C&O / GAP Forum

found Bill's Place 3 years ago during East Coast Sturgis and have gone since then. Love the uniqueness of the place and Bill is a fun guy. Can't wait for the Halloween party!!

Planning a day trip. Where is parking available near the C&O Canal near the Little Orleans area? I'm looking at the Google Satellite image and I don't see much. It could be obscured by trees. There's supposed to be a Camp Site right off the trail. Is the Parking relatively secure. Can you park near Bill's Place? Thanks.

Is there any other way to bypass the Dam 4 Detour? I hear it is steep and I am not sure I want my mom riding on this section. Any ideas on how to avoid this section to continue on? Walk your bike on towpath? Advice needed.

I rode west last year and I think there is only one way to ride the bypass. There was a steep hill on a windy road as soon as I got off of the trail but that last long. I think it was at most a half mile and then the rest of the bypass was a very gentle ride back to the towpath.

wait a few years till it is fixed? Steep for a little ways out of the river basin. After that rolling hills with fairly cautious drivers.

I've got two days to do a short ride next week. Where are some good places for overnight parking in Cumberland and Williamsport? Or maybe near Great Falls and Williamsport? Is overnight parking at visitors' centers a good idea (or even permissible)?

Planning a trip in late March 2011 to see the cherry blossoms. We are staying at Lockhouse 6 on the C&O. Could some one please tell me the SAFEIST rout to the Tideal Basin. I would like to do all trail if at all possable. Your help would be greatly appreieated. Thanks!

When you get to D.C., head down to the National Mall. DO NOT ride close to the cherry blossoms. Park your bike and LOCK it up with wheel off and take the seat with you as seat thefts are abundant in D.C. area. Walk to the cherry blossoms and enjoy them. It is impossible for biker to take bikes around the trees when people are out seeing the trees in full blossom. Peak time is never the same each year, but the Park Service does a good job with telling public when they are near peak and are at peak. I suggest going to see them in the morning during a work day as people are in the offices and tourists are not as much. Hope this helps.

I am starting to plan the GAP trip from D.C. to PITT for sometime in the spring. I hope to do it in a week as I like to take my time and enjoy the scenery. Plus, 100 miles a day is not something that I think my rear would enjoy.

Michael, Thank you very much for the info, very helpfull. I'm with you on the 100 mile days, Good luck on your trip. I live on the other end from you. If I can answer any questions you may have about this end ,Good food ect, please shout them out.

Michael or anyone else planning a trip to the Pittsburgh end. If you can fit Ceader Creek in your schedule as a camp spot you will not be dissapointed. Nice park, tables, grills & fire rings & wood is usualy plentyfull. FREE to bikers & hikers. VERY NICE stop right on the trail. No road-ride

loved this place. good food cold beer.

nice that you stoped at my dad's place.Keep him in your prayers,he has 4th.stage lung cancer.He is still working and loves meeting new people.

Bills is about the coolest place on the trail. Was there last weekend and stayed at the park campsite. Everything was good.

You do not list the

Yough Shore Inn
1403 Boston Hollow Rd
Boston, PA 15135
412-754-0440 (phone)

I should add that their website which I accessed just a few days ago has expired.

We enjoyed our stay in the "safari" room at the Yough Shore Inn on our ride from the Pittsburgh Amtrak to Cumberland Amtrak. The inn is located 0.4 mile from the trail, a little less than half way on a side street and the rest on a main road with shoulders. I was expecting it to be up a hill, but there was none.

From the front it looks more like a suburban ranch house than a Yuppie weekend get-away B&B. But the view from the deck in the rear made up for it. The layout and breakfast was especially well suited for bicycle tourists.

The room decor is definitely different.

I'm up to my last long run before my marathon, and wanted to do the 20 miles on the C&O Canal, one way, instead of the out and back route I now do (I just ran a 20 out and back, and loved the view, I want to see more this time!). I'm starting from Georgetown, but for the life of me I cannot find a place to park my car overnight near mile 20 (give or take 3 miles is fine). It needs to be overnight, since I live in Arlington, and my run will start at 6am. Any ideas?

I'm leaving Union Station in DC to start my trip from DC to Pgh. I've never been on the C&O trail. Worried about navigating those first few miles. Any words of wisdom about keeping on the trail in DC and first 10-15 miles and not getting lost?

The trail is very well marked, and it starts in Georgetown. Once you get to Georgetown, you should have no problem staying on the trail all the way to Cumberland.

Anyone camped at McMahon's Mill Campground? Would love to know what you think.

My family and I go here every year while camping at Little Orleans Camp Ground to celebrate my daughters birthday. We all think Bill is the greatest with his stories and jokes. Just a great place to visit.

Great place for bikers w/laundry facilities, secure bike storage, central a/c, wi fi, computer, DVD, great breakfast, close to bike shop, closest to C&O Canal and WMRT. All newly renovated in former whiskey warehouse.

We are heading to Pittsburgh next week to bike the GAP and C and O back to DC.... Any one know anything about how the trail looks following all these thunderstorms??

Allegheny Trail Alliance reports: The 136 bridge in West Newton has been closed due to structural safety concerns. GAP trail & all businesses still open -use W136 to access!

Bridge work is now compleat. Open both ways

Has anyone traveled the C&O since the March floods? Am planning the Pittsburgh to DC trip in early June and was wondering what the trail conditions are like currently.

I'm doing the ride May 19th through the 21st. I let you know.

I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll post some updates when I return.

Am riding E. to W. starting 5/25 in D.C. Anything of interest would be appreciated.

I have been on the canal since the flood between Dam 5, and Cumberland Valley Campsite. The trail is back in decent shape in this 10 mile stretch.

I finished the canal path from Cumberland to DC on Saturday the 22nd. Kind of muddy up near Cumberland but the path was totally passable.

Where did you stay from Harpers Ferry to Georgetown?

Our troop is biking from Harpers Ferry to Georgetown and wondered if anyone else camped along the way and had any suggestions. We have a sag wagon who has our gear and also wondered if there was a campground along the route that would be easier for him to get a vehicle in too. Thanks.

While biking between Whites Ferry and Georgetown, I found a digital camera. If you can ID it, I would really like to return it to you.

Quick question since you biked between Harpers Ferry and Georgetown, we have our BSA Troop biking and wondered where you camped along this part of the C&O?

Stayed here several years ago on our bike trip southbound from Cumberland. A little expensive for some folks, but we splurged for one night and really enjoyed it. We walked into town and did laundry and ate at one of the many restaurants. Nice place just across the river from the trail.

Are there picnic tables at the campsites?

We are 2 cycling buddies from the UK,after a few days in Washington seeing the sights we need
to get to Pittsburgh leaving DC on the 16/5/10 we then have two weeks to cycle back.Best way to get to Pittsburgh Bus or Train?any info would be a great help prices/ times/cost.
Thanks for any help Brian.

Try the train, they have have a baggage car. I don't know if a bus could handle all your bikes.
The train from DC will put you in Pittsburgh late evening.

With two weeks, why not just ride up and back? It only takes 5 or 6 days to get from one end to the other-

Sandcastle nearing bike trail agreement
Last link in Great Allegheny Passage
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Allegheny County and Sandcastle Waterpark are expected to announce an
agreement within days that will allow completion of the last missing piece
of a biking and hiking trail linking Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

"I really expect we'll have a formal announcement in the next couple days,"
said James Judy, vice president of operations for Palace Entertainment,
owner of the park.

"I believe that is probably going to be the case," agreed county spokesman
Kevin Evanto.

The deal would cap years of negotiations aimed at finding a way to
accommodate the trail on the park's narrow strip of land between a railroad
line and the Monongahela River.

The roughly one-mile stretch is the last link in the 150-mile Great
Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., where it connects to
the C&O Towpath to Washington.

When all is complete, it will be possible to bike about 335 continuous,
mostly flat miles from Pittsburgh to the nation's capital without
interference from motorized traffic.

The former owners of Sandcastle for years resisted efforts to build the
trail through the park, saying there wasn't enough room.

"The next time you visit Sandcastle take a close look at the tight access
road and try to visualize a 10-foot-wide trail running between the road and
the railroad tracks. I hope you will conclude that not having the available
land wide enough for a trail does not make us stubborn," said Peter McAneny,
then-president of Kennywood Entertainment, in a 2008 letter to the
Post-Gazette.

Mr. McAneny and county officials announced later that year that a deal was
close, but the talks got sidetracked when Kennywood Park and Sandcastle were
sold.

"We're thrilled to be on the trail," Mr. Judy said in a pho

"We're thrilled to be on the trail," Mr. Judy said in a phone interview from
California on Monday. "It's been a very high priority for me to get this
done." He said the park owners did not want to be the only missing link.

The site is accessible by a narrow two-lane road and has limited parking,
which fills to capacity several times a year, he said. "It's been an
extremely tricky piece of property to work with."

The county helped to design a plan that would minimize the impact on parking
by re-striping the lots. The trail will run parallel to the access road, Mr.
Judy said.

The trail developers cleared another major hurdle last week with placement
of two bridges over railroad lines in the Mon Valley. Crews hoisted
prefabricated bridges over active freight lines in Whitaker and Duquesne
along the Monongahela River.

That cleared the way for construction of a 21/2-mile section linking
Duquesne and The Waterfront retail complex. That piece is expected to be
completed in January.

No construction timetable has been announced for the Sandcastle section. An
agreement with the water park would keep the county on track to meet county
Executive Dan Onorato's goal of completing the entire trail by "11-11-11" --
Nov. 11, 2011.
Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868. Visit "The
Roundabout," the Post-Gazette's transportation blog, at post-gazette.com.

Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10194/1072356-455.stm#ixzz0tZ7MLp64