First photo of the trip. I forgot to take a photo of where I started the trip. This is just a historical marker along the route about and hour into the tour.
Looking south to the Susquehanna River and Peter's Mountain from PA route 147
Millersburg PA. A quick break.
Looking north from Peter's Mountain on PA rte 225. The road went from 450 ft above sea level to 1250 in 2 miles. This is taken from a bridge for the Appalachian trail crossing the road.
Views of the Susquehanna River.
A railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River, coming into Harrisburg PA
Details of the stone work of the bridge.
High water marks on the birdge of the Susquehanna River.
Entering Harrisburg.
A house (maybe private, I didn't see any signs for anything) along the river coming into Harrisburg.
The Pennsylvania state capitol.
A foot bridge in Harrisburg over the Susquehanna river. There is a bagpipe band crossing the bridge in the middle of the picture.
Looking toward the island where there was a festival going on.
The bridge I road over.
More railroad bridges into Harrisburg.
There was a street festival going on in Harrisburg.
View of Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant. Directly behind me was a neighborhood of new McMansions and this was their view.
Coming into downtown Goldsboro. Quite the view!
I saw lights coming into York PA so I went to check it out. What I found was a minor league came between York and Lancaster. I watched for maybe 45 minutes.
Some old buildings in York across the street from the Chinese food restaurant where I got dinner at the end of day one.
The start of the first trail I would ride on. It went south from York 21 miles to the MD border where it joined with another trail.
This is what the Heritage Rail Trail looked like.
This is what I found on the door of my tent. Total for day 1 112.60 miles and 7:47:23 riding time with about 4 miles on rail trails.
The morning of day 2. This was my campsite for day 1.
A tunnel along the Heritage Rail Trail
A fixer-upper along the Heritage Rail Trail
Some art work at a park along the Heritage Rail Trail. The wheels were 6ft tall.
A group of guys were getting ready to ride this on the trail rail. Signs along the Heritage Rail Trail said to stay off the tracks because they were active. These guys said that they were not. I hope they were right. http://www.railriders.net/index1.html
A bicycle adapted to ride on the rails. They both said they cruise along at 10-15 miles per hour. 15 max. I was doing between 16-18 mph.
An old train station along the Heritage Rail Trail.
Some more artwork along the Heritage Rail Trail
Another look at the Heritage Rail Trail looking south.
A mother cat and her kittens.
The Mason-Dixon (PA - MD) line. This is the end of the Heritage Rail Trail and the start of the Northern Central Railroad Trail which went another 21 miles to the south.
Some nice stone formations along the Northern Central Railroad Trail.
A lime kiln along the Northern Central Railroad Trail.
The end of the Northern Central Railroad Trail, looking north.
The end of the Northern Central Railroad Trail. 42 miles of trails total for the trip.
The sign on the pump says "Two free Baltimore Orioles tickets when you fill up 4 times." Image that in Massachusetts and the Redsox. It would be anarchy.
This is in Olney MD, only about 15 miles from Washington DC. There were deer everywhere. This is about 7:30 at night. I was looking for some where to stay for the night. No campgrounds, no hotels, but tons of houses and stores.
This was my campsite for day 2. It was behind a rectory of a Catholic Church. You can see the basement door in the background. There was a ring of evergreens that I put my tent in the middle of. I was pretty well hidden. About 5 deer stood 30 feet away and watched me set up the tent.
The sun rising on day 3. I was getting breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts.
This was along MD rte 97 heading south into DC during rush hour. Luckily this was the old road running beside it that I could ride on. But only for a few miles.
The map for the Capital Crescent Rail Trail. It looped in a "C" shape around Washington DC. It was about 10 miles. On this trail there was a rush hour of bicyclists heading into the city. It
This is what the Capital Crescent Rail Trail looked like at the start.
A tunnel under some buildings on the Capital Crescent Rail Trail.
Another tunnel on the Capital Crescent Rail Trail.
This is along the Capital Crescent Rail Trail, with the C&O Canal and trail above, where the water is coming out. The two trails run parallel for several miles. This allows water to exit the canal to maintain its level.
Looking towards the Potomac River from the Capital Crescent Rail Trail.
Looking towards the Lincoln and Washington Monuments in Washington DC.
A marina along the Potomac.
The start of the 184.5 mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Trail, in Georgetown, the old part of Washington DC. Some info about the trail http://www.nps.gov/choh/
A boat lock on the C&O Canal.
A boat lock on the C&O Canal. The canal goes Northwest out of DC closely following the Potomac River and ends in Cumberland MD. The bike/hiking trail is the old tow path where the mules walked to tow the barge along the canal.
A boat on the old canal in Georgetown.
Another boat lock on the C&O Canal.
A lockhouse along the canal. The canal was open 24 hrs a day and someone needed to be there to operate each of the 75 locks.
Views of the Potomac River from the C&O Canal trail.
These are rapids on the Potomac River at the Great Falls area. This was mile 15 along the C&O.
More rapids on the Potomac.
Lots of debris piled up from high water flow on a small island in the middle of the Potomac.
Can you see the blue rafts on the far bank of the river. This shows you the scale of the rapids.
The rafts are probably the size of the small dark rock in the lower right corner of this picture, to give you a scale.
The Great Falls Tavern. It was not a functioning tavern, or else I probably would not have made it much further this day. This is mile 15 on the C&O.
This is what most of the C&O (except the first 20 miles) looked like. The tow path trail is on the left (mostly dirt) and the canal is on the right (no water and completely grown over). I could go 10 or more miles without seeing anyone. In spots near parking areas there would be lots of people riding. walking and running along the trail
A view of a lock.
The Potomac.
Most of it was like a jeep track through the woods with not much to look at on either side except the woods. The trail was mostly dirt, with roots, rocks, etc. The dirt was pretty well packed and riding at 16-18 was comfortable but I had to pushing it order to maintain that pace.
A video of riding along the C&O
An old brick building along the trail that has seen better days.
This is an aqueduct which carried the canal over a river (passing under the canal) which feed into the Potomac River to the left. I think this was the longest aqueduct (at 516ft) of 11?, along the trail. I am standing in the canal where the water used to be.
An old bridge abutment which carried a road over the canal.
The other abutment.
Beautiful views of the Potomac River while I was taking Lunch break on day 3. You can see my shoe and helmet at the bottom of the pic.
More views.
Lots of stone work along the canal in this picture.
This a view of an aqueduct from the side. You can see the river flowing into the Potomac below. For more info on the aqueducts and dams of the canal to go, http://www.iceandcoal.org/co/aqueducts/aqueducts.html
The grassy area is where the water from the canal used to flow. Most of the aqueducts were falling apart with most of the right (upstream side of the feeding river) side completely missing.
A view of the Potomac, the canal trail, and a bridge heading over to West Virginia. I am heading into Sharpsburg MD to get some dinner for day 3.
This is a battle field for the Antietam Campaign of the Civil War. The actual Antietam battlefield was a few miles away but I did not go check it out. This is just outside of Sharpsburg MD.
I took a quick trip into WV during my dinner break.
The campsite of day 3. These were biker-hiker sites about every 4-6 miles along the C&O. They were free to use, had a picnic table, a fire ring, a portable toilet and a well for water. I was able to walk down the bank to the Potomac at the back of the photo to take a bath.
This is the well pump at the campsite day 3. You had to pump for nearly a minute to get water out if it had not been used for several hours. This campsite was at mile 84 of the C&O trail. About 95 miles of trail for the day and 137 total for the trip.
A cave along the trail at the start of day 4. It was quite large, probably 8 ft high. Although I did not see any bears at all on the trip, I decided against going in.
This detour was at about mile 86 of the C&O trail. Except for quick trips into towns for lunch and dinner, I had not ridden on roadways for 86 miles.
Same as above.
My bike with all my gear. The bottles are filled with Gatorade. It had been 90+ degrees and extremely humid for the first 3 days. I was feeling slightly dehydrated and my legs were cramping a bit, despite having my watch alarm go off every 7 minutes to remind me to take a big gulp of fluids.
A building in Williamsport MD. You can see the high water measure going vertically up the building. There were not marks on it that I could see to indicate just how high the water had historically been. You can see a river feeding the Potomac off to the right.
This is a C&O canal aqueduct going over a river next to the Cushwa's Brick Coal Fuel Oil building from the previous picture. Check out all the debris piled up against the base. Conococheague Aqueduct - The berm side of the aqueduct displays damage done in a 1920 accident in which Canal Boat No. 73 hit the wall and went through, landing in the creek with no loss of life but bringing the rest of the wall down with it. Instead of going to the expense of repairing so much stonework, the canal company built a wooden trough to carry boats. (Taken from http://www.iceandcoal.org/co/aqueducts/aqueducts.html)
I am not sure what this was. I saw several of these hanging from trees, along the C&O trail about every 25 miles or so. It was made of coro-plastic.
Seems like they were some sort of insect trap or something. At first I thought they might be bat houses, but they were not in the sun and there was not guano on the ground below.
This is dam #4 along the Potomac River.
A lock, a lock house and a bridge over the canal. This was a quite typical scene all along the 184 miles of the C&O.
Stonework along the trail. As I came riding up to this, there was a small hawk perched on top with some sort of song bird in its talons. The hawk quickly flew off (with the song bird) into the woods.
This is a roadway which passed under the canal.
View of the Potomac.
There is a deer in the center of the photo just on the right side of the trail. I was coming across at least one every 5 miles or so. I finally decided to take a picture of one. It didn't come out so well.
This is in Hancock MD. For about 22 miles there is a paved rail trail, the Western Maryland Rail Trail (http://www.westernmarylandrailtrail.org/WMRT/) that parallels the C&O. In Hancock there is a bike shop right along the trail. T he shop owner has made a camp behind the shop. This is the bunk room with screen front to let the breeze in and the bugs out.
The shop was appropriately called The C&O Bicycle (http://candobicycle.com/). It was a great shop with snack bar, ice cream. These were outdoor showers that he made up.
The johns. He charged $10 a night to stay in the bunk house. This seemed like a much better option than sleeping on the ground if it were raining. I also met a retired couple at the shop who had started in Pittsburgh, and were riding to DC and then to many places in Virginia. They were doing between 60 and 30 miles a day and were staying in hotels and Inns along the way. They both had more gear than I did and I had to carry tent, sleeping bag and mat.
Stonework along the canal. I am not sure what this was but perhaps for water to drain down from the hill side during rainstorms.
Ruins along the canal.
A view of some bridges over the Potomac.
A little store in Little Orleans MD. The lights were on and the door locked but a sign said ring the bell if the lights are on so I did. A few minutes later an old man came to the door. He said he was very tired because he had been helping some canoeists retrieve their canoes after they had left them too close the the Potomac that had risen during the night and washed them down river. He also told me about a 60+ year old man who was walking from NJ to MN (that's Minnesota) along the C&O and GAP trails. He had made him breakfast that morning.
This bike and the two on the right from above were three guys riding along the trail heading east. Not sure how far they were going but based on the amount of gear they were carrying I would say they were trying to ride around the globe. But I doubt it from the looks of them. I though my set up with dry bags just strapped to the rack was kind of mickey mouse but most of their stuff was just stuffed into trash bags. Luckily we had not had any serious rain for a few days, yet!
This is what long sections of the C&O looked like. Long stretches of mud, lots of which could not be avoided. I had nice wide 32c tire on the reat that was slick and a 28c tire on the front with a little bit of tread. It wasn't much trouble getting through sections like this but most people I came across on the trail where riding mountain bikes with full knobby tires.
More muddy trail to the left and the canal to the right, all cut out of the rock. This is coming into the Paw Paw tunnel. They had to cut out about a mile of the rock hill in total for the tunnel and leading into the tunnel on both sides
The tow path is a boardwalk at this point. I am not sure if this is how it was done when the canal was functioning or not.
A small waterfall at the entrance to the Paw Paw Tunnel.
The entrance to the 3100ft long Paw Paw Tunnel cut out of the rock.
This is from the hand rail of the board walk going into the tunnel. The boardwalk was about 10 ft above the canal. Standing here felt like a huge airconditioner was blowing cold air out from the tunnel
There wasn't any lights in the tunnel. Good thing I had my head lamp with me. This is about half way through looking towards the end.
I was trying to ride through but the tow path surface was way too uneven and there were puddles everywhere because the ceiling was leaking water everywhere.
Someone (not me) left a little present in the middle of the tunnel. Sorry, I know it is gross, but I just had to take a picture.
Coming to the end of the tunnel. You can see how uneven and wet the path is.
Looking back into the tunnel.
Some washed out parts of the canal. There had definitely been some construction going on here recently.
This is what the trail looked like after a 1/2 hour downpour. I rode in conditions like this for probably 20 miles before I got out of where the storm had hit.
A few miles outside of Cumberland MD, near the end of the C&O canal.
I took these pictures because this was some of the only signs of life (except for the small towns I went to for food) along the 184 mile trail.
A cool BMX track outside of Cumerland MD.
Views coming into Cumberland MD.
The end of the C&O Canal trail, mile 184.5 in Cumerland MD. Also the end of day 4 for me. 100 miles of trail for the day and 237 total for the trip.
Day 4 campsite across the street from the Cumderland MD YMCA. $10 for the night including use of facilities of the Y. Nice hot shower.
The skies looked like rain (and it did) so I set up the tent under the pavilion.
Hanging the clothes out to dry. It had been so humid that my clothes weren't drying out at night despite being hung up. Perhaps under shelter they will do better.
First problem was that my tent is not free standing, it needs to be staked into the ground in order to stand up. It was concrete here. I was able to tie cords to the corners and then stick them under the picnic tables. Problem one solved! Second Problem was that there were active rail road tracks 12 feet way and 6 ft above my tent (you might be able to see a train car in this picture). 4 trains passed throughout the night and it sounded and felt like the train was running right over me. Second problem not solved!
This is downtown Cumberland MD on the morning of day 5. The town was very nice and the main street had been closed down to vehicle traffic and restaurant and stores had set up. Kind of like Downtown Crossing in Boston and Church street in Burlington VT.
Downtown Cumerland MD.
The bike shop right in between the C&O and GAP Trails. They let me use their hose to wash off my bike after riding through the mud from the C&O and the downpour yesterday.
There was this very nice "mall" at the junction of the two trails that looked like it had just been finished very recently. Everyone I spoke with were so excited about the trails and what they were bringing to the city of Cumberland.
This is the at the end of the C&O Trail and the start of the Great Appalachian Passage (GAP) Rail Trail which is 150 miles and ends just east of Pittsburgh PA..
I took a quick look in the visitor's center. This is the back end of a model barge that was used on the C&O
Listening and viewing stations in the visitor's center.
The start of the 150 mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail in Cumberland MD to Pittsburgh PA.
A short video. This is what the start of the GAP looked like. The pavement didn't last long, but was nice while it was there.
Views from the GAP of the MD and PA hills.
Hills and farm. The first 25 miles of the GAP was slightly (1.5-1.7%) uphill. Cumberland is at 605 ft above see level.
During the start of the railroad boom there a was battle between two rail roads in this area. They ran side by side for quite a while toward Pittsburgh. The company on the right won the battle and still in operation today. The company on the left lost, thankfully, and so today we have the GAP trail to Pittsburgh.
The Brush tunnel 914ft long.
Riding through this tunnel was not too hard even though it was not lit. There was enough light coming through the ends.
Coming out of the tunnel.
The Borden tunnel, 957ft long. I took this while riding so it is blurry.
Heading into PA and back north of the Mason-Dixon line. The GAP trail was cinder/stone dust. The surface was more course and slower in MD and finer and faster in PA. It was about 1.5mph faster with about the same amount of effort!!!
The porto-john was being held down by a rock? I guess the fluids in the tank weren't enough?
A view of the hills. It was very windy here and the porto-john was behind me.
Another scenic view.
The entrance to the 3294 ft Big Savage Tunnel. This tunnel was lit. Again cold air was rushing out. It felt so good after several days of 90 degree weather.
A short video of riding through the Big Savage Tunnel. It was lit and paved so riding through was not a problem.
The tunnel.
A video of riding along the Gap with the cinder surface.
This is the highpoint (2392 ft) of the GAP, 25 miles from Cumberland (605 ft). Pittsburgh is at (705 Ft), 125 miles downhill from here.
A road going over the trail
Windmills in the back ground.
This is the Salisbury Viaduct which was 1908 ft long over several rivers and roadways.
Views of Casselman River which weaved back and forth under the trail many many times.
The Pinkerton Tunnel that was closed. There was a detour for a few miles.
Near the town of Confluence (appropriately named) where several rivers joined the Youghiogheny River.
This is Paul who I met along the trail. He is from Germany (speaks English very well) and touring for 4.5 weeks. He is ending somewhere near Cleveland OH and meeting up with a doctor who specializes in Parkinson's Disease (which Paul has). He is also joining a group that does tandem rides with people with advanced Parkinson's. Paul had toured all over Europe and several times in Cuba. He had stayed at the Cumberland YMCA the night before me and also agreed that he though the trains were going to run over him.
Bridges in Ohiopyle PA
Bike shop, food, parking, etc in Ohiopyle.
Getting closer to the Steel City.
The end of the GAP trail? This is the only official looking sign to indicate the GAP trail head/end outside of Pittsburgh. McKeesport is a city in tough shape, similar to Brockton or Holyoke MA.
I made it to Pittsburgh. The photo is of the American Eagle Outfitters Headquarters.
A night shot of Pittsburgh from a bridge over the river Monongahela River.
The bridge over the Monongahela. 162 miles and 10:10:17 riding time for the day. This is close to 9pm. 150 miles of trail for the day and about 387 total for the trip. The overall distance was 625.
