Reply to Harpers Ferry

I'm planning on staying at the Town's Inn in Harper's Ferry. Has anyone stayed there before? Was there a place to lock your bike up on the premises?

I'm also dreading the road section that will need to be ridden to now get into the town. Has anyone who has previously ridden it, have any insight? I am comfortable on the road with traffic. I just want to make sure it's relatively safe.

Thanks!

my wife and i stayed at townes inn in harper ferry a couple of years ago.we had an awful expierience that started with a room that had a doorknob with a lock that didnt work! we stayed anyway but i could go on and on..i will also add that this is my first post on this forum..i am posting this to suggest other lodging options.

If I were riding theGAP/C&O, which I've done twice, including last summer, I'd adjust my route to stop in Sheperdstown. Nice town, lots of infrastructure for food and lodging, easy access, and you'd begin the next day on a great stretch of improved trail.

I've not stayed at the Town's inn, but I have had brunch there when bikers were leaving. This was several years ago. They were quite pleased with it. At that time, it had some of the better food in town. I don't know about safekeeping for your bike, but I assume they can do that. You might call.
This article from the Shepherdstown paper a day ago says they are still bickering over repair of the bridge. http://www.shepherdstownchronicle.com/page/content.detail/id/518616/Harpers-Ferry-council-receives-update-on-pedestrian-bridge-status.html?nav=5127 It says Harpers Ferry is thinking of running shuttles. You might want to see if you can get a cab or Lyft to pick you up at Sandy Hook and take you and your bike to Harpers Ferry. It's only three miles. But for the facts that there are no shoulders on the Potomac Bridge and the road is narrow and very busy, it would be an easy bike ride from Sandy Hook. I would not advise that. There are back roads in Virginia from Shepherdstown. I don't know what they are like, but there is a good bike shop in Shepherdstown. You might want to get their advice. They do proivde shuttle service to their rental customers but not as far as Harpers Ferry.

I just checked Google Street View. There is a walkway along the Potomac Bridge at Sandy Hook, but it doesn't do you much good because there isn't much of a shoulder along parts of 340. You should do a Street View from Sandy Hook to Harpers Ferry and see how comfortable you'd be riding that. I wouldn't be.

I rode Rt 340 from Harpers Ferry Road (Rt 671) on into Harpers Ferry coming from the WOD Trail in Purcellville, VA. The traffic on Rt 340 was heavy and fast including semi trailer trucks. There was a rather wide, paved shoulder for most of the length although there was gravel and debris on the shoulder in some areas.

While I ride a lot of roads, Rt 340 was one of my least favorites. Would I do it again...perhaps if the adventure requiring it was greater than the risk in doing so and that is a personal evaluation each of us must make.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I've adjusted my itinerary and will stay in Shepherdstown instead. It'll be a bit of a long day into DC the following day, but it seems like the better option.

Shepherdstown is an excellent choice, I have stayed there on multiple occasions and after you climb the LONG hill from the trail to the road that quickly leads into town you take a right to one of the hotels which is right next to a self serve car wash ( which can be helpful if the trail is muddy) and a shopping center where a grocery store is located for a cheap meal. There is also, as you get onto the bridge that crosses the trial, the Bavarian Inn before you get into Shepherdstown which overlooks the Potomac River. Just suggestions.

My son-in-law is staying in Harpers Ferry this weekend, albeit not at the Town's Inn, so I asked him to look at the place while there. He sent me a picture taken today of the front of the Inn. There is a wrought iron fence or railing in front of the Inn to which bikes could be locked. There appears to be a few rental bikes located inside that railing although I can't tell from the picture if or how those bikes are locked up.

Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown is a great place to stay. They are a little pricey and you will need to make your reservations early because they fill up quick. You can chain your bike up outside or they will lock it away for you. Bikes not permitted in rooms. They have a pretty good restaurant on site, and a bike cleaning station for mud cleanup. Its just across the river from the trail, and the best thing is its all downhill to the trail the next morning. (Of course that means its all uphill as you drag in from DC)

I'd affirm the decision to stop in Shepherdstown. 4 of us rode the trail last summer and stopped for breakfast in Harpers Ferry. Not wanting to carry everything up the stairs on the Maryland side, we ditched our panniers in the woods, and carried our bikes up. After breakfast, and upon returning to the W Va side of the bridge, we were informed that it was closed for repairs. There was no sign on the Maryland side informing us of this. NPS was adamant that we could not cross on the bridge, and a somewhat animated discussion ensued - at one point we said that we were just going to take the road back. NPS said that we really shouldn't be doing that and to their credit they did eventually rustle up a van and a pickup and they shuttled us and our bikes back to the Maryland side of the bridge. As we were riding in the shuttle we were all looking at each other and agreeing that the ride on that road would have been absolutely awful. I remember a pretty nasty hill on the W Va side, and absolutely no shoulder on the long bridge.