Reply to Liberty Trike e-trike.

I have a E-trike. Can I use on trail? Thank you. kenj.

Ken J. - Definitely! The GAP (Cumberland to Pittsburgh) is old rail trail with crushed limestone. You’ll be fine. The C&O (DC to Cumberland) is a little bit trickier. There are some parts that are old mule paths and dirt tracks with grass around them. Not bad but you have to watch for tree roots and rocks. But not all of it is that bad. The Park Service has been adding segments of crushed limestone down to look and feel like a rail trail so progress is being made. But the C&O is a bit rougher in parts.

Don’t forget to divert off to the paved Western Maryland Rail Trail that parallels the C&O for 20+ miles on both sides of Hancock. A nice diversion from the dirt and sometimes mud.

Also, if they get the ferry situation fixed (see the thread here in this forum about that), you could do DC to Leesburg, VA on the paved Washington & Old Dominion Trail, then cross over the Potomac and hop onto the C&O at Whites Ferry, MD. This will add 10 miles but it’s paved (though admittedly not as scenic). The only down side to taking the W&OD is you will miss Great Falls which is nice. On the positive side, you can access all of Leesburgs restaurants and lodging if that’s your thing. It all depends what you value on your trip and your wants and needs.

John

We rode a bit of the C&O Trail near Cumberland. There were stretches that I would call "singletrack", where the trail was about 10 inches wide of dirt, and then there was tall grass on either side. Plus there were some muddy stretches. I'm not sure how well a trike would do with either scenario.