C&O / GAP Forum

One thing I haven't seen a list of in any C&O/GAP forum or guide books is what trail towns have public libraries? My phone has been unreliable with keeping a charge and I will not have a replacement in time for my trip. I am wondering what towns along the trail have libraries where I could send and check e-mail to stay in touch with family? Public libraries have served touring cyclists and long distance hikers well. I have to figure there is a list out there for the C&O/GAP that I haven't stumbled across yet. Thanks!

get a battery

The thread was about libraries along the C&O/GAP. Care to list any?

Confluence's library closes at 2:00 PM. Frostburg's is open 'til 5:00, maybe later.

2 years ago I rode between PAW PAW Tunnel and Hancock and had no coverage on T Mobile. Maybe it's better now? Or maybe other providers are better.

Thanks for the replies. Looks like Hancock, MD has one too: Mon - Thu: 9am - 9pm, Fri: 9am - 6pm, Sat: 9am - 5pm, Sun: 1pm - 5pm. Cumberland, MD also has one: M-Th Monday 10am-8pm, F-Sat 10am-5pm, closed on Sunday.

Connellsville does as well:

Carnegie Free Library
299 S Pittsburgh St
Connellsville, PA 15425
Phone: 724-628-1380

Monday & Wednesday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Tuesday & Thursday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Friday & Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Thanks for the info.

Spent the night their earlier this month; Dennis had a crew installing a new deck in the bunk house. Looked great. Had a wonderful stay, breakfast at Weaver’s before hitting the trail again. You can’t beat $10 a night. Highly recommended just remember this; it’s not the Waldorf Astoria. It’s a BUNK HOUSE!

I'm camping the entire DC-PIT trip the first week of June except for one night and that will be at the Bunkhouse in Hancock! Can't wait!

Bunk House in Hancock, Tea Horse Hostel in Harper's Ferry: why pack the extra camping gear weight if you're doing the C&O over 3 days/2 nights? Both are great places to stay!

I am in the process of planning 3-4 day trip from Cumberland to Harpers Ferry. Five to eight fit middle age people. Thinking about leaving cars/cars in Harpers Ferry. Planning to stay in hotels for the night What is the best way to get to Cumberland with bikes? How many miles should we plan on riding a day? Should we plan to start further then Cumberland? We will appriciate any advice!

I 70 WEST TO I 68 West

You could have the bicycle shop Cumberland Trail Connection pick you up and shuttle you and your gear to Cumberland. The shuttle they did for me and my wife last year was a good experience.

I'm doing Pgh to Cumberland on Thursday May 29th (weather permitting / looks good so far) and wanted to see if anyone wanted to join me.

I'm leaving about 5am on Thursday and trying to make it into Cumberland by 6-7ish. I'm renting a car and driving back that same night. Its a brutal ride.. If anyone is in to it, email me for more specifics.

Good luck! No offense, but you're really not enjoying the trail with a Marathon Ride.

For all of you riders new to the towpath and passage, cell coverage is bad or none existant except near the major trailheads.Rockwood has a booster. Don't know of any others.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about that. My phone is with AT&T and their coverage is not very good anyway.

Verison was pretty much dead from Cumberland to DC on the trail, too. My tracker app still worked on GPS and whatever location services were around, but there was no phone signal.

This was so true. Just turn your phone off and save the battery.

Anybody have a current condition update on the trail
from Snyders landing to Great Falls?

How about around Brunswick?

We had heavy weather last week and DC had another sewerage overflow near Great Falls, the last report I heard was the repair had been completed and the abatement/cleanup was underway and was scheduled to be complete by last weekend

just got this off the Park website at C&O Canal National Park "THIS PAGE CONTAINS UP TO DATE INFORMATION ON TRAIL AND TOWPATH CLOSURES AT THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK.

----Update May 21,2014----

Capital Crescent Trail has been reopened from Fletcher's Cove to Water Street/Washington Canoe Club.

**Billy Goat Trail is closed due to high river levels. It will open when trail conditions have been assessed.

The Towpath Detour at Big Slackwater remains in effect due to high river levels. Visitors are advised to utilize the Big Slackwater Detour as marked due to towpath flooding at McMahons Mill (Towpath miles 84.4-88.1)"
GOOD LUCK, enjoy

Just got back from our ride, on the 17th we where pushing are bikes in three feet of water for two miles before taking a road detour at marker 31. Campsites where flooded. Should be better now.

I'm doing a trip june 7th for about a week from Pittsburgh to cumberland and then I'm going to see how I feel if I will continue to DC. I just took up cycling about a year or so ago and none of my motorcycle friends have a desire to share this trip with me. I'm going to camp or stay in hotels what ever works best for that night. I have no problem eating hot dogs by the camp or eating steak in the hotel restaurant. Anyone looking to share a trip email me at jboyle464@gmail.com Never did a trip of this size and I'm a little hesitant of going alone but will if need be. Male 50 yrs old MT bike I have a ride from NJ to Pittsbugh and my wife will pick me up when I had enough or in DC what ever comes first.

Hello, I am taking the trip leaving on May 3 and I can't wait. I just wanted to tell you there is a site called bikepacking.us and they are doing a ride on the GAP June 5-9 and I think it's free. Good luck.

You may start out by yourself but you wont be alone. All kinds of nice people you will meet along the way. Thats what makes it fun.

That makes me feel good. OK I'm rolling as planned rain or shine wish me luck.

Hi
How will you get to Pittsburg
.i'm planning to do the same towards the end or beginning of June/July

Good luck!

When nearing confluence, rockwood meyersdale area on the trail stop in at the Rockwood Millshoppes and hostel. You will enjoy the food and appreciate the accommodations.

Just got this from C&O Canal Association:

Yesterday’s heavy rain is having an impact on the C&O Canal.

The park service reports that the Capital Crescent Trail is closed between Fletcher's Cove and the end of the trail at Water Street, because of a large sewage spill. The tunnel below Canal Road near Foxhall is also closed. Trail users and commuters can use the canal towpath downstream of Fletcher's Cove as an alternate route but should be prepared for wet and muddy conditions. The closures are expected to remain in place into the weekend. DC Water and Sewer Authority is working to resolve the issue.

Billy Goat Trail A was closed as of Wednesday, April 30 due to rising river levels. Call Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center for more information at 301-767-3714.

Park rangers remind visitors and cyclists to obey all closure signs and barricades as they are in place for their own safety while crews are working to resolve the situation.
You can check the C&O Canal National Historical Park home page for further alerts. The National Weather Service website offers information on the river flow at Little Falls and Point of Rocks.

You can always find a more complete list of activities along the canal by viewing the calendar on the C&O Canal Association website, www.candocanal.org.

Can you please give me some further information. I leave, or was planning to leave, from Georgetown visitors center tomorrow around lunch, it sounds like this will impact that plan. I am coming from out of town and don't know where anything is, my map is packed but I guess I could get it out. What do you suggest? Should I find another start and if so where. It's go time for me, any help is greatly appreciated.

What the title says. I leave tomorrow on the C&O headed to the GAP to Pittsburgh, Pa and watching the news everything looks wet. Any word on the trail, should I be worried. I'm not talking about mud but flooding. Any help is greatly appreciated.

My wife and I hiked the GAP in the summer of 2013. We found that there was camping available in Meyersdale. Ask the folks at Donges Drive In about it, that's where we registered.

I am looking for some advice, if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. I am leaving DC on May 3, 2014 and riding the C&O/GAP Trails to Pittsburg, PA. I have set aside a week to make the trip, 6 days would be nice.

Anyway, once we finished the ride the plan was to rent a full size truck from Enterprise and drive back to Virginia. Today I spent over an hour on the phone with Enterprise and I am absolutely disgusted. They will not have a truck and they did not seem as if they really cared. There is three of us, I'm the smallest at 5'10" 215lbs and the biggest coming in at 6'8" so we need some room and we will need the bed space for our bikes and gear. I really thought this would work and had been the plan for about 6 months, glad I called trying to reserve today and found out that this is not an option.

What do you guys suggest? I talked to Iron City Bicycles today and the guy on the phone was really helpful, I will certainly be visiting that shop when I arrive. He said they will break down and package our bikes to be shipped but we would need to deal with UPS/FED EX. Anyone know what it cost to ship a bike? I will have a BOB trailer as well so my cost is starting to climb. Anyway, I am looking for any ideas? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Take the train. cant cost to much more to stay at a hotel overnight, and freight them on the train.

Shipping via UPS was going to cost me $210 from D.C. to home in Ohio. Instead, started in Connellsville PA and took train back then drove to DC overnight...with gas, not counting wear/tear on car, cost less than $50 extra. Never found cost for FedEx as they didn't have a box big enough to ship bike/even taken apart. If you allow enough time, shipping on Amtrak might be your best bet and shouldn't cost too much.

You can take the Amtrak from Pittsburgh to DC for less than $100. There are a few logistics involved, but very doable. Another suggestion would be to check Craisglist for ride sharing options.

I am going in the opposite direction but this should still apply. I priced a U-Haul (the smallest truck) it is about $200. the train is $50 plus buying a bike box (2 with your BoB) @ $15 plus the bike fee $10 again probably twice with the trailer.
The train is still cheapest. I even checked several of the shuttle services but they are $$$

Thanks for the ideas everyone, what a pain In the rear end. Train sounds good but there are a lot of moving parts and then how do I get from DC home? That's another 2 1/2 hours. By the time I take the train and pay all of the fees, rent a car from DC, ship the bikes the rest of the way I am paying more.
There is a train from Pittsburgh to Ashland, Va that puts me an hour from home but I could not get a clear answer on the transporting of bikes. It's not cheap at all and it's about a 14-15 hour ride.
Uhaul has nothing in Pittsburgh but a small box truck, can't get a pickup and can't get a van, already checked. So, the smallest they have will be $454 one way from there to home.
I never thought in a million years that this would be an issue.
I'm gonna consult with my partner and see if he wants to cancel, it's been a real big hassle and I cannot lock anything down and quite frankly I'm tired of trying to figure it out.
I guess I was an idiot for thinking I could rent a van or a truck, not gonna happen in Pittsburgh....I thought that is what rental companies did?

I'm doing the opposite trip of yours. I live in PGH and am going to start my trip in DC and ride my way back home. How am I getting my bike there? I am renting a van/SUV one-way to carry my bike to get there (I did not want to disassemble the bike to ride Amtrak like I did last time). The only hitch is that airports are typically the only place where you find one-way car rentals. My wife is dropping me and my bike off at PGH airport and I'm driving to Dulles Airport (tried to go to Reagan National but they didn't do one-way's there). From Dulles, I'll catch the Washington & Old Dominion Trail (W&OD)then onto the Metro at Dunn Loring and get off at the first stop in DC proper (if the Silver Line was open on time I could save a few miles that way but no dice). Then onto Georgetown and the C&O Canal to begin.
a little inconvenient but it will work. If Amtrak had proper roll-on bike service, I wouldn't hesitate to use that each and every time.

Drive your car to Washington. Park at Union Station. I think its $20-$25 a day, not cheep but maybe cheaper than a one way rental. Put your bike in the Amtrak box in DC. Take the train to Pittsburgh. Ride back to DC.

I have about 7 days to take a bike trip on the GAP and C&O trails. I was wondering about starting around "Falling Water" and connecting to the trail near Ohiopyle State Park and try to continue to Georgetown. Is the connection from near Falling Water an easy one to make? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Dangerous piece of road from Mill Run to Ohiopyle...but doable.

Great place to eat any meal, but we especially like the breakfasts, with the amazing smiley pancakes and home town sausages. Good prices, fast and friendly service. When you leave you know that you have had your fill of delicious food.

That is a great home town place for breakfast and coffee, diner style. The smiley pancakes were great and the food very filling. Starts your biking off perfectly and a block to the Morgeun Toole Company - which is a great place to hang your hat and put you head on a pillow on your biking trip.

I've been eating breakfast at the GI Dayroom for the past 5 years or more during my Passage rides. In fact, when we stay at the Hostel in Rockwood we don't eat breakfast till we bike the 12 miles or so to Meyersdale then ride down the steep hill to town (it's only steep if you have to ride back up after eating)if we're continuing to Cumberland or further east. The waitresses are always so nice to my wife and I. They don't know me by name but they know I'm from VA. and always recognize us. Another thing to remember...if spending the night stay at Yoders Boarding House. Mrs Yoder is such a great lady. The Boarding house is clean, each room has a bed and bathroom, and the rayes are very fair. Cash or check only.