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1st Time Thru Planning How Many Days?
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JohnS from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/16/2015 6:56:54 AM:
Good morning all,

What is the recommended trip time from The Point in Pittsburgh to Ronald Reagan International (Rental Car Return)?

I am trying to get a group of average 40-somethings together on the same page regarding 6days/5nights and 5days/4nights.

We've read several of the thru-trip reports and have agreed that 4 days/3 nights is not for us.

Unsupported, Inn-to-Inn, 4 riders, 1st week in October, Has-beens

We would like to have a nice breakfast and dinner each day.
 
John W. from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/16/2015 9:32:33 PM:
5 nights will put you around the 65 miles a day. Definitely doable. But I would suggest maybe do six nights? Five nights I found myself getting into town later than I wanted and really pushing miles just to make town rather than enjoying the sights. If you are all 40-something's, yes I would do 6 nights, no less. Happy Journey!
 
lenny on 4/17/2015 4:17:09 AM:
I have done the ride 3 times, all of them 5 day rides with 4 nites lodging, meeting all the criteria you have outlined. first 2 day were 75 miles and the tow path in 3 more. I could give you day by day itinerairy if you like with the towns and hotels i stopped at.
 
JohnS from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/28/2015 4:33:20 AM:
Thank you guys/gals for your input. We settled on 5 days/4 nights due to work/life commitments. I pushed for 6/5 being the biggest (literally) has-been of the group. Time will tell who was right.

Our Itinerary is:

Point State Park to Connellsville - 61 miles
Connellsville to Frostburg - 76 miles
Frostburg to Hancock - 76 miles
Hancock to Harper's Ferry - 70 miles
Harper's Ferry to D.C. - 56 miles

2 of our quartet live in Md. so they will be renting a car one-way to us and then my wife and I will rent one-way in DC for the return.

 
JohnS from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/28/2015 4:38:49 AM:
Has anyone worked on/seen/considered mapping the entire trail into Google Earth?

Since they made the Pro version free we could do some really cool things like adding information real-time and collaboratively.

I am going to start working on one, but I don't want to "re-invent the wheel".
 
Ric from Indianapolis on 4/28/2015 1:46:03 PM:
We are starting on Friday, May 1st and have rented a car to return to Pittsburg @ the Hertz @ the Key Bridge Marriot just across the bridge in Arlington at the end of the trail. Airports can be very busy area's and usually not very bike friendly. Best of luck
 
John W from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/28/2015 2:43:10 PM:
JohnS, if you turn on Roads in Google Earth under Primary Database and zoom into the map, you will see both the GAP and C&O. Not sure why it's categorized under roads but it's there. I've also seen mapping layers of both. Someone has either digitized it into a GIS or converted GPS coordinates they collected into a mapping layer.
 
John S from Pittsburgh, PA on 4/29/2015 5:35:39 AM:
Ric, were you able to get a bike rack from Hertz? SUV with dis-assembly? Looks like you'll have beautiful weather. You'll probably pass us as we will be rafting on the Yough on Saturday

John W. Kind of new to Google Earth. It looks like I could create a folder which we all could share with POI like bathrooms/campgrounds/water/trail hazards/detour routes, etc. Do you know if there is a way to highlight that route without retracing it entirely?
 
Ric from Indianapolis on 4/29/2015 6:57:46 AM:
Renting a small SUV, we are travel in an HHR and just remove the front w wheels so I'm sure /anticipating we can get them there. Wish we had time to raft, maybe next time. Have a great time rafting. Ric
 
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