Reply to Paw Paw Tunnel

Roadie Mike from Detroit MI:

Hopefully you find this additional forum message since the forum app would not allow me to respond directly to your message as it normally does.

The Paw Paw Tunnel for the C&O Canal was cut through a hill/mountain rather than continue along the winding Potomac River to save time and cost of construction by reducing the length of the canal. - Neither objective was ultimately achieved. The 3,118 foot long tunnel itself was cut through the shale mountain and built over a period of 14 years. If you look at a map of the trail you'll see the divergence of this canal tunnel from the Potomac River. Further some Google searching will reveal a number of excellent websites describing the history and facts for the tunnel itself.

The outdoor trails entering and leaving the tunnel can be muddy during and following rain. The trail immediately downriver (north) of the tunnel can be slippery as well as muddy as it travels over a wooden "footbridge" adjacent a rock wall outside the tunnel. Just beyond the footbridge the trail surface includes exposed sections of wet shale as well as the muddy earthen surface. It's all rideable under those conditions but extra caution is well advised.

Inside the tunnel the elevated towpath travels between a guardrail separating the towpath from the canal so you don't fall off into the canal. The towpath within is a hard earthen surface about 5- to 6-feet wide. You can readily walk a pannier-laden bike within this width.

However, the surface is rough and damp including some small puddles in the ruts due to leaks in the tunnel roof. It is very dark inside making a light a virtual necessity. While I've encountered riders attempting to ride through the tunnel without a light, they present a peril for themselves as well as others in the tunnel.

I hope this message answers your questions.

Will a trike (actually a trike to quad conversion, 40” wide) fit between the wall and railing? Thanks!

The 40-inch width of the trike would fit between the wall and the rail as the towpath width inside the tunnel is 5 feet. There are a few related concerns however.

The first is your transiting through the tunnel. Even with ten trips through that tunnel over the past ten years I’ve never seen a trike pass through the tunnel. I think that’s more due to the nature of the towpath before and after the towpath rather than within the tunnel itself. The trail to and from the tunnel looks like a path traveled by a car. That is, two separated single tracks such that one wheel of a trike would normally ride in one of the tracks while the other would ride in the median…doable but not ideal for a trike or a two-wheeled trailer. But I digress.

Secondly, while you likely could ride through the tunnel, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of clearance beyond your wheels making a good light a virtual necessity. Also, with the limited clearance, passing other bikers inside the tunnel would be challenging. I’d certainly wait until other cyclists or pedestrians had cleared the tunnel before beginning to go through.

Lastly, if you chose not to ride through the tunnel but, rather, walk through, pushing or pulling a trike through would be awkward I would think.

Hopefully others with trikes can offer their thoughts as well.