C&O / GAP Forum

Hello all, I am going to be going on the C and O from Cumberland to DC at the end of the month, most of the plans are pretty solid at this point but had some concerns about the Whites Ferry closing. Is there anything that I need to know about it? Is there a pedestrian bridge to cross in its place or maybe a detour that is safe to take? Thanks for the impute.

Whites Ferry is still closed unfortunately.
No pedestrian or other bridge anywhere nearby.

Willy, what did you end up doing to get over the river?

Bikerafting is your only option. :-)

Seriously, another poster to the forum stated that the Comfort Inn in Leesburg is offering their shuttle service from Point of Rocks if you were staying there overnight.

Well... the closest to reasonable crossing is Brunswick.

You can google a more scenic but less traffic route from Brunswick to Purcelville,Va without having to be on Berlin turnpike the entire way.

Then you are on the Washington & Old Dominion trail on the way to Washington DC. This trail crosses thru Leesburg.

Having said this it will test your lowest gear going up the hill from the bridge at Brunswick. That part you will be jousting with traffic.

Still less frantic than trying to cross at Point of Rocks (Route 15 bridge).

Irrespective of any ongoing efforts to politically regain the ferry service, there would be another obstacle for the ferry to return to operation. The ferry boat itself appears to be seriously damaged as it was apparently partially towed up the MD side approach ramp where it rests today with half the hull in the water and the half on the ramp. The hull appears badly buckled where the ramp enters the river. It is questionable if it could be easily repaired.

That'll buff right out.

Bill:

I read the other day where the ferry is actually a combination of two barges so maybe that buckle in the middle I saw on the ramp was simple the joint between the two barges. If so, then indeed it may indeed "buff right out" and the ferry can be returned to service fairly quickly if a solution to the dispute can be found.

Contrary to popular belief you don’t need to cross White’s Ferry to go from Cumberland to DC. As a matter of fact if you do cross the Potomac your going the wrong direction.

Indeed you don’t need to leave the C&O Towpath and cross the Potomac River on White’s Ferry to continue from Cumberland to DC. However, you may want to cross the river to visit or stay overnight in Leesburg or complete the trip to DC via the Washington and Old Dominion (WOD) Trail. In these cases, it is a good option which currently is not available.

You can always cross the potomac at brunswick, take the mostly dirt roads in loudoun county to the w&od, and head in to DC. There's a bit of paved road and the bridge across the potomac isn't the greatest if you're uncomfortable around cars but it's certainly doable.

Kirk R:

Do you have or can you direct me to a Strava, Ridewithgps or Mapmyride route map of the route you describe from Brunswick through Loudon County to the WOD? I’ve ridden from the WOD in Purcellville to Harpers Ferry but not from/to Brunswick.

Rivnuts, I used Google maps with the bicycle icon routing to plot the route between Brunswick and Purcleville.

I don't remember any "dirt roads" on my travels between Brunswick and Purcelville. All roads were paved. Some were not pristine, but they were paved.

I also spent a little time looking at the route on the Google map with zooming in and out to somewhat familiarize myself with the route before riding so that I am not all wound up thinking I'm going to miss a turn somewhere. I don't like staring at my phone while riding.

Enjoy the ride!

Willy:

Thanks I'll look at the Google route. I was curious about the "dirt" roads in Loudon County albeit I don't know that I would travel them on my touring bike depending on their quality.

I would personally spend most of my time on mountain rd, which is a low traffic, nicely paved, road. It does have a good long climb on it, which is a big contrast from the tow path. Here's a route I made for someone (on this site, I think) and have used: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35184094

There are a lot of gravel/dirt roads in loudoun county. It's one of the things that part of the county it known for (and there are efforts to keep them unpaved). You can zoom in to loudoun county on this state-wide map to see some of it. I have not verified that it's accurate (I live here so I just ride and see). https://vdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e4e9638690634fafae8bccb63abbee7c

Oops, I just posted up a route from brunswick to the W&OD that is more gravel/dirt. I meant to post one that takes mountain rd (a little further west than the route I posted). I should have looked at it more closely. I'll look through my routes and see if I have one already made with mountain rd on it.

There can be some pretty washboard sections on the gravel/dirt roads including towards the end of purcellville rd from the route I mistakenly posted... I ride them on 32mm tires but do prefer the 50mm ones I've got on one of my bikes.

Here's a route from brunswick to the w&od that is mostly paved: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38306515

You also have the option of staying on mountain rd into hillsboro and then taking 9 briefly before taking hillsboro rd into purcellville. There can be more traffic on hillsboro rd.

Thank you

Below is a link to the latest AP article pertaining to the closure and status of Whites Ferry. Unfortunately, the article doesn't suggest any progress in the stalemate which is disappointing as we look forward to the 2022 touring season.


https://www.pilotonline.com/news/transportation/vp-nw-whites-ferry-20220109-migizui6bnbylcpgyjettpwn3e-story.html

Hi all - has anyone been on the C&O path in the last 24 hours? Looking for a place to get a long run in (without using micro spikes) after this winter storm... and curious if the canal path is softer/less icy than sidewalks around the District.

Thanks!

We didn't really get any snow near Brunswick. We're supposed to get some tonight though.

The only review I have seen was from 2007. Has anyone been there since? I want to ride the entire 185 miles this summer. Thanks.

There is a vast wealth of information related to the C&O Towpath including this website, various blogs and YouTube channels with which to plan a trip. The Forum on this website has innumerable useful threads containing reviews of all sorts of aspects of the Towpath.

I've ridden the entire length of the Towpath (and the GAP) each of the last seven years. What type of information are you specifically looking for?

A group of about 10 of us are bikecamping the GAPCO from Pittsburgh to Richmond next June, and I am trying to figure out the recreation.gov campsites.

We each carry a small 1-person tent, so how many campsites should I reserve for this??

I see the notes for group campsites, but that seems to be for those coming with cars and more stuff.

Any guidance appreciated.!!!!

The Recreation.gov website does not appear to be the most useful in locating campsites along the GAP and C&O Towpath. In general, for the free campsites along both trails, there are no stipulated limits because there are no uniquely designated/numbered campsites within these. The one exception to this that comes to mind is Swain’s Lock H/B campsite near DC which has 5 numbered campsites.

For the pay-to-stay campsites it depends on the operator. These include private campgrounds (e.g. KOA/YMCA), state and federal parks (e.g. Corps of Engineers and National Park Service). The limits vary between these and you’d need to research/contact these for the answer to each.

The various webpages for each of these trails provide the best and most targeted resources to find the free and pay-to-stay campsites. I can provide some links to these if needed or specific options knowing your itinerary/overnight locations.

Hi there,

If you look under the campsite details it will tell you the maximum occupants. Some may have 6 or 8 max. occupants, but I think you might be pressed to set up that many tents in the space that is provided.

The Spring Gap and Antietam Creek campgrounds on the C&O had plenty of space, so you could probably set up ten tents in two sites.

The Outflow Campground space was more limited so you might get three tents in the provided space.

It might be better for you to get a group campsite, I saw Scout Troops using those on my trip last year.

Have a great trip, Edward

hi, well never did stay here, but was biking on the GAP with my son end of March, and we were bonking and dry when we rode through this KOA. Unfortunately, it was closed seasonally, but in the 'cafe' we noticed a woman there doing some work (the owner?). We asked her if there was any water available, and she kindly filled our bottles up. She could have sent us packing but instead helped us out. Thanks again!

Hi, came upon Bill's Place this past March while biking from PA to DC with my son. It was a great place to warm up, and soup was tasty, food hit the spot, and drink was gooood. Down to earth. Wonderful folks. Thanks for being there.

I saw a couple of questions and comments about how to arrange return trips from various points along the trail, and thought I would add my two cents.

What we learned is that it was far easier, and cheaper, to rent a U-Haul one way back to Wilmington, as opposed to a rental car of any size! Like, 1/3 as much! I recommend that option highly if you find yourself in a situation like we did.

My riding buddy and I started our GAP/C&O trip in September, and had a great experience for the first couple of days. This was our first tour, and we were riding with far too much gear, but the first three days were great. Pittsburgh to Connellsville, Connellsville to Rockwood, Rockwood to Cumberland. We started late and had slim pickings for dinner on a Sunday in Connellsville, spent too much time at Fallingwater outside of Ohiopyle and missed dinner completely in Rockwood - that town closes up early - and got to Cumberland with plenty of daylight left.

I began to have issues on the C&O trail, especially as the temperature climbed. I'm diabetic and wasn't doing a good job with my sugars, and ran into trouble right around Paw Paw. I got sagged by some new friends into Hancock, and thought all would be good the next day. However, we hit the detour around Taylors Landing (mile 89) and that nearly killed me. As we got back onto the trail, I fell further behind, winding up by myself just slogging toward our next stop in Harpers Ferry.

Around mile 74, I found myself alone in the woods at 8:15 pm, in darkness like an abandoned mine, with a flat front tire. I managed to replace my tube in the dark, then had the chain fall off. Once I was finally back on my bike, nearing the point of exhaustion but still moving, it began to rain! I just kept plugging away, and caught up to my buddy at the campground at Antietam Creek, where he had taken shelter with Gary, the manager (an outstanding human being!!). We got a call from our friends asking where we were, and they came and got us, taking us into Harpers Ferry about 10:30 and again missing anything to eat.

It was at that point where we both decided we had bitten off more than we could chew, and it was time to call the ball, hence our U-Haul rental.

We learned a lot from the ride, and are starting to look towards our next attempt - when both the Paw Paw and Taylors Landing detours are completed!

One of the things I always say, and I worry that people think I am being petty, is that you absolutely have to know how and where you are going to eat. These little towns ain't like the big cities that a lot of us live in.

You guys were banging out the mileage. It's a shame that the wheels kind of fell off. Thanks for the post.

Planning Pittsburgh to Great Falls/DC in mid May. Six days, hotels, restaurants, no camping. Anyone planning a similar ride? Advice?

I'm not currently planning the trip you've outlined, i.e. Pittsburgh to Great Falls (aka Seneca) over six days but have made a handful of trips between Pittsburgh and DC in recent years. Hence if I were making your trip a couple of itinerary options you might consider with daily mileage listed are as follows:

00 Pittsburgh
46 Perryopolis
58 Rockwood
44 Cumberland
60 Hancock
52 Shepherdstown
58 Great Falls (Seneca)

00 Pittsburgh
59 Connellsville
57 Meyersdale
60 Paw Paw
57 Williamsport
45 Brunswick
31 Great Falls (Seneca)

You can look under the "Towns and Services" tab in this forum for lodging and restaurant options in each of the overnight destinations. I've stayed and eaten at several of them. Depending on budget and preferences your choices may be quite different from mine.

I'm sure others will have some other suggestions as well.

May is a great month to make the trip. Not too hot and not too cold and accommodations are a little easier to get before the peak summer touring season.

The GAP Trail website reports that the Big Savage tunnel will close for the winter season on December 6. There is no detour.

Hey everyone! I am doing the full 350 in late November and my mom will join for one day. Does anyone have any reccomendations for transport from Connellsville to meyersdale for her? I reached out to wilderness voyagers but they are closed for the season. Thank you so much!

I don't know a specific shuttle operator to recommend around Connellsville but I might suggest you query the bike shop in Connellsville for possible shuttles from there. They can be reached at:

Bikes Unlimited
(724) 628-2453

Might try these folks https://www.alleghenytrailhouse.com/shuttle/

We wanted to go to lock 5 towpath to walk. our gps
didn't get us to the way to get there. We got off the parkway
and asked people in neighborhood It was to high up to safely
walk down below. We could see the lower area but struggled and gave up and went to lock 7.

Help to clarify to get to lower section

Hey everyone! I am doing the full 350 in late November and my mom will join for one day. Does anyone have any reccomendations for transport from Connellsville to meyersdale for her? I reached out to wilderness voyagers but they are closed for the season. Thank you so much!

Is there any detour on the C&O from the Point of Rocks trailhead to Washington DC? I was driving on the Clara Barton highway and the road was closed after Cabin John. Since the trail is close by I am wondering if the trail is closed there also.

There were no detours in that area when I rode through there 3 weeks ago. There are no Towpath detours listed in that area on the NPS C&O webpage either.

Planning a one way from Pittsburgh to DC this spring on our tandem with a trailer. Any suggestions for getting our bike/trailer to Pittsburg for the start?

Rent a car. The train won't take trailers or tandems, they say.

Amtrak’s prohibition of tandems stems from the fact that their special cars for bikes have hanging racks for the bikes that would not accommodate larger/longer tandem bikes. However, the last few return trips that I’ve made on the train did not have that unique bike transport car. They just used one of their baggage cars and had me lean my bike up against the wall of the car or lay it down on the floor. The bikes shared the car with other baggage. Those baggage cars could haul a tandem but I guess they don’t know what type of car will be used to transport bikes on each train for any given route so they just prohibit tandem reservations altogether which is unfortunate.

With a dearth of rental cars available at many locations, you may have to employ a shuttle service to get you back to Pittsburgh. Neither the rental car nor the shuttle service is cheap.

I rode the same trip this past summer. In DC/Arlington, I stayed at the Hampton Inn just west of the Reagan Airport. The hotel shuttled me and the bike to the airport (5 minutes, and a tip to the driver) where I had reserved a pick-up truck from Hertz for the one-way rental trip back to Pittsburgh. The total cost for the rental was $223.10. It worked out perfectly and was well worth the price. I hope this helps in your planning.

Planning a one way from Pittsburgh to DC this spring on our tandem with a trailer. Any suggestions for getting our bike/trailer to Pittsburg for the start?

I know there has been much discussion regarding the Paw Paw tunnel, so please bear with me. We are riding a part of the C&O canal next week and will be approaching the tunnel from the DC side. One of our stops is the Canal Cabins on Wednesday. We're assuming that we have to take the detour and the tunnel is still closed. I thought I heard about an alternative to the "up and over" detour with the 375 ft elevation change. Possibly the Tunnel Hill Road and route 51? Has anyone gone to the tunnel (from the DC side) in the last week or so? Any current, accurate information would be appreciated. Thanks!

Rick from Florida on 09/21/2021 07:15 AM
I just rode the Paw Paw Bypass option (Sulphur Springs Rd, to Oldtown to Malcolm Rd to Tunnel Hill Rd) on Sunday the 19th. This connects with the Tunnel Hill Bypass Trail at the top of Tunnel Hill. You then have to take the Tunnel Hill Bypass Trail down to the C&O path. The option of going on these roads works well going from Cumberland to Little Orleans, however if you are going from Little Orleans to Cumberland you have no option to pushing your bike up the Tunnel Hill Bypass Trail. If you are going this direction you are probably better off staying on the Bypass trail to get back to the C&O. Just an FYI there are a couple if steeper sections on Sulpher Springs Rd and Tunnel Hill Road. They are ridable though. These are also public roads with no shoulder, so beware of traffic, especially on Oldtown Rd. (51).

I will probably come across as a bit of a jerk (story of my life) but if you have the luxury of navigating this trail on a bike I kind of chuckle at the lamentations over taking the detour.

My wife and I just walked the 185 miles and every 1/10 of a mile mattered. There were times I would have carried a bike (instead of my 40 lbs pack back) a mile up hill for the convenience of sitting on it for the next 30 miles.

Lol…for what it’s worth, we snuck around the tunnel barriers and were damned relieved to be able to do so.

Enjoy!

I really enjoy riding the C&O and Gap trail. We normally do a 3-4 day trip in the Spring and then in the Fall. I am 72 years old and have a very rare type of Muscular Dystrophy that is somewhat limiting, but not nearly as disabling as many other folks deal with. So, I use an electric bike and normally ride on pedal assist which allows me to enjoy the outdoors and still ride decent daily miles. My reason for trying to get the latest information on the tunnel, is the conflicting stories-sometimes it's open and sometimes it isn't and all sorts of other scenarios. If we have to take the detour, I'll (we'll) deal with that. I appreciate all the input and should have explained my situation in my earlier post. Enjoy the ride!

Understood!

I can tell you that the tunnel is definitely closed and blocked off, so the only alternative are the detours. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

Thanks Art!

We are planning to hit the trail in the coming week and it looks like there's a good detour bypassing the trail at Little Orleans (from the DC side) and heading up Oldtown Orleans Rd to Malcom Rd then hitting 51 back to the trail.

It looks like some nice gravel riding. Anyone done this? Don't feel like being chased by dogs...

Well, we did the Paw Paw Tunnel detour (DC side) on Wednesday and somehow managed to avoid heart failure. It was anything but easy (for me), but I made it. I want to highly recommend the "Canal Cabins in Paw Paw." Really great, clean accommodations. Also had a unique cultural experience at "Big & Tiny's" wings in Paw Paw. Food was terrific. Loved the folks that were there and hope to go back next ride. Paw Paw has a paved bike path to the edge of town and it looks like they are hoping for more business from the C&O riders.

I traversed the Paw Paw Tunnel bypass trail on 10/20. As I recalled from doing so a few years ago when the tunnel itself was closed, it is steep with poor footing even in dry weather particularly the uphill climb going downriver. That said it did not take me as long as I had reported from memory a few years ago. It took me about 20 minutes to push my loaded bike up the hill stopping frequently to take a breather and 10 minutes to ride all but the first, say, 50 steep downhill yards which I also pushed. Given that you would normally walk through the long tunnel itself when the towpath is passable, the net additional time that the detour adds to the trip is rather modest. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

That said, less physically able or experienced riders would do well to find a shuttle around the Tunnel or to the top of the fire road at the top of the tunnel bypass. It was reported that a shuttle service to do so was available for $50 which might be well spent money for some casual tourers.

In case others are looking at this thread to decide how to navigate around this, I'll throw in another data point. As always, your mileage may vary.

My wife and I dealt with the bypass on October 17th, on the 5th of our 8 day journey from Pittsburgh to DC. The 17th was sunny, but the trail had a few wet spots from the rain the day before.

For calibration, my wife and I are in our 60s, and are in pretty good shape. (My wife had a knee replacement a little over a year ago.) We like to hike as well as bike, so climbing a hill is well within our comfort zone, at least without having to push a bike. Our biking is only on paved and dirt roads - we are not even remotely mountain bikers.

It took us about an hour to complete the bypass. We walked the entire way, and weren't in a rush so we'd stop to read historical signs, enjoy views, etc. We changed into walking shoes (sneakers) before starting. I also put the shoulder straps on my panniers and carried them (about 35 pounds) on my back rather than on the bike, since pushing the (top)heavy bike uphill with my arms stretched out enough that my legs didn't bang into the panniers was awkward and tiring. I put my wife's smaller and lighter (10-15 pounds) panniers on my bike, so she only had to push the weight of her bike. With a couple of breaks to enjoy the view we got to the top in about 25 minutes.

At the top, I put my panniers back on my bike, and carried my wife's instead, since the panniers don't get in the way much when walking the bike downhill. As mentioned by others, the path downhill (heading towards DC) is a rarely-used dirt road, so if you've got the right bike and practice you probably could ride it (at least after the initial steep part). On my 20-year-old Trek with smooth 35mm tires I didn't think it was worth the risk.

All in all, it was much easier than we had feared it might be, given the mixed messages we'd seen online about it. Even the NPS says to allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours to do it, which had us nervous since we feared we'd be more likely to be among the slower people attempting it.

One last thing: As we were considering our alternatives, we were put in touch with a man named Dan who runs a B&B in Paw Paw (WV), and who can shuttle riders around the tunnel. The price he quoted us was $30 per person to take you from about 1.5 miles before the tunnel (Sulphur Springs Rd) to the crest of the bypass path at Tunnel Hill Rd, or $60 to take you all the way to Little Orleans. We spoke to him, and he convinced us that we'd be fine on our own ... super nice and helpful guy!

Last week I encountered two resurfacing efforts in my trip from Pgh to DC. The first was approaching Ohiopyle where new, crushed stone was being placed and compacted. Heavy dump trucks and rollers were travelling along the GAP toward this effort. Where the placed stone had not been compacted, it was unrideable for a short distance.

Similarly resurfacing efforts on the C&O upriver of Shepherdstown continues. I encountered vehicles and loose stone around MM79 to MM75 where previous restoration efforts had been finished. You may have to walk around some equipment and loose stone in this area but it was not a significant impediment.

I was surprised by the detour at McMahon's Mill on the Towpath between mile markers 88 and 89 . It does appear among the list of detours and closures on the National Park Service C&O Towpath website. The particular detour is however clearly described (and I failed to read) at:

https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/mcmahon-s-lock-42-towpath.htm

It is a combination of some grassy paths and country roads totalling about 3 miles and has a couple of short steep, gravelly sections which may require walking a loaded bike.