C&O / GAP Forum

any suggestions on hotels to stay at reasonably near the Georgetown C & O terminus and Union Station as we will be taking Amtrak back to Pittsburg. Thank you

Prices there will likely be high. You could stay in Arlington and cycle the Mount Vernon Trail to get to C&O in Georgetown and begin your journey. I’ve never been able to find cheap accommodations in Georgetown.

A couple of thoughts come to mind regarding your question.

There are some hostels in DC that you could consider if you are a fan of such. They are less expensive than the hotels in the area and most are within easy riding distance of the train station.

Secondly, you might consider creating an itinerary/schedule wherein you could make it to the train station in DC just in time to take the train back to Pgh. Depending on where you make your last overnight stay before DC and what time you left there you could catch the 4:00 PM train back to Pgh and avoid staying overnight in DC altogether. Upon arrival in Pgh you could check in to one of the hotels near that train station to sleep and clean up. Just a thought.

Does anyone know the best way to get back to pittsburgh from dc? Me and my cousin doing the trip in June and having a tough time finding a way back. Amtrack is booked, Greyhound does not take bikes. Rental cars with bike racks are not easy to find.

Consider renting an full-size SUV or a van without a bike rack. I believe you could get both bikes inside these especially if you remove the wheels. I transport my bike for long trips in the back seat of my Lumina sedan by removing the wheels which is easy to do.

If you shop around the internet, there are several outfits that provide shuttle services. They are all going to be cheaper for larger groups. Four our group of 10, it ended up being slightly less expensive than the train, and will deliver us directly to where our cars are parked.

we rented a minivan and it worked just fine, but we booked months in advance. I hear there is a shortage of rental cars/ vans currently. I heard another trail rider recently comment that they had rented a u haul, having been unable to find a rental car. likely this is a little less expensive than a car as well. the train is super slow and the shuttles we checked into were quite expensive (understandably as it is a full days work for someone).

Glad the minivan worked! Yeah the shuttles are best when the cost is divided by 3-4 people.

Seems like everyone is gearing up to travel this summer so a rental shortage (and subsequent higher prices) doesnt surprise me at all.

I got my Amtrak Bike Ticket booked but I reserved it like 2-3 months ago.

Thanks for the input. Paying my son to come get me and bring me back to Pittsburgh. No rental cars available and uhaul is sold out.

We are trying to book Amtrak tickets for 2 people and 2 bikes for dates in May, DC Union Station to Pittsburg - getting a "Sold out" reply. We are confused as to whether there are other ways to do this? Is packing your bike in a box the only way? Can you check your bike as baggage?? Thanks for any help.

The first thing I would recommend, if you have not already done so, is to contact a real live reservation agent at Amtrak to confirm the unavailability of bike reservations. A few times in the past I have found that the on-line reservation system will report no available bike reservations exist for a given date, while a real live agent can find some or at least tell you if there are any available around your desired date. However, patience is a virtue as you will likely wait a fair amount of time to reach a real person as well as wait while they search their own system for available bike reservations.

All that said, I don’t understand why there are so few bike reservations made available since they just direct you to roll your bike into a regular baggage car which I rarely have seen much luggage. Amtrak is doing themselves a disservice by not making more bike reservations available during the touring season. They certainly are not customer-focused in this regard.

There are private parties/companies that will shuttle you back but they are rather costly.

And if you are still unable to reserve a bike ticket that is during your desired travel window, you can still purchase a bike box right there at Union Station. I think it’s $15-20. You will need to bring a tool that can turn your bike handles and a tool that can remove your pedals. Amtrak will not provide tools. Then your bike will fit in the box. The only downer is you will have to put your pedals back on and readjust your handlebars when get off at midnight in downtown Pittsburgh.

Like Rivnuts said, seems odd that they limit these bike tickets to what seems like 6-8 per train. They could comfortably double or triple the amount. They could easily do this for half the year to cover the touring season. I don’t think Amtrak realizes how many people pass up on Amtrak because they can’t secure a bike ticket.

Hello All,
We are planning a GAP ride in the fall 2022. We're planning on taking the train to Cumberland to start our ride back to Pittsburgh. Can you give any info on your experience if you've done this and also where did you park your car in Pittsburgh? Thanks so much! Enjoy the ride!??

I have taken the Amtrak Capital Limited from Pittsburgh to DC via Cumberland. The train leaves Pittsburgh at 5:20 AM if it is on schedule and arrives in Cumberland 4 hours later at 9:20. This arrival time would allow you to start your bike trip back to Pittsburgh and get a full day of riding depending on your travel date and the time of sunset at that time. If your dates are firm and you are bringing your bikes to take on the train, you need to get your train reservations early so you can get the requisite add-on reservations for your bikes. Bike capacity on the train is limited so bike reservations can be hard to get on short notice.

The train station in Pittsburgh is in close proximity to several downtown hotels. If you are staying at one of those hotels the night before your departure, the hotel often will allow you to park there for free until you return to Pittsburgh. Aside from that there is little free parking near the train station. There is a parking garage direct across from the train station but you may find it a little expensive for your taste.

Just starting my plans to bike the C&O this year and my first question is how long might it take to bike the entire length and possibly round trip to avoid needing roundtrip assistance.

The majority of riders take 6 or 7 days to make the full one-way, 334 mile trip between Pittsburgh and DC riding an average of 50 to 60 miles per day. By riding more or less miles per day you can make the trip in fewer or more days.

If you are only riding the 184 mile C&O itself, 3 or 4 days is most common.

Back in 2020 I was supposed to go hike the John Muir Trail in California. The pandemic shut down those plans with airfare prices skyrocketing. As Plan B, I convinced my wife to join me on a bike trip. We had tried and failed to bike the C and O once before. This time we had better gear and more experience. We planned to utilize the train system to shuttle us back to the start so we chose to ride uphill( Dc-Pitt). I’m no videographer or editor but I wanted to put these videos somewhere where they could easily be viewed so I have been creating YouTube videos from each day of our 8 day trip. I used this website to plan the trip so I thought I would post the video here as well. Check them out if your interested. You can hear the range of emotion in our voices. Especially day two where we felt like we bit off more than we could chew. Thanks to everyone who helped us plan this during an uncertain time in 2020. This board was invaluable to our trips success. More videos will be added as I finish editing them.

https://youtu.be/SZpVTeFGiPw

I’ve enjoyed watching the first five videos of your trip along the C&O and the GAP trails. These videos answer many of the most commonly asked questions about these trails such as what are the trail surfaces, trail conditions, campsite conditions and sites along the trail. I would/will recommend these videos to those planning their first trip along these trails from DC to Pittsburgh.

I’m curious how you faired riding up the GAP trail from Cumberland to the Eastern Continental Divide on your single speed bike.

The climb up to the Continental Divide on my single speed wasn’t bad. I was able to sit down the whole time but I did slide up onto the nose of the saddle. I also had to move at my own speed. My wife could gear down and spin up the hill. If I went her speed then I would have to mash instead of spin which burned my legs out. Once I started moving at my own pace things got comfortable again. If I had to do it again I wouldn’t change a thing. A single speed is perfect for this trail. If I was going east bound then I would change my hearing to 40:18

Not the proper place for this subject, but rode The Erie Canal last June. planned to to Buffalo to Albany in 6 days. first two and 1/2 were great. At Clyde many detours and not very good signage. It also turned into a road ride, very busy road ride, after arriving at my destination, 15 miles and 2hrs longer and later, I did some research and found the next 120 miles were on the road. I aborted at that point. If you like beautiful trials and road mixed in its a good ride. Personally I don't care for the road.

There is a forum for the Erie Canal Trail just like this forum for the GAP/C&O at:

www.bikeEriecanal.com

That said Mr. Mucci is correct in that the Erie Canal Trail does include a fair amount of roads some of which are a little dodgy. There has been an ongoing effort to reduce the amount of roads along that trail. The sections along the Erie Canal Towpath itself are quite nice however as is the GhostTown trail that begins in Mr. Mucci’s home town of Blairsville.

Having done both trails, I’ve always felt the Erie Canal is behind the GAP/C&O in its development as a recreational trail. As the OP mentioned, there a quite a few roads one will need to traverse. Some of that is because parts of the canal are lost to time. The signage and mile markers are severely lacking in many parts. Perhaps this will improve with it now being marketed as the Empire State Trail. No one really knows where the Erie Canal towpath starts and begins, there’s no signage in Buffalo or Albany to tell you and there’s no mile markers either.

Getting information related to camping sites is hit or miss (“can I camp here or not?” comes up a lot on that forum), which makes planning difficult. There should be a concerted effort to create known camp sites along the trail for passing cyclists to use. They don’t have to be at the locks but rather use some of the more rural parts of the trail so only hiker/bikers can get to them. There’s one trail map online that is nice but it’s for the “Cycle the Erie Canal” event, an organized trip which diverts off the trail for nightly camping for 600+, but it’s not a downloadable map. A printable map is much better when no cell service is available.

The GAP/C&O has an organized set of maps online that are 99.9% updated and printable. Trail Towns are all on board and market themselves to touring cyclists eager for their business. Mile markers the entire length and good signage.

All that said I love the Erie Canal. Lovely scenery, good riding surface, history, and abundant towns and services. If whoever manages the trail would implement some of the above small changes, it would/could rival the GAP/C&O as a week long cycling destination.

I too rode the Erie Canal last June and you are mistaken. Most of the eastern end is not roads, but paved trails. Limited road riding in Syracuse , Schenectady, or a detour in Utica. I agree with others that Erie Canal needs better signage!!

My husband and I rode the Erie Canal trail last June from Buffalo to Albany and I do agree the signage is horrible. We went on a couple unplanned detours. But we loved the adventure. Although there is some riding on roads, it definitely isn’t as much as you stated. It’s approximately 42% paved, 42% stone dust, and 16% road. We loved the history along the way and met some really cool people.

We have also ridden the GAP and plan to come back and do the GAP again and the C&O. We have ridden the entire Katy trail in Missouri as well. All these trails are incredible, but very different. Impossible to compare. We just love the challenge and the fun.

Rumor has it this place is for sale, in case you had ever wanted to own a B&B and bike shop.

It was still for sale as of last week.

I wonder how much they are asking for it. I'd like to find something similar on the Katy Trail. GAP winters are a little too cold for this southern boy.

The Rockwood Trail House that I referred to was listed for $325,000. The Gingerbread B&B just up the street is apparently also for sale and it’s price listing has been reduced recently by $100,000 to $295,000 according to Zillow. Come on Bill get out your check book or Bitcoins, buy one or the other and move up north. We’d love to have you. However you’d have to become a Steeler fan.

We stayed in the Gingerbread and it was a nice place. I think the becoming a Steelers fan is just a cost I'm not willing to pay. :)

Interesting. I too stayed at the gingerbread house. A nice and quite ‘historical’ place. Never before have I had a Victorian corset as room decoration. Slim pickings in Rockwood

Interesting. I too stayed at the gingerbread house. A nice and quite ‘historical’ place. Never before have I had a Victorian corset as room decoration. Slim pickings in Rockwood

But mannnn, the pizza at the opera house hit the spot. Wait, it wasn't pizza. It was a pizza roll or calzone or something. Still, amazing.

My preference is to ride from DC to Pittsburgh, though more popular is the reverse direction. Yes, the 17 miles after Cumberland is a long haul uphill at 2%, but you get it over in one fell swoop and can enjoy a much longer descent. More importantly, the GAP is a much better trail surface, and I prefer to get the narrow single track, and sometimes muddy C&O out of the way and behind me. As to itinerary, I did Six Days, Georgetown to Harpers Ferry to Hancock to Cumberland to Rockwood to Connellsville to Pittsburgh. Advise to ride fewer miles on day you do Ohiopyle and enjoy the town. I did credit card accommodations with no problem.

Good itinerary.

As I’ve aged, I’ve stretched my GAP/C&O trips from 5 days to 6 days so I can enjoy the scenery more…not to mention my body recovers better with less miles!

Each direction has its pros/cons….so it’s a wash even though I prefer to end in DC because I live in Pittsburgh.

I always try to take a dip in the river at Ohiopyle…for sure a nice stop.

John

Thanks for posting this - I was ruminating on the very same itinerary for a trip in May. Glad to see I was on the right track! Enjoy your trip.

Nice idea. I get kind of beat down and more error-prone at the end of a trip. Better to do the tricky parts first.

Hi - we are thinking of riding the trail in mid to late April and wondering what the conditions will be like? We are open to doing either the C&O or GAP. Thanks in advance.

Let's begin with the historical weather data along the trail for mid to late April. The data below is for Pittsburgh:

Average High Temperature on April 15: 62
Average Low Temperature on April 15: 39
Average High Temperature on April 30: 67
Average Low Temperature on April 30: 44
Average Monthly Total Rainfall through April 15: 1.5 inches
Average Monthly Total Rainfall through April 30: 3.0 inches
Percentage of Days of the Month Receiving Some Precipitation: 30%
Daily Hours of Sunlight: 13.3
Typical Wind Speed: 6 mph
Humidity: Dry

That said the temps will be lower at higher elevations along the trail such as Meyersdale. In fact, while not prevalent, one could encounter up to 0.5 inches of snow during that period. Temps closer to DC will be warmer.

Aside from the first 19 miles outside Pittsburgh and the 26 miles of the WMRT in Maryland if you choose to ride it, the rest of the trail is compacted crushed stone and dirt. Accordingly, the bulk of the trail condition is a function of the precipitation prior to and during your ride. In general the sections of crushed gravel will range from firm, to soft, to small stretches of puddles. The dirt sections will range from firm, to soft, to long stretches of puddles and mud of varying depths.

During the period the trees will be leafing out.

Subjectively, I find April to be earlier than I would normally plan a multi-day ride on the trail especially if camping. In my opinion, May is more preferable and conducive to a pleasant ride.

Late April in the PA section will be notably colder than DC. I’ve seen snow in the Laurel Highlands that time of year.

Any recommendations on lodging between Harper's Ferry and Georgetown?

There is a Travelodge in Brunswick about 1.5 miles off the trail although I have not stayed there. There are not many options other than lock houses between there and DC without leaving the trail, I.e. in Potomac and Bethesda. There would be options in Leesburg if/when the Whites Ferry returns to service.

Looking for a shuttle service from DC to Pitt?

The following are some of the more visible and active shuttle services along the GAP and C&O:

Golden Triangle Bike
Bill's Car and Shuttle Service
Wilderness Voyageurs
2 Wheel Escapes

You'll find descriptions and contact info for these at the gaptrail.org website under the "Where to Go" tab and the Sites and Amenities/Shuttles section therein.

As you likely know Amtrak provides bike roll-on service between Pittsburgh and DC and points along the way. There are also one-way car rental options in both Pittsburgh and DC as well.

Of course, the best option is simply to make it a round trip and avoid the need for a shuttle at all. :-)

I haven't posted in quite a while, and have done the entire ride many times. truly it is the ride of ones life. What is hard to believe is that first timers think you need to cross the river at Whites Ferry. I don't understand why they would assume that. Unless you are going to Leesburg. Thanks to Rivnuts, who contributes very good information. I enjoy your posts.

I haven't posted in quite a while, and have done the entire ride many times. truly it is the ride of ones life. What is hard to believe is that first timers think you need to cross the river at Whites Ferry. I don't understand why they would assume that. Unless you are going to Leesburg. Thanks to Rivnuts, who contributes very good information. I enjoy your posts.

Hello,

Our group of 6 is planning to ride the trails in Sept. 2022. Originally we planned the entire Pittsburgh to DC route. However, after consideration we decided to do one of the other.

For those of you who have experience with the trails, which do you consider the best and for what reasons?

I understand Whites Ferry is closed with no information about re-opening and causes a bit of re-routing at the end of the C&O.

Any information will be helpful.

This is a well-travelled topic. In my opinion I’d ride the GAP from Pittsburgh to Cumberland if this is your first time on the trails unless you want to visit DC. The GAP trail is generally better condition particularly if you encounter rain. There is better access to water, food and lodging also.

Depending on construction progress it is also possible that the Paw Paw Tunnel may not have reopened making the C&O Towpath trip a little more difficult.

I’m sure others will have their opinions as well with other reasons.

GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP GAP

If you have the time I'd rethink doing a complete route. The Gap is a great route but so is the C&O. The Gap is a bit more civilized but the C&O offers history and actually more overnight choices if staying indoors. Sure you have to push-a-bike over Paw Paw and and the Ferry crossing is a problem but you can adjust your daily travel to account for that. Cumberland to Hanock is appx. 60 miles and the section from Little Orleans is remote. Overnight options are a bit tough if your staying indoors. If camping less problems.

To be clear and as others have noted, the C&O itself does not cross over the Potomac River so operation of Whites Ferry is not necessary to complete the trip from Cumberland to DC.

To be clear and as others have noted, the C&O itself does not cross over the Potomac River so operation of Whites Ferry is not necessary to complete the trip from Cumberland to DC.

I am planning a trip and want to know where I can find the latest/current information on closures and trail alerts. Is there a central location/website? Is it on this comment thread? Please advise-Thanks

The GAP and C&O each have a website that cites the conditions/alerts for travel thereon. These are shown below. Updates to these sites are not instantaneous, however, so it is important to monitor forums and message boards such as this one to confirm or augment the listed conditions. Contributors to this and other forums along with the riders on the trails themselves provide the best current conditions and you would do well to check these forums and/or post questions to them as you get closer to and even during your trip.


https://gaptrail.org/updates/
https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/conditions.htm