C&O / GAP Forum

Hi All,

I am looking for advice on deciding the route of my first long walk/hike. I'm only debating the starting location because I live in Hancock, Md. so my ending point is locked in. I want to do a 2-day, 1-night hike/walk that is between 25-40 miles total with an overnight primitive style camp somewhere along the route (sleeping in a hammock under a tarp). I plan to be dropped off on a Friday morning and then pretty much walk to my house in Hancock and expecting to get home sometime in the evening on Saturday.

Although I consider myself to be in decent shape, I've been "training" for the walk portion for about 6 months by walking 2.5 miles every day on my lunchbreak, and 1 or 2 times a month I walk 10 - 12 miles with about 10 lbs. of gear on me in about 3 - 3.5 hours. Which is about the pace and weight of gear I plan on bringing.

As for the route advice, I am thinking about doing a Paw Paw Wv. - Hancock, Md. trip with camping in Little Orleans, Md. Total distance is 32 miles. Day 1 starts in Paw Paw and will be 15.6 Miles to Little Orleans where I will stop and set up a small camp for overnight. Then, waking up and walking the remainder of the 16.4 miles to Hancock, and then probably another 1.5 miles to my house from the trail.

Does anyone have a different route of about the same distance and ending point?

Does this seem to be to too ambitious or too conservative for a first-time long walk/hike?

Any advice at all? I feel like I'm just getting started, but I'm not a novice at walking long distances or with camping, but with the walking and camping together?

An obvious alternative route would be south of Hancock beginning in Williamsport. It’s a slightly shorter route (25 + 1.5) than the one you proffered There is an overnight campgound about halfway at the Fort Frederick State Park. Having not stayed there, I don’t know if it can accomodate a hammock.

I’ll add some further comments later.

If you wish a somewhat longer trek, you could start a little further south beginning at the McMahon's Mill Recreation Area (approximately 36.5 miles south of Hancock) or even at Dam 4 (40 miles south) and return to Hancock. From there you could ovenight camp at McCoy's Landing State Campground (public pay) or the North Mountain primitive Hiker/Biker campsite.

I'm a biker not a hiker so I can't comment on the feasibility of your first hiking/camping adventure. Its easily done of course in one day on a bike.

I would note that there was a bridge over a creek out on the Towpath north of Hancock last summer. You may well be able to find a way to hike around it successfully. Alternatively, you can circumvent that bridge by hiking northbound on the parallel Western Maryland Rail Trail.

Don't forget some bug repellent for those pesky mosquitos that seem to come out at dusk. Also there's little or no opportunity to obtain water in these areas so plan on taking what you may need or a filter to make some along the way.

Thank you for the information and alternate route suggestions Rivnuts. I didn't really consider coming to Hancock from the Georgetown side of the trail. I like to wake up and walk into the sunrise so west to east routes was all I looked at (for this first trip anyway).

I think I've decided to start in either Town Hill and walk to Hancock. Not much of a difference between them, like 5-6 miles I believe. But if I start in TH, I will be about 18 miles to Devils Alley Bike/Hike campsite for the night and it is about halfway to Hancock. If I did PP to Hancock, my halfway/camp option is one of the options in Little Orleans. I have camped there dozens of times and want to see things I haven't see/camped before while on this trip. Plus, if my start point for day 2 is around Devils Alley, it should be a beautiful sunrise if I hike up to the top of the hill to get to Point Lookout Overlook.


Similar issue with the Williamsport to Hancock route you suggested. I love that area and the idea, but I have camped at Fort Frederick a handful of times over the years.

You seem to know a good bit about the trail which I greatly appreciate. Thank you for the advice. There's three things I consider as essential and separate from "gear", they are a knife, a lighter, and a LifeStraw water filter straw. Outside of an emergency, I think I could take those 3 items make it home alright. Might suck for two days, but I'd make it.

Who keeps the C&O and GAP trails in rideable condition?
Are the massive firings of federal employees going to be a problem by May 1?

The GAP is maintained by a group of volunteer trail associations for the most part. The C&O is maintained by the National Park Service. The effect, if any, of federal government efficiency actions on the C&O is not clear at this point.

Where is an inexpensive place to stay in DC near the trail head?

I don’t intend to be a smart Alec but if you find one, let us all know as I have never found one, especially in the Georgetown district where the trail ends. Once, I did find a reasonably priced one-room Airbnb for myself about 6 miles north of the train station but it was less expensive since it was a fair distance from downtown and in a questionable neighborhood.

For a few years I was able to stay with my daughter in the Kolorama neighborhood but she moved from there a few years ago.

warmshowers.org

I'll be in DC in early March and I was thinking of riding a portion of the trail out and back. Will the trail be too muddy and icy at that point?
Thanks

Simply put the odds aren’t with you for an enjoyable ride on the unpaved C&O Trail. You may want to consider one of the paved alternative trails in and about DC such as Custis Trail, WOD Trail, Capital Crescent Trail or Mt.Vernon Trail.

Roadie Mike from Detroit MI:

Hopefully you find this additional forum message since the forum app would not allow me to respond directly to your message as it normally does.

The Paw Paw Tunnel for the C&O Canal was cut through a hill/mountain rather than continue along the winding Potomac River to save time and cost of construction by reducing the length of the canal. - Neither objective was ultimately achieved. The 3,118 foot long tunnel itself was cut through the shale mountain and built over a period of 14 years. If you look at a map of the trail you'll see the divergence of this canal tunnel from the Potomac River. Further some Google searching will reveal a number of excellent websites describing the history and facts for the tunnel itself.

The outdoor trails entering and leaving the tunnel can be muddy during and following rain. The trail immediately downriver (north) of the tunnel can be slippery as well as muddy as it travels over a wooden "footbridge" adjacent a rock wall outside the tunnel. Just beyond the footbridge the trail surface includes exposed sections of wet shale as well as the muddy earthen surface. It's all rideable under those conditions but extra caution is well advised.

Inside the tunnel the elevated towpath travels between a guardrail separating the towpath from the canal so you don't fall off into the canal. The towpath within is a hard earthen surface about 5- to 6-feet wide. You can readily walk a pannier-laden bike within this width.

However, the surface is rough and damp including some small puddles in the ruts due to leaks in the tunnel roof. It is very dark inside making a light a virtual necessity. While I've encountered riders attempting to ride through the tunnel without a light, they present a peril for themselves as well as others in the tunnel.

I hope this message answers your questions.

Will a trike (actually a trike to quad conversion, 40” wide) fit between the wall and railing? Thanks!

The 40-inch width of the trike would fit between the wall and the rail as the towpath width inside the tunnel is 5 feet. There are a few related concerns however.

The first is your transiting through the tunnel. Even with ten trips through that tunnel over the past ten years I’ve never seen a trike pass through the tunnel. I think that’s more due to the nature of the towpath before and after the towpath rather than within the tunnel itself. The trail to and from the tunnel looks like a path traveled by a car. That is, two separated single tracks such that one wheel of a trike would normally ride in one of the tracks while the other would ride in the median…doable but not ideal for a trike or a two-wheeled trailer. But I digress.

Secondly, while you likely could ride through the tunnel, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of clearance beyond your wheels making a good light a virtual necessity. Also, with the limited clearance, passing other bikers inside the tunnel would be challenging. I’d certainly wait until other cyclists or pedestrians had cleared the tunnel before beginning to go through.

Lastly, if you chose not to ride through the tunnel but, rather, walk through, pushing or pulling a trike through would be awkward I would think.

Hopefully others with trikes can offer their thoughts as well.

Has anyone stayed in one of the cabins here? Or, do you recommend another place to stay in Harpers Ferry?

I have not stayed at the Harper’s Ferry Adventure Campground so I can’t comment on its accommodations or amenities. However, I would comment that it is not an “easy” place to get to on a bike depending on your fitness and your confidence on riding on active, fast travelling, 2-lane highways, i.e Rt 340 off which the Adventure Center is located. Using Google Maps you can see two routes to the campground from the C&O Trail both of which include riding along a stretch of Rt 340 and have one or two steep climbs rising up out of the Potomac River valley. Both routes require that you cross the river from the C&O Trail. The first route requires that you carry your bike and gear up the steel stairs aside the train tressel into Harper’s Ferry to continue on toward Rt 340. The second route crosses the river on Rt 340 itself.

I’ve stayed at a hotel on the Maryland side of the river and at a bed and breakfast in Harper’s Ferry itself. Neither were partcularly great, but served the purpose for one night once getting there.

If you have not already done so, you can use this Bikecando.com website to identify various accommodations in the Harpers Ferry area that might be of interest. I would also note that there is a pay-to-stay campground immediately adjacent to the C&O Trail in Brunswick, MD about 7 miles east of Harper’s Ferry. Aside from the nearby noisy railroad operations, it is an alternative to camping at Harpers Ferry.

What Rivnuts said. You would be better off staying in Brunswick, Harpers Ferry, or Sheapherdstown if you don't want to camp.

My brother and I are biking the GAP and C&O trails in May. My bike has lollipop clip pedals. What is the consensus as to whether those are good for these trails or whether I would be better off with regular pedals to be able to put my feet down faster if I need to?

Under dry conditions and assuming one is experienced riding with clipless pedals, you should be able to ride these trails without issue with those pedals. Under wet conditions you should still be ok with clipless pedals on the GAP Trail. Wet conditions on the C&O could be problematic with clipless pedals since that trail can be slippery and muddy, especially between Cumberland and Little Orleans.

However, in full disclosure, I don’t ride with clipless pedals so that my opinion might be overly cautious. If you.mountain bike with clip less pedals, I would expect you’d be fine using them on these trails.

That’s my two cents worth. Others may offer different opinions.

Question and comment:

What does the Paw Paw Tunnel go through or under? The Potomac River perhaps? It looks like a narrow stretch of three miles that could be muddy. Will make sure my lights are working well and hope the panniers don't bump the sides of the wall.