C&O Canal: Day 2

This post refers to events that occurred on Saturday, July 27, 2019.

Yesterday, just before leaving Little Orleans, I had turned on the GPS on my Gaia app. This is a free app that is suitable for hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities. Yesterday's route, according to the official maps provided by the towpath was approximately 41 miles. With some of the meandering we did and the ride into town my Gaia app stated we had done 44.4 miles.

Although the Red Roof Inn itself didn't have much going for it (except for the fact that they recommended that the bikes be taken into our room and that they were used to cleaning all the mud and other dirt falling off bikes in the room), but the coffee in the lobby was just outstanding. I got myself a cup, pulled my chair out of the room and sat outside to watch a beautiful day dawning.

Dawn from just outside our room.

Another nice (co-incidental) thing about the hotel was that there was a Waffle House just next door. We got ready and had an excellent breakfast there. Pulled the bikes out and loaded them to be off for another ride.

On the day that Kedu and Rohit arrived at my place, we had reached out to our friend Vanita -- who is an outdoorsy person -- and asked her if she wanted to join in. She was very excited about the whole thing. Only thing: I didn't have any more bikes to share, so she had to get/rent her own. After some research we concluded that the best way to do this was to have her meet us in Sheperdstown, WV which is on the way today and has a bike shop where she could gear up. She had called the bike shop ahead and found out about it all. We decided to meet her at about 1:00 pm. Today's ride was going to be another 40+ miles and Sheperdstown was about 28 miles from Williamsport. With an average speed of about 7 minutes to a mile, it would take us about 3.25 hours of riding to get there. 

We rode back to the towpath, but reached the detour from yesterday. The detour required us to carry our bikes up and down a wooden bridge. The National Park Service that owns and maintains the towpath had done a good job of having a rail on the right hand side of the stairs where the bike could actually ride. After descending the bridge we started off on the towpath at approximately 9:00 am. The first few miles south of Williamsport is perhaps the most beautiful part of the towpath. The canopy of trees that surrounds the towpath is really thick in this region making for a gorgeous tunnel of green.

Just south of Williamsport MD. Both friends are in the distance.

At approx. mile marker 93, we started seeing a bunch of RVs parked under permanent canopies on the RHS. This is all a part of a private members-only club: The Potomac Fish and Game Club. In addition to real-estate that is made available to the club members to park their RVs, the club also has a massive pavilion with picnic benches, refrigerators, kitchen, barbecue pit, etc. We decided to take a quick rest stop here.

Taking advantage of club bench and tree, pavilion in the background.

View from that club bench.

No sooner had we alighted, an old man on a golf cart who was passing by decided to stop and say hello to us. He had such a broad grin and a friendly face, we got talking to him. He told us all about the history of the club and a little about his life (as a trucker). Apparently, during the last two years the river had completely flooded the area where we were seating. 

He also told us that in about half a mile we would reach the midpoint of the C&O Canal Towpath and there's a marker there -- a must photo opportunity.

As we proceeded southward, the boating, tubing, kayaking, fishing, etc., activities on the river kept increasing:

A little before 1:00 pm we reached the outskirts of Sheperdstown. The towpath gets really rocky here. Unfortunately, we didn't maneuver the rocky parts right: Kedu had a fall and had a small cut on his knee. Our $15 medical kit came really handy here. We were able to clean and sterilize the wound and off we went. To reach Sheperdstown, one has to cross the river on a bridge. 

Bridge over the Potomac to Sheperdstown

There is a series of small switchbacks that take one to the top of the bridge. After crossing the bridge you reach Sheperd University. Despite being a college professor, I had never heard of this university. But the campus and the town were pretty. We were able to locate Vanita quickly. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, then grabbed Vanita's rental bike and after a quick photo, off we went!

Vanita outside the bike rental shop with her "new" bike.

From Sheperdstown to Harper's Ferry is about 12 miles on the trail. Leaving aside the WMRT, this may be the easiest part of the trail as a lot of it is "raised" on a bed of gravel with a smooth surface (not as smooth as paved, but almost). The bike shop attendant had told us that as you get closer to Harper's Ferry, the river gets closer to the towpath and we would see more and more people tubing, kayaking, etc. How right he was!

Harper's Ferry itself is situated at a confluence of two rivers: the Potomac and the Shenandoah. It has a lot of historical significance for the Civil War and for commerce. The landscape changes a bit as one approaches the town with tall cliffs rising on all the sides of the rivers. The effect is majestic...hard to describe in words.  It's a tiny little town and has a quaint and distinct feel to it. By road, it's only a little over an hour away from DC, but the vibe and the topography of the town might as well make it a few days away from DC.

On a summer Saturday evening we were barely able to get reservations at a local hotel. We rode up to the Quality Inn that is situated on Union Street. The rooms were all deliciously cold with the A/C on full blast. Showered, and took the hotel shuttle to the downtown area where we were lucky to find outside seating with a view:

Harper's Ferry, WV: HQ for the Appalachian Trail

Dinner at The Rabbit Hole

Had some outstanding beers and a lovely dinner, caught the shuttle back to the hotel and off to sleep! My Gaia GPS informed me that we had ridden our bikes 46 miles today. Two-day total: 90+ miles.