Biking the C&O Canal & GAP Trails

Here's to the start of an adventure I decided to send after seeing a sign on the side of the road... With some planning and a whole lot of excitement for the unknown we're off!

Before the journey even started I was feeling pretty nervous to be honest. My dad and I got up at 545, had a coffee, loaded everything in the car, got a second coffee for the road, and took off. I was so nervous about the day ahead. It was raining and I wasn’t sure what to expect. We got to mile marker 0 in Georgetown and I was pumped to hit the road. Finally the day I was anticipating for weeks had arrived. The rain was light so dad and I ate our danishes and took some pictures. Then I was off… only to stop 100m down the path to put on the pannier rain covers and to hug dad once more. I chose to take the capital crescent trail instead of the towpath till fletchers cove as I saw online that it was paved and the towpath is muddy. Both were true. It had been raining in the area for an unprecedented 6 days at this point and everything was saturated. The trip was mostly adrenaline at the start. I was so happy to be out in the trail and I couldn’t stop smiling at the adventure ahead. Great falls park was awesome. The flooding water raged so hard I’ve never seen it that powerful. Around mile 20 I started to feel tired. Low energy🪦. The trail was beautiful but it was rainy and cold and I just realized that whites ferry is closed on Mondays. FUCK! I pressed on to Point of Rocks where I went to Big Belly to eat. I chatted with Shawn, a Pakistani republican who wants to love his family to Malaysia 🇲🇾 due to the current political climate. I thought that was funny and he’s a nice guy. Apparently in Pakistan you can rent a horse for a whole night for a single dollar 💵. Leaving point of rocks the rain started pouring harder as I did the final push to Brunswick. I finally arrive in town and start looking for the hotel. It’s on the edge of town, which is straight up a huge fucking hill. Great. I half walk half pedal in the rain until I reach it. The reception is actually in Penny’s Diner right next door. I get a room and use their hose to clean my muddy gear. After showering and drying my stuff I head back to the diner to enjoy chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and a strawberry milkshake 😋. Afterwards I watch Monday night football and fall asleep before the first quarter is over.

I woke up extremely sore with my right knee killing me. I went to Penny’s for some breakfast and then showered afterwards to warm up my sore knee and ass. Then I put my gear back together and headed down the hill to the entrance of town. I hit dollar general for a knee brace and some aspirin. The brace ended up being useless tbh. Back on the trail again all I could think about is how much my ass hurt and my knee ached. I moved the seat forward a bit and that helped me reposition my ass to a new, unsure spot. That helped. I also took an edible to see if that helped at all. It made me feel good but my knee still hurt if that makes any sense. I finally got to Harper’s ferry and felt defeated already. 5 miles took me over an hour. I seriously thought about catching a train out of there and just calling it a day. I was that down bad. But I kept going. In large part to I’m not a quitter and wanted to prove to myself that I’m tough. And in part that the trail was so beautiful and green in this area. The trail just meandered along the Potomac river with nice gravel stretches and the occasional interesting lock. At times the locks would be completely grassy which I always thought was cool. Today I also found the concrete platform along the still water section. It was as awesome as it looked in the videos. There were nice sections of forest as well, but nothing was without mud. The trail was so bad in parts that I almost slide out going through mud. Every puddle was a question of going through the middle and getting wet or risking the muddy edge where you can slide out down the hill into the river or canal. I chose the edge in the first part of the day but as the trail wore me down I finally succumbed to getting wet. It started raining again anyways so I said fuck it. I finally arrive in Williamsport absolutely defeated. I go to the red roof inn and get a room. There are people speaking some European language and doing plaster work outside my room. Really weird. The room is shitty but it has a warm shower. I wash my stuff and hit the Waffle House next door. I snooze pretty quick tonight. Unfortunately I wake up in the middle of the night to bed bugs crawling on me. It was only two but I’m positive it was them. That had me on edge but I was too tired to really care. I went back to bed in my misery.

Today started like all others: wet. My legs were feeling a little better this morning though so that was a plus. I got up around 630 and hit the free coffee in the lobby and took that back to my room where I watched the weather channel and drank my cup of Joe. Took my morning shot packed and out the door. Oh I almost forgot! I grab My leftover Waffle House food from the fridge and now I’m out. I eat the food in the Waffle House parking lot because why not. Then get in my hike and my ass is instantly sore. I hike to sheetz and get some coffee and breakfast stuff. Then I walk my bike with coffee in hand as well as the rest of my shit to the downtown area. It was a mess but I got there. I opened the breakfast sandwich but it was the most disturbing fast food garbage I’ve ever seen so I ditched that. Bars and a banana for me. I stretch and hit the road. Mile marker 100 comes quick and is very exciting. Then it’s all mud again. I decided to wear my bedrocks to save my shoes as much as possible. Nothing of note happened in the first part of the day other than this one detour they made us do. It involved walking the hike down two steps of stairs that were wooden and very wet. I filmed it and I’m glad I did because I almost ate shit! Thankfully I didn’t because that could’ve seriously injured me. Eventually I get to some decent crushed limestone trail which takes me to Fort Frederick. Here I leave the canal towpath and ride through the forts park to the main road a little ways away. This is a huge downhill that was so much fun. The purpose for this was to hop on the western Maryland rail trail at the start instead of two miles down. I had just washed my bike in fort Frederick and wanted to avoid the mud if possible. The rail trail was incredible. It was smooth asphalt and I felt like I was flying! I was able to cover miles much quicker than in any of the two prior days. As the miles ticked away it started to rain as I was nearing Hancock. I finally get to Hancock and immediately put on my sneakers since my feet are freezing. Then I head to an interesting spot for lunch. It’s an antique store and also a pub where two other groups of riders are. I order a pizza and a burger for later. The food takes fucking forever to arrive but somehow even though I was there last my food came first. I got a coffee to warm myself up as well since I was really chilly. After lunch I hit the grocery store and buy a few cans of soup and some fruit as I’m not sure where I’ll eat next. Then a quick stretch and back on the trail. The weathers turned around a bit and I’m again flying on the pavement. Eventually I get to the end of it in a town called Little Orleans. There’s a restaurant called Bills Place that is unfortunately closed the day I’m there. I setup camp in 15 mile creek campground. I get all the hammock things setup including the rain tarp and then explore the area. I’m the only person camping no there and it’s a beautiful night. Finally I see some blue sky for the first time this trip. I try starting a fire with the greasy burger box but all the sticks are just too wet. Oh well. I get some sleep . It rains lightly at night and even though I’m annoyed it’s raining again at least it’s a nice sound.

So my first night in the hammock went pretty well. It's pretty comfortable in there with my sleeping bag and sleeping pad under me. In the morning everything was soaked from another night of rain so I brought everything up to a shelter in the small town of Little Orleans to dry it off before packing up. Nothing was open so I just hit the trail. The ride to Cumberland wasn't too bad and for the first time in the trip the rain even took a break! I biked through a super long tunnel with a very (and I mean very) uneven path. It was lowkey kinda dangerous - but of course I survived. The rest of the way into Cumberland was lowkey. Eventually I was doing the math at every mile marker to calculate how much I had left to go. I was very, very hungry. But finally, there in the distance, I spotted the city that was no mirage. The first thing I did was take some pictures at the terminus of the trail. Phone eats first. Then I ate. I went to a pizza joint and got a large pizza and chicken wings! And I pounded 3 cokes while waiting for my food. That's the best part of bike packing - you can eat whatever you want and feel fantastic about it afterwards. After that I checked into my hotel, did some laundry, and chilled for a bit. Once the sun had started to call it a day I hit the town (on foot) to go see some of the sights. I had been to Cumberland before a long time back for a church mission trip (several actually). We had stayed at this big, beautiful stone church on top of the hill. Seeing the church again brought back some really great memories from when I was a kid playing hide and seek at night in this big mysterious church. Ah good times. It's a great feeling connecting with myself as a kid - I think they would've been proud of me.

I slept great last night! Got up around 630 and hit the downstairs breakfast. For a hotel breakfast it was pretty bad but hey free coffee. I then headed back to the room where everything was already packed, brushed my teeth, and hit the road. Leaving canal place at 830am was pretty awesome. I was the only person out there and I waved goodbye to Cumberland and the C&O canal and headed down the GAP and into the mountains. The crushed limestone surface was so nice to ride on. It seemed like the miles were just ticking by. I soon came upon the Cumberland bone cave which was pretty neat. I was already starting to heat up by then so I shed the jacket. Along the way a fellow east to west rider and I rode side by side and chatted for a couple miles. He had a nice trek bike with electric shifters and a carbon frame. He also had a support crew and told me that they were going all the way to Pittsburgh in one day. Power to them but they’re going to miss so much stuff on the way. My first real stop was Frostberg. It was a huge uphill to Main Street from the trail but totally worth it. I got to see the western terminus of the scenic western railroad as well as climb the sculpture garden switchbacks. In town I grabbed a coffee and bagel sandwich and enjoyed chatting with mom for a while. I did t stay long after but took a short walk up the quaint street and gazed at some of the buildings and surrounding scenery. The sky was perfectly blue today, not a cloud in sight. It was a little warm as well but the trees often provided plenty of cover. The leaves were absolutely incredible. Lots of yellows and some oranges with the rare red. I like the red trees the most so I was always excited to see one popping out of the canopy. The tunnels on the trail today were really cool. Especially one of them that had motion sensor lights. They would turn on as you rode past turning the darkness in light. Then when I got through the tunnel and turned around I got to watch them slowing turn off , one by one. I also crossed the mason Dixon line which was pretty cool. The best part of today was finally submitting the eastern continental divide. It only took around 210 miles to reach the peak but damn it felt good. It’s all down hill from here! I started to look more at the leaves and the babbling brooks now that I was going downhill. I even stopped at an Amish road side shop that had none running it. I got a small jar of bourbon barrel maple syrup, a hot pepper, and a beef stick. Pretty fun vibe! I wrote down what I got in their ledger book and put the money in the jar and off I went. Yes the pepper was hot but I downed it 😋. Eventually I reached the town of meyersdale where I currently am. I’m staying in the festival grounds maple park. I had to check in down the street at Donges Diner. I have a nice private spot under a maple tree with a view of the windmills on Mt. Savage in the distance. I’m not even putting up the rain tarp or bug net tonight! Bring on the stars. I’m going to go start a fire soon and hang out a bit then head to sleep. I’m so excited to start another day of riding. Ohiopyle here I come! The fire was awesome. All five people at camp came around at some point or another and at the end we had everyone at once. Glen is hiking all the way to Florida. He had the super fancy hammock. The two girls were shy but joined after a while. They hiked from Ohiopyle for the night. The old fit guy was on a crazy time crunch. He had to get all the way to DC in 4 days. And Ron was such a chill guy. I loved talking to him and hearing about his life. It’s really eye opening getting that different perspective from someone who just lives a completely different life than you. He’s biked to Florida and back so many times. Living off the bike and odd jobs along the way. At the end of the night we shared a beer and said our goodnight.

Last night was fucking cold. I had breakfast with Glen this morning at the diner. We chatted about his time in tech and now his bike trip towards Florida. The today was another lovely, sunny ride.

Campground: epic Brian: cool guy Other fellas: hilarious Steelers: back and yellow yell yeah Rain: lmao bring it bitch

And the final day.

Day 9: Exploring Pittsburgh

Oct 8, 2024

Today I woke up early to discover what there is to see in Pittsburgh... and wow was it awesome.

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Heading on home on the Amtrak back to D.C s Union Station.

Fin