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The C&O Canal Towpath Trail and Great Allegheny Passage

trail condition - all 185 miles of C&O bike path


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jy on 7/15/2021 11:25:31 AM:
We would appreciate any comments/updates on the condition of any/all portions of the 185 mile C&O bike path from Georgetown to Cumberland. In other words, which portions are paved, hard packed, loose gravel, other? Thank you, Jim

 
Rivnuts from Homestead, PA on 7/15/2021 8:19:55 PM:
Other than the 24 miles of the paved Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) that parallels the C&O and the couple of miles of the repaired trail around Big Slackwater the balance of the C&O Towpath is crushed stone, fine gravel and hard packed earth. Of the unpaved length, there is a 40+ mile section from Shepherdstown to Edwards Ferry that has been improved with new, smooth, free draining crushed gravel in recent years. This is a good riding surface under most conditions.

If you leave the C&O and take the Capital Crescent Trail from Fletchers Boathouse on into Georgetown DC that is another 3-miles of pavement.

The 44-mile section between Cumberland and Little Orleans is generally hard packed earth (when dry) or puddles and mud (when wet).