Naismith from Florida on 10/20/2013 9:04:53 AM:
I have been remiss in not posting our experience, because we were self-supporting and did not have room for a laptop, and went directly from the trail to a professional conference.
We missed the first two days on the trail (10/7-8). Because we had to drive up to the area, we did other things that first day, and on the second day rode some out of Harpers Ferry, seeing no signs of closure. So we drove to Williamsport, and left our car at the Red Roof Inn, who are so supportive of cyclists and have a form to fill out for those leaving a vehicle.
We did see some vandalism, beyond the liberation of porta-potties. At Oldtown, there was grafitti on the concrete barriers, something like, "The park doesn't belong to the government, it belongs to the people!"
But as I noted in another thread, the real problem is that the C & O is incorrectly characterized as a National Park. There are so many access points that it should be re-classified as a National Forest, and thus remain open during shutdowns, even though visitors centers and other facilities are closed. People in the DC area use parts of the trail for commuting into work. We don't close national highways during a shutdown, why would we close this thoroughfare?