valley to eastern markets. (Learn more about the canal’s history here.) The canal boats were towed up and down the canal by mules on a path that ran beside the canal basin — hence the term “towpath.” Today, the towpath is a 184.5 mile long recreational path ideal for bikers and hikers due to its flat nature with very little incline. It is the main path to take while you explore the Park. (from the Canal Trust)

Much of the tow path was quite overgrown as we were riding it during a government shutdown caused by recalcitrant, racist Republicans in a constant 8-year fight with our first Black president. Note the heron in the middle of the trail.

Lock No. 75.

Coffee break in Brunswick, Maryland.

Mid-morning break.

Fifteen-Mile Creek Aqueduct (photo by Paul Graunke)

Paw Paw Tunnel.

Pat getting ready to walk his bike through the very dark Paw Paw Tunnel. Our headlights were no match for the enveloping darkness that all but swallowed our LED beams.

The Paw Paw Tunnel (photo by Garner Woodall)

The Paw Paw Tunnel

One of the engineering marvels of the C&O Canal, the Paw Paw Tunnel is almost exactly 6/10ths of a mile long and is constructed of almost 6 million bricks. It cut 6 miles off the length of the Canal, by tunneling through a mountain. The alternative to building the Tunnel was to make the Canal follow two of the Paw Paw Bends, a twisting 6-mile long section of the Potomac River. Be sure to take a flashlight if you journey through the tunnel — it’s dark in there! (from the Canal Trust)

Remnants of a lock and dam.

One of the quaint historical sites along the canal.

We camped on three of our four nights, this one one of 31 free campgrounds on the 184-mile long C&O Canal National Park. Our final night, in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, we opted for a rental cottage, just so we could ride the two vertical miles into the heart of town. Made me want to start a rebellion. Good thing we didn't camp because that night, the sky opened up and it poured epic Gilgamesh torrents.

The rains in Harper's Ferry turned the trail into a sloppy squishy mud wrestling quagmire. I washed the mud off several times that day, and the tow path muck plugged up the space between my front tire and fender to the point it popped loose. All in all, a very challenging day.