Author: azcolin

55.8 miles today, 3796 miles overall

Until a few days ago, we weren’t exactly sure where we would terminate our trip; it would either be on the coast or at the end of the C&O Canal in Georgetown, DC.  We’ve had a lot of fun, it’s getting hot at night, and there are no great bike trails between DC and New York, so we decided we’d call it in DC.  Today was to be our penultimate day of riding.  We would spend the night just shy our goal, and enjoy the hospitality of Steve’s brother and sister-in-law, then knock off the final few miles to Georgetown and do a tour of Washington DC tomorrow.

So, we slept well at the Holiday Inn and enjoyed the included breakfast.  As we were packing our bikes, Steve stopped to study the C&O Canal map, then pronounced, “We’re going into a remote area with limited services today. We’d better be prepared”.  With only 55 mi to go to our nation’s capital, Bob and I were surprised, he didn’t seem nearly as concerned as we crossed the wilds of Montana or Wyoming.  After we laughed at the absurdity, and we were confident we were ‘prepared’, we went downstairs. Then, as soon as we got outside, Bob and Steve decided to check their tire pressures and when that was done they realized maybe they should go back inside and fill their water canteens.

Finally ‘prepared’ for the wilderness, we rolled downhill and got on the trail at close to milepost 54.

It was more of the same on the trail; a tunnel of green.  The canal had more water, but some of it was rather green.

We stopped for our final trail lunch of bananas and peanut butter on tortillas. 

Lunch-time entertainment was a bunch of kids throwing themselves off the aqueduct. 

I videoed two jumps and shared the result with the kids. During our post-lunch cleanup we had a good chat with a trail bike-patrol volunteer.  He shared some great historical information with us and casually mentioned that you’re not allowed to jump off the bridges. We kept quiet about the kids and my video evidence, and, out of respect for his work, we walked our bikes for the first time at the sign that said ‘walk your bike’.

We’ve been running over some round chestnutty looking things on the trail for days now.  Over lunch, with Google’s, help I figured out that they are osage oranges.

After lunch we reach part of the trail where the canal contained clear water.  We should have known it was going to be pretty because there were artists out painting.

As usual, we ran into some obstacles, none insurmountable.

We thought we deserved a reward for our obstacle clearing efforts and stopped at this attractive historic tavern.  Unfortunately, its days of serving beer were historical so we went on thirsty. 

I stopped for a look at the Great Falls of the Potomac (Steve and Bob have seen it before), and they are quite impressive.

Beyond the falls is perhaps the most scenic part of the canal; in this area it follows the course of the ancient Potomac, high above the current river.

We moved on and briefly entered the District of Columbia, then climbed a very steep hill into McLean, and found ourselves at the end of Terry and Maureen’s driveway.

We were treated to some cold beer and watermelon in the garage.

And, after we cleaned up, a wonderful meal.

…of cruelly steep bike routes and flat tyres.

We are eating the other 6 inches of the foot-long subs we bought earlier, while waiting-out the rain under a slight overhang on the C&O Canal Towpath.

Concurrently, we are watching the trail conditions deteriorate.  😕

46.6 miles today, 3646 miles overall

We were pleased to camp under a ramada last night, where the late thunder storm posed no threat and our setup (and tear down) was minimal.  We were forewarned that a rail line ran close by, but we didn’t realize it was this close!

We decided to have someone cook breakfast for us today so we wound our way back through the old station…

… into downtown, and found ourselves at the Cafe Mark.

After we were fed and stocked up at a grocery store, we met Steve’s friends, Tim and Vince, at the end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail (called the C&O canal trail, for short (and also a national historic park)) and started riding.

Within just a few miles we were out of town and riding between the canal on our left and the Potomac River on our right.

There are at least 75 locks between Georgetown and Cumberland and at this end none are functional.  Large parts of the canal are dry or blocked.

Some more more pictures of the canal and towpath below.

In some places the canal had to cross tributaries of the Potomac and aqueducts were built to carry the canal over them.  All of the aqueducts we encountered were now dry.

The engineers who built the canal chose to tunnel 3000 ft through Tunnel Hill, rather than try to follow 6 mi of the winding River course.  We enjoyed walking through the dark tunnel separated by a guardrail from the canal on our left.  It was mercifully much cooler in the tunnel than on the towpath today.

On the east side of the tunnel there was a long cut, shown in the picture below, where there was a nice boardwalk to ride along.

As has become common, we saw many deer and several fawns on the trail today.  We also saw this character who retreated into his shell when I tried to take a photograph.

After stopping and enjoying a beer, down-hill from our campsite, Vince facilitated additional beer consumption and Steve and Bob enjoyed it thoroughly.

Footnote…

In the Farrell household we recognize that someone always has to be last and there is only a problem if the same person is last every time (Iona, you know who you are).  And I’m pleased to report that Steve, in theory at least, is no longer a problem. Today, on day 68 of this trip, he was ready and waiting for me and Bob to finish packing.  We were shocked, he was cocky, and he thinks he can do it again tomorrow.  We’ll see. 

There are many hiker biker campsites on the C&O Canal Trail.  Most have well water that is not potable. It’s been so hot it was put to a better use.

55.5 miles today, 3482 miles overall

Summary: We started today on the beautiful Montour Trail (it was nice to see it in the daylight), battled our way up and down the hills in the neighborhoods south of Pittsburgh, made a stop at REI,  then got on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail and rode it to our first bonafide brewery in PA, just across the Youghiogheny River from our campground.  We left the brewery in shifts, first me, then Steve and hopefully we’ll see Bob by morning 😀 (he arrived before the publication deadline).

More details…

We decided to take it easy this morning, and when I eventually started to emerge from my tent, I saw Bob’s smiling face.  The humidity was 99%, he reported that he had seen his first ‘fog advisory’ on his phone. 

Needless to say, everything felt damp.  I thought it had been raining but it was just the moisture condensing on and dripping from the trees. 

After talking to a trail maintenance volunteer, we got on our way at the crack of 11 am (I’m being generous with the time), and it was as nice as, or better, than any of the other trails that we’ve ridden.

Given our problems and late arrival yesterday, we were unprepared for breakfast.  It was a mixture of jerky, peanuts, an apple and energy bars.  So we were looking for lunch/brunch somewhere.  We found the answer at Lemonheads, where we enjoyed the pub fare and celebrated our arrival in PA.

We continued up and down hills until we found the Amazon locker that didn’t yet have my delivery.  Steve and Bob moved on to the REI.  They were still stocking up when I arrived, then we got on the river trail, that we thought was the start of the GAP.

It was a nice trail nonetheless.

The actual start of the GAP was not very exciting…

… but here’s a photo of Bob and Steve once we were on it properly.

Here are some more pictures from the GAP trail…

The GAP Trail is well provided with campsites.  We were targeting a free site at Davos, but a chance encounter with a local a few miles earlier inspired us to add 8 miles to the day (it was something about a brewery, and the availability of showers, and on both fronts it was worth it).  The campground wasn’t hard to find…

…and I think we are well setup for a late start again tomorrow.  😀

57.8 miles today 3296 miles overall

We had to leisurely start to the day. Last night’s planning session was inconclusive and two possible destinations loomed ahead, both 50 to 60 mi out.  We eventually set off after 10:00 a.m. on the ‘mostly flat’, according to Google, but largely downhill route back to the Heart of Ohio Trail.

We headed to the IGA market in Mt Vernon to get our usual breakfast of bagels and cream cheese.

This is both efficient and boring.  Making miles as crucial so debating a different breakfast every morning can get in the way.  We mix it up by switching between cinnamon raisin bagels with blueberry cream cheese and blueberry bagels with strawberry cream cheese.  Today it was the latter.  Steve’s hunger was such that he also procured blueberry muffins for immediate consumption; they didn’t seem to do us any harm.

We got back on the road and started looking for the Kokosing Gap Trail.  Riders here are spoiled for choice (all the trails / routes we’ve ridden have been great).

Pretty soon we found this nice art installation at the Mount Vernon trailhead for the Kokosing Gap Trail.

I field-dressed the bagels and we fortified ourselves for the rest of the journey.

Here are a few photos of the beautiful Kokosing Gap Trail.

Horses are banned from many of the trails we have ridden recently, but we weren’t on the Kokosing Gap long before we found strong evidence of passing horses.  And it didn’t take long after that before a horse and buggy driven by a couple of late-teenaged Amish girls appeared.  We pulled over to let them pass but our ‘bad example’ was followed by their pony and they had to urge it along, slightly embarrassed.  We enjoyed the interaction. 

Over breakfast we made the final decision on our destination so we had to get off the Kokosing Gap Trail  soon after the small town of Brinkhaven (unfortunately long before its termination in Glenmont).  After a brief descent on a rutted dirt road we found a ford, from which we retreated hastily. 

Thankfully there was a bridge alongside; unsuitable for vehicles, but we made it across on our bikes

Safely across the creek we discovered that eastern Ohio doesn’t share the same flat geography as Western Ohio and we found ourselves on a fairly tough gravel ascent; it lasted about a mile and was followed by another mile of gravel road.  At the end of that we rested for a few minutes.  Although it was notably cooler (or less humid) today than on previous days, it was still hot and my shoe left an impression in the asphalt.

The roughly 25 miles of beautifully surfaced roads through rolling bucolic countryside that followed were marvelous.

At about 10 mi from our campground we found an ice cream shop and enjoyed ice cream and sandwiches while thunderstorms raged around us, but not on us. 

Over dinner, we agreed that today was one of our favorite riding days of the trip.

In other news, Steve proudly wore his new socks today!  We were all starting to get a little embarrassed at the formerly white socks he has been wearing since the beginning of the trip. 😀

Trailside flowers seen today.

32.1 miles today, 3093 miles overall

After our long day yesterday, recognizing that we didn’t want to be out riding in 4th of July traffic, and since we were having trouble finding a suitably located campsite, we decided to stay put at yesterday’s camp and have a rest day.  But as I was counting new mosquito bites this morning, Bob asked, “Could you check KOA and see if there’s been a cancellation?”. There was one space so after a quick vote we decided we would flee the mosquitoes, ride 31 or 32 miles, be finished by lunchtime.

We had been lounging so we got a late start, compounded by the discovery of a flat tire on my bike.  I replaced my tube while Bob checked the flat tube thoroughly, found no problems and pronounced it good. We’re puzzled (I found no offending items in the tire either).  Steve suspects sabotage.  Other possibilites proffered by Bob were deemed even more unlikely.  I’ll sleep with one eye open tonight. 

Bob has been carrying small American flags as bike decorations for today.  We attached them to our bikes and, after a safety officer inspection and repositioning, we took off.

Only 2 miles after setting out we found our way into Ohio.  It was just like Indiana with lots of farmland.

In recent days, Steve and I have had various in-depth discussions about the relative merits of hay versus silage and the production methods thereof.  So we were all interested to see a friendly Amish farmer turning his hay with two horses pulling an ancient but recognizably similar version of what we’d seen huge tractors pulling in previous days.  He gave us a friendly wave.

We continued on mostly flat, good quality roads looking for a lunchtime beverage on our short route.

It was so nice that we weren’t too surprised to find ourselves on bicycle route 50.

There were some interesting/inspiring yard decorations along the way…

… and we were relieved to eventually find an excellent ice cream shop where we started our late lunch.

Satiated for a moment, we crossed the street to a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed an entree after our dessert (I’ve been known to promote this practice). 

It was a hot day again. So after picking up supplies at a supermarket, and before heading the final 3 miles to the campground, we enjoyed a Coors Light, discreetly, under a tree in the parking lot.

The KOA is full of happy revelers. Most of them have campfires so the air is thick with smoke.  Our campsite is off at the extremities and quite satisfactory. 

There are fewer mosquitoes here, perhaps deterred by the campfire smoke, but they have started biting so it’s time to retreat to the tents. 

We’ll be on the road early tomorrow, back on rails to trails conversions, heading for London, Ohio.

We are half way, and have just had lunch.