DC to PGH

Completed 6 day solo trip from DC to Pgh today. Great weather, great trail conditions. Hate the compacted gravel surface from Shepherdstown to Cumberland (snap-crackle-pop on my tires continuously) but the rest of the trail was great. Newly resurfaced between mile 30 and Shepherdstown to look like the crushed limestone on the GAP. Very smooth ride on that section. A few campers after Calico, but very few thru bikers on the trail. Most everyone wore masks until around Shepherdstown, then it tapered down to around 10%-20% with masks the rest of the way. No pump handles on anywhere, but port-o-potties were all open although there were signs on them up until Calico that they were out of service. The big hill between Cumberland and Savage tunnel nearly did me in but I survived. Stayed in hotels 5 nights. Being as old as I am, this was very tough for me, but the satisfaction of completing the entire C&O/GAP is very much worth the pain. Coming into Pgh on Saturday I saw a great many bikes fully loaded and headed east, so I think the long awaited rush might have started. PS, don't pay any attention to the hand written signs on the WMRT saying "trail closed ahead use C&O bypass". Signs were put up for emergency tree removal and never taken down. The C&O towpath bug is totally out of my system (for now).

Thanks for the trail status update. I’m itching to make the trip again, How did yo get to DC to begin your ride?

The trail from Shepherdstown to Cumberland is a a different surface than that before Shepherdstown? Mile marker zero all the way to Shepherstown is completely resurfaced? Are their plans to do 1-30? We are planning a ride in October.
Thanks
Jim

Hi Rivnuts. To get to DC I got a rental SUV from enterprise. Picked it up on sunday at noon (they close at 1:00pm sunday) took it home, loaded up my bike and supplies and drove to Rockville MD sunday evening. Stayed at a cheap hotel in Rockville sunday night so that I would only need to drive half an hour Monday morning. My original intention was to make the 4hr 30 minute drive early Monday morning and then go directly to drop off point, but my wife did not think it was a good idea to get up at 2:00am, drive to DC, then do 76 miles on a bike so I stayed the extra night in Rockville. Monday morning, drove about 25 minutes to the suv drop-off location in Rosslyn VA (1560 Wilson Blvd). That's a good place to drop off because they have a early-drop-off lock box and they are only 0.8 miles from the trail across the Francis Scott Key Bridge and another 1.0 miles back-tracking to Mile 0 on towpath. All downhill too. They were pretty cheap too. $57 for one day, unlimited mileage, plus $24 to fill the gas tank back up. My first day was 73 miles to Shepherdstown (Bavarian Inn) so I needed to get an early start. All went well, except 73 + 3 is a little too much for me at this stage.

Hi Jim. The towpath surface between mile 0 and mile 23 is the old original hard-packed dirt and stone that's been there forever. I rode it in a heavy, three day rain 4 years ago and it was totally covered with water, but was still relatively solid. I doubt they are planning to update this surface any time soon because of the deep historical feelings that would cause a lot of opposition.
From mile 23 to mile 30 the trail is not as solid (not resurfaced) and had a lot of puddles and some mud but I was able to easily ride around them. The weather for my trip was perfect. I did not see a drop of rain and did not clean my bike at all.
From mile 30 to mile 73 the towpath was resurfaced with crushed limestone and was in perfect condition. This type of surface will generally hold up well even in moderate rain. Very smooth riding on this section.
From mile 73 to mile 184 it's pretty much hit and miss with most of the towpath resurfaced (I would guess a few years ago) with a very coarse gravel that is compacted to form a somewhat solid surface but very noisy (snap-crackle-pop) and rough on your tires. I did not like this surface at all and always worried about getting a flat tire but never got one. It's definitely better than the mud that was once there but it needs to be upgraded to crushed limestone. Some areas here have the compacted stone upgrade but other areas are still basically unimproved dirt.
Other misc stuff: the Brunswick washout bypass at mile 55 was in good shape and water level was low so no problems here. There was a small washout at the slackwater concrete towpath (I think around mile 86??) that you need to walk your bike through. Inconvenient but doable. I used the WMRT path that runs parallel to the C&O for 10 mile east and 12 miles west of Hancock MD. This is an asphalt paved bikeway that is a welcome temporary relief from the rough C&O.

Thanks for filling me in!

Oh man Telo, your recap has me salivating to get out and do my trip to DC!

I think I’m shooting for late June now. Gonna do the GAP/C&O and get off at White’s Ferry and take the W&OD to DC. I always get on the WMRT when I see it...such a relief! I believe they have extended the WMRT a little so there’s a bit more asphalt. I’ll take Amtrak back to PGH.

Curious to see the improvements with the C&O surface as you’ve described.

Has anyone stayed in a hostel in DC? Or found reasonable hotel prices just outside DC but somewhat within reasonable distance of Mile 0? My trip is all camping except I was thinking of staying an extra day in DC and need reasonably priced accommodations. I want to cycle around DC a bit.

John

Thanks for the information. Now to sit down and really plan my Pgh to DC trip.

Hi John W.-- Stayed at the HI Washington DC Hostel last summer. About $35 per night. Bike storage out in the courtyard or inside a shed in the same courtyard. Clean and safe if you don't mind dormitory style.

Have also stayed at the Motel 6. About $90 per night. Not fancy but clean and safe.

Warren - Thanks for the hostel suggestion! I’ll definitely give it a look.

I haven’t travelled since the country went on Covid restrictions but I was just looking at the Arlington/National Airport area for hotels just to see prices. Some of the hotels I’m seeing are as low as $59-$63. Looks like they’ve lowered prices to entice reservations so I might go ahead and just reserve it. I was put off by the much higher prices I saw two years ago in DC as some were $175-$250 a night which is what initiated my hostel inquiry. Plus I’m camping the whole way except the end at DC so it not like one night at a hotel will blow up my budget :-) I’ll also look to see if other areas In DC have similar prices.

John

Telo:

Your one-way car rental was very competitive with Amtrak. I may have to consider that rather than kangaroo the train. Could likely drop it off at Reagan Airport as well. It's easy enough to get from the airport to the C&O albeit a lttle further away than Roslyn.

That new surface at Shepherdstown did not appear to be crushed limestone when I rode it last year as it appeared to be a black aggregate rather than white like limestone. Regardless, it had the same consistency and indeed was a much smoother surface.

Does anyone know what that actual material is if not limestone? (The anal ex-engineer in me would like to know. ??

Recycled grounded up road pavement with a binder.

Telo how did you handle water? My wife and I have a trip planned next week but the lack of water is among our concerns. Our current plan is to camel up in towns.

Took Amtrak from Cleveland. It was great! Roll-on bike service, but only on some trains. Doing it again this year in reverse. DC Amtrak home.

BobtheBuilder:

Depending on how/if the bike touring crowd returns to the GAP/C&O, bike reservations on the return train from DC are generally more difficult to get than for the trip to DC. You may want to book those early if you know your travel plans.

I could have gotten a seat on Amtrak no problem but the roll on roll off bike service was sold out leaving DC the day I wanted. So I flipped my directions and am taking the Capitol Limited from Pittsburgh to DC and was able to secure a roll on roll off reservation. Going to go the reverse direction I wanted but hey, life will be good out in the trail!

As Rivnuts suggested, don’t hesitate booking your Amtrak bike service if that is your plan, they’re selling out quickly.

John