C&O / GAP Forum

Planning a GAP trail ride towards the latter part of May. I am hoping to leave my car in Cumberland and arrange for a shuttle to Pittsburgh. I've had no luck finding a one way car rental. And a few of the shuttle services don't seem to be operating right now (season or Covid?) I did find one that will shuttle but at a price of $275 per person. Any help out there? Thanks.

We rent a vehicle at Enterprise in Cumberland. You can leave your car there and take the rental vehicle, with bike and gear, to the Enterprise in downtown Pittsburgh.

While its a longer drive to Pittsburgh from Maine, you might find more options to locate a one-way rental in Pittsburgh and drive to Cumberland and ride back to Pittsburgh if you can't find a rental in Cumberland. Not your best option I'm sure.

We rented at Enterprise in Pittsburgh and drove to Cumberland and dropped off at the Enterprise there. It was pretty cheap. The trail goes very close to the Enterprise store, so we jumped on there and rode ~1 mile down to the center of Cumberland.

Rode the trails from 4/20 - 4/27, starting at DC.
No water pump handles for the first 100 miles or so, so plan your water accordingly.
Trail conditions were good all the way. Many of the small town cafes and restaurants were closed, not sure if it was due to the economy or maybe they don't open until May. So food and water needed to be planned. All campsites especially the hike/bike sites were basically empty.
Some nights were freezing and days were mainly in the 50's with a head wind all the way. So going west to east would have been a better bet.
Great way to spend a week and highly recommend it. Hope to do it again, but from Pitts to DC next time.
Both closed trail locations, Paw Paw Tunnel and Dravos Landing were passable, just ignore the signs and you can get through easily.
The Ohiopyke State camp ground accessible from the trail up a very steep rough trail just west of the town, so make sure you have a booking before the climb!

Kim, I think that I heard that the Ohiopyle State Park was adding some simple sites down closer to the trail. Did you see them?

Bill: Someplace/somewhere I seem to recall that that initiative was delayed/deferred, perhaps due to the Covid pandemic. Having camping sites near the trail there would be very useful to avoid the very steep paths to reach the current park sites.

I’ll see if I can find where I read that.

When I was talking to one of the camp site maintenance guys about the tough path for cyclists after a long day cycling, he did not mention anything about a closer to trail site. But there is some earthworks being worked on at the start of the path, maybe that'll turn into a small tent site.
BTW. Cabins can only be rented for a 2 day min. I was lucky and got a kind gate attendant :-). Book ahead!

I found the reference to a new “Biker only - Nearer the Trail” campsite in Ohiopyle rather than having to climb the steep hill into the existing state park. It is in the Gaptrail.org website. It lists this trail side camp site as “Coming Fall 2020”. Perhaps the observed earthwork at the start of the path up the hill is indeed the initial effort for this site. Time will tell.

Those sites probably got slowed down by the virus. They will be a nice feature for cyclists.

Hi Kim,
This is a long shot, but did you by chance attend the University of Utah in the late 70’s?

Barron's C&O Canal Store & Museum near Sharpsburg is closed - another death by COVID.

Anyone familiar with the expected rain fall in late August/ September? Starting to worry about a muddy path

Late August will still be warm as will the first week in September. Rain is hit or miss like anywhere in the northeast. Even if it rained 2-3 days ago, the C&O likely will be muddy in spots. The best approach is to just embrace it as part of the adventure and plow through the puddles and mud. If you are staying at hotels, most along the trail will have hoses to rinse your bikes. If your camping, the water pumps at the hiker/biker site will allow you to clean up really well.

I’ve done the trail 5 times and have never had more than an afternoon of rain. No one can predict weather systems so it’s all just a guess really.

To provide a quantitative answer to your question see the link below that provides monthly weather data for Cumberland, MD, the approximate midpoint of the full trip from Pittsburgh to DC. Admittedly, as John W points out, the weather can vary widely both with time and location. The US hurricane season is given as June 1 through November 30. If you are unfortunate enough to encounter remnants of an Atlantic hurricane travelling up the east coast during your trip, it could be rather uncomfortable and warrant adjusting your itinerary. Notwithstanding that scenario, a day or partial day of rain should be expected for a week long trip. Yes, it can make portions of the trip a little sloppy, but that should not dissuade you from making the journey. Just grin and bear it and enjoy all the other days. With resurfacing of many miles of the C&O recently along with the paved Western Maryland Rail Trail that parallels the C&O for over 20 miles, that trail is much improved making wet weather less of an issue. For what it is worth, my last trip was bone dry the entire length making dust rather than mud the issue to contend with.

If you are flexible on your schedule, just watch for 10-day forecast and pick some forecasted dry days for your journey. But most of all, enjoy the journey.

https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/cumberland/maryland/united-states/usmd0115

Work is continuing on the trail which is passable, but still not officially opened. From Boston, about 4.5 miles east is still "un-paved" and bumpy from 2B stone used for the heavy equipment, to the tracks of the large excavators.From near milepost 124 (near the bald eagle nest), the trail is finished with smooth crushed limestone for about 1.5 miles until Dravo Campground. From there to Buena Vista is still not finished. Hopefully, if the decent weather holds, they can get this done soon.

The section that is completed is very nice. Like riding on the PA turnpike after the bumpy ride on the unfinished trail. And the eagles are out and visible for a couple more weeks until the leaves come out on the trees.

On Thursday I was riding back from an overnight bikepacking trip from near Ohiopyle to West Newton. (No, I didn't see the wildfire in Ohiopyle.) I decided to continue on from West Newton toward Pittsburgh to see the condition of the trail where the sewer replacement work is being done. While there are still "Trail Closed" signs posted at the Elizabeth Sanitary Station and beyond, the trail surface had been restored with crushed stone like the original trail surface. As Rick from Greenock observed, the resurfaced trail was well compacted and generally smooth with a few pock marks/divots where the crushed gravel was not quite flush with the surface in general but still did not diminish the ride quality. With use and rain, I expect the surface to smooth out even more and be as good or better than the original surface. The recent and forecast nice weather bodes well for completion and full reopening of the trail by the end of the month.

Now if only the Paw Paw Tunnel area was open. :-)

Any updates on this closed section from recent riders?

We'd like to know about this section of the trail as well as we are looking at riding from Boston to Connellsville, spending the night and riding back the next day. We ride road bikes with 28cm tires. Thanks!

Resurfacing is now completed. Some sections are still rough but passable. Work is continuing in places to replace the posts at the road crossings. Traffic on the trail is still light but steadily increasing.

Be aware that the shoulders are still soft and not packed down so stay toward the center

Rick: That’s great news. I look forward to checking out that portion of the trail this week. I’m curious what the term “rough” indicates. I presume they have now placed, leveled and compacted the new crushed stone surface layer over the entire affected trail section.

Today I rode the GAP from Homestead to Sutersville and back including the portion of the trail that has been closed since November for sewer installation/repair. The majority of the installation and restoration is complete but not quite all. There was still various locations of construction activity and equipment movement. Nearly all of this activity was between the Boston trailhead parking lot and Twele Road. (See the GAP Trail Map.)
There was still some crushed stone being delivered, placed and compacted toward the Boston end of this ~2-mile section. Also there is still some patch paving to be done of access roads that cross the trail in that section. This activity was avoidable by riding on Smithfield Street which parallels the trail in this area. Given what small amount of trail remains to be finished, the level of activity I observed and the nice weather forecast for this week, substantial completion by the end of the month would appear achievable.

As noted most of the trail is complete and very nice riding. The new trail surface very smooth...almost like riding on an asphalt roadway and the reseeding of the excavated shoulder along the trail is a lush green.

To be clear however, the Regional Trail Council has not officially announced that the trail is reopened and there are still numerous "Trail Closed" signs along the way. However, the majority of 9-mile section of work is complete and rideable most of the way with a reasonable bypass along Smithfield Street where significant activity and work may still be encountered. There were numerous bikers along most of the trail in each direction.

As a sidebar observation, the Trail View Convenience Store in Buena Vista/Industry is now closed with what looks like major fire damage.

Nice recap Rivnuts, thanks for sharing your trip.

If you’re confident it might be completed by the end of this month (or even mid-May), then I know I’ll be fine for my trip in June.

Sad to hear about the fire to the convenience store in Buena Vista. I’ve used that store a few times to get water/gatorade so that will be a missed amenity along the GAP.

Today the Regional Trail Council (RTC) has announced that the 9-mile section of the GAP Trail that was closed from Boston to Buena Vista for sewer line repairs will reopen on May 1.

Congrats to the RTC for supporting this public effort and returning the trail for the 2021 touring season. As I posted yesterday, this restored section of the GAP appears to quite well done both in the trail surface and the surrounding landscape restoration.
Hopefully, others as well will post their observations about this restored trail section.

My husband &I tried to ride out of Boston towards Ohiopyle. We usually get in 15-20 miles. But with the fine sand or dust on the surface we only could do 2 miles. Is that going to be packed down or will water harden it? We bike that trail often

As I noted following my ride last Wednesday, the final efforts to complete the restoration work were focused in the trail section leaving Boston toward Greenock. Crews appeared to be working their way back toward Boston placing and compacting the new crushed stone surface to complete the project. While the newly compacted material was smooth and firm, there was that shallow, loose layer of dust on the surface which made riding a little heavy as you noted. I suspect that with the rain we had yesterday, perhaps a second, final compaction and some dry weather that this trail section too will firm up for nice riding. (It may be soft there today with all the rain over the last 24 hours.)

The earlier restored sections beyond Greenock, past Dravo Cemetery and on to Buena Vista were smooth and firm without that loose dust layer like the trail was before the sewer project began last fall. With a little time I expect these most recently completed sections will be similar.

Hello John Walker,

Thank you for your very nice commentary in the Cumberland Times-News today. A few friends sent it to me. I was married to Steve (and still am alive!!). Your comments were so nice, and greatly appreciated.

Mary Huebner

In the stretch between Ohiopyle and West Newton, I left my jacket at a bench where we stopped for lunch. It's a small red puffy jacket, Calvin Klein, that packs nicely into a matching red drawstring bag. It is very very dear to me, if you find it please grab it and text me at 510-388-7772, I will happily pay for shipping!

Greetings to any friends here from the Erie Canalway forum. This site has already provided a bunch of good information and the "Trip Planer" is such an awesome tool for those who are not oriented to the trail.

Background -- Last year I rode the GAP (PGH -> Cumberland) and loved it! Decided to do it again and add the C&O (the C&O is a bucket list item). I'm pretty comfortable with my plan at this point which is to be on trail the last week of July into Aug. There are racks available on weekday trains at this point so I am looking to nail down my schedule and make reservations.

QUESTIONS:
(1) What is the deal when I get into DC? I will be arriving around Noon. How far is the Train station and which station do I use? I can see the Georgetown Station on the AMTRAK reservation system, but it doesn't allow me to use it, and defaults to Union Station. (I'm also assuming that having 4 hours is plenty of time.)

(2) It bothers me to not have some fallback plan on the trail (bike repairs or situations that cause me time) that might cause me to miss the train. I'd like to add an extra day to cover this. If I do that, I'm looking for recommendations for a place to stay. I know DC and the Metro rather well (however, not with bike), so I'm open to suggestions. (Save high-end... I don't need too many stars to be happy.)

(3) Assume working in this fallback plan is a smart thing.

(4) I'm typically not inclined to do a lot of stops to include places of interest. However, there is a lot of history in this area. Are there things that I **really should be** taking in while I'm on the trail? Side trips or whatever that I should change my schedule to include?

Thanks in advance! Happy to meet everyone here on the forum.
-bubba

Hey WNYBubba.

Getting to Union Station is breeze! It is Union Station, you are right. DC is a super friendly bicycle city with tons of bike lanes. You can also ride along the National Mall which is surprisingly big. Just punch Union Station into Google maps. I have done this a few times. No problems.

I think other than rush hours, you can bring you bike on the Metro.

I stayed at hotels in Arlington near the airport. It’s a little bit away from downtown DC but I got lower rates out there. You might also get lower rates with Covid affecting how many people are traveling and they might be trying to entice people. There’s a hostel in DC also if you’re looking to save money. But it all depends on your budget.

The extra day is a good idea if you want that. If you were to have mechanical issues, any bike shop you contact should be able to come and meet you at a trail access point and offer you a shuttle into town for a fee.

I will defer to others on this forum when it comes to history, they’ll have some good feedback. I would definitely see Great Falls just outside DC along the C&O. Incredible rapids.

Don’t forget to take the Western Maryland Rail Trail before and after Hancock, MD. It runs parallel to the C&O for 27 miles. The paved trail is a welcome respite from the gravel or dirt paths and possibly mud. Don’t worry, its not cheating even if you’re a purist. I don’t know anyone that has done Pittsburgh to DC and NOT gotten on the WMRT! You can get on at Little Orleans, you will take a detour for 2+ miles that puts you back on the C&O (there a tunnel that is filled with a bat habitat and wouldn’t be safe for human passage), then you’re back on the WMRT until just about the end. Just after you pass mile marker 1, start looking for the interchange to get back on the C&O. If you reach the end of the WMRT, you’ve gone too far, go back 3/4ths of a mile for the switch.

In addition, when you reach Georgetown at the end of the cobblestone trail, it appears you have concluded your ride. But there is still 3/10ths of a mile to go! To reach the Mile 0 marker at Thompson Boat House, follow this video that got me there the first time I did the trail:
https://youtu.be/9kzs51zRsSY

I always cap off my DC trip at the Lincoln Monument and reflecting pool.

If you have time, don’t forget to visit Gravelly Point at Reagan/National Airport right on the Mt. Vernon trail. The planes take off or land right over your head. It’s quite a sight.

John W has done a good job in answering your questions. Regarding side trips or points of interest I would repeat the response I have made to similar questions. Take some time before you embark n the trip to seek out and read about the histories of both the GAP and the C&O. The more you know about these trails, the more you will appreciate what you will see and pass along the way. Knowing about the history of the railroads from DC/Baltimore to Pittsburgh and beyond and the industries, notably coal and coke, that were serviced by these industries will make those simple sights along the GAP more meaningful. Armed with that knowledge, you can almost envision what life was like in the early 1900’s as you ride along and see the vestiges of the steel mills, coal mines an coke ovens. The same holds true for the C&O and its development, use and demise.

John W has done a good job in answering your questions. Regarding side trips or points of interest I would repeat the response I have made to similar questions. Take some time before you embark on the trip to seek out and read about the histories of both the GAP and the C&O. The more you know about these trails, the more you will appreciate what you will see and pass along the way. Knowing about the history of the railroads from DC/Baltimore to Pittsburgh and beyond and the industries, notably coal and coke, that were serviced by these industries will make those simple sights along the GAP more meaningful. Armed with that knowledge, you can almost envision what life was like in the early 1900’s as you ride along and see the vestiges of the steel mills, coal mines an coke ovens. The same holds true for the C&O and its development, use and demise.

We stayed at the Tabard Inn last summer. Easy to get to from Rock Creek, the price was reasonable, and they stored our bikes in a storeroom without any issue.

Thanks to both John W. and Rivnuts for the reply and good info. I'm glad to know about the WMRT because I had heard mention, but didn't realize the impact with using it. I've watched the video about Mile Marker 0 and got that straight! Of course, because it's me... I have already taken some short street tours of the area on Google Maps - Street View!

I also visited the Metro website and found out you CAN take a bike aboard. I will post the excerpt on a thread as a Public Service because many here might want the know.

Rivnuts -- got ya on the history of the GAP and C&O. I have actually done some reading and acquired a decent background. I did stop to read and understand what was going on during my GAP tour last year. I'm never in that much of a hurry not to see points of interest along the trail. Having had a day in Cumberland last year also helped learn about the area. I was more interested in other types of places such as Civil War or other nearby landmarks that I should consider visiting. A good example is Antietam -- I was online and read about the battle and what is there now. It's interesting, but I haven't made up my mind if I am going to stop.

I will post a separate thread to ask my question more pointedly. This one may have gotten lost in this original post with four questions.

Bikes used to be banned on the metro during rush hours but that has changed. You can now take them onboard at any time. Metro is not crowded at all since COVID, lots of room with no one around.

Buy your Amtrak ticket early, as well as bike baggage. the limited bike transport fills up fast.

To add on to Lenny’s comment about buying your bike baggage Amtrak tickets early. You can try and pick dates on the Amtrak web site and you might get lucky and see a ticket for sale but most of the time you will get a “Sold Out” message. Or you can call a ticket reservation agent and ask them “what are the next available dates in June on the Capitol Limited from Pit to DC that you have bike tickets still for sale?” This helped me when I made my reservation a month ago. I kept getting Sold Out and couldn’t find a ticket to save my life so I just called and they gave me 5-6 dates to pick from when I asked. So much easier.

Great place to stay!! Christine and Dan are fabulous hosts!

Does anyone know if the water is turned on for Spring 2021 yet?

The National Park Service website for the C&O still lists all the pumps along the trail as "off" as of this evening. Whether or not that listing is up to date or not will have to be confirmed by someone on the trail or unless they update their list in the coming days.

Not on yesterday.

Has anybody had any experience using either a Katadyn Be Free or a Hike Mikrofilter to get and treat water from the Potomac well north of DC?

With the water off (and a tight time table for being able to take work off) I am considering using a Hiker Microfilter (https://www.rei.com/product/830746/katadyn-hiker-microfilter) and just using the Potomac. Thoughts

Spoke with the ranger-types on Monday morn at Little Pool.
They are testing the wells and installing handles this week and next.

Check out the review of the Katadyn Be Free filter on Backpacking.com at:

https://youtu.be/kfKsLdst9Dk

Also, for information, Tim Mooney who frequently rides the C&O Towpath and describes his journeys in his Pedalshift YouTube podcasts alludes to his use of the Sawyer pump filter on his trips along the Potomac.

I've used a Sawyer Mini to fill my running water bottles from the potomac. I've never gotten sick. ;)

Any tips on the best type of bike for the C&O and Great Allegheny ride? We are planning to ride Pittsburgh to DC and camp along the way.
We have done trips of similar length with our road bikes outfitted with paniers but I am hearing they will work on the GAP but not the C&O portion. Can they work? Any tips would be appreciated.

If you’ve done other rides of similar length, you’ll be fine on the C&O. Some of it is crushed limestone but most of it is old dirt mule paths (like tire tracks). The only time those mule paths get sketchy is after it rains a lot.

You can also connect to the Western Maryland Rail Trail for 27 miles before and after Hancock, MD as it’s paved asphalt. It runs parallel to the C&O and everyone hops on.

I ride a Trek Hybrid but a wide array of bikes are used on the C&O.

If you want to take the time, there are numerous past forum postings discussing bike types, tire sizes, trail conditions and weather related to your question but John W's responses is a reasonable summary thereof.

C&O can get really really muddy. As rivnuts says, this has been discussed many times. Search the forums for "hybrid" and you'll find plenty of old discussions.

** PUBLIC SERVICE POST **
I visited the WMATA "Metro" website to research whether bikes could go on the DC Mass Transit system. Here is what I found out:

Bicycles are welcome on Metrorail during all hours; however, we encourage bicyclists to be considerate of other customers and adhere to these rules when traveling with a bicycle.

>> Bikes are not allowed on crowded railcars. Use good judgment and only board cars that can comfortably accommodate you and your bicycle. The middle cars are usually the most crowded, so consider boarding the first or last car of the train.

>> Do not block aisles or doors of the train.

>> Senior citizens and people with disabilities always have priority. You must make designated seating areas available if needed by another passenger.

>> When boarding the train, use the doors at either end of the railcar - not the center doors.

>> Bicycles may not be carried on escalators. Use elevators only.

I take my bike on the metro all the time. Since COVID the metro is almost empty so lots of room to bring a bike on board. I use to bring my bike regularly before COVID. Back then, I avoided rush hours as much as possible just to be considerate but did not have any issues hopping on a train.