Maryland Heights and the C&O Towpath

A friend of ours was in town for a couple of weeks of training, so we had the opportunity to spend a day hiking with him last weekend. The Harpers Ferry area was centrally located and the Maryland Heights hike is such a great introduction to the area. It can be really crowded, but we were hoping that the sudden cold snap would keep a few of the crowds away. One way to beat some of the crowds is to park at the Weverton Cliffs lot, three miles down the C&O towpath from the Maryland Heights trailhead. The walk along the towpath is pleasant and quiet and you don't have to club people for a spot in the tiny Maryland Heights lot.

It was just above 20 degrees when we started, which was a bit of a shock after the 80 degree day we had three days before. This is one of my favorite sections of the towpath to walk. The river is pretty and there are good views of Harpers Ferry and Loudon Heights. We didn't see anyone on the towpath until we were almost to Harpers Ferry. We did see a bald eagle, thanks to the sharp eyes of our friend. The hike up to the overlook at Maryland Heights was just as steep as I remembered. We had a nice clear day with a view of the north end of Massanutten in the distance, 40 miles to the southwest. As we took pictures, more and more people kept arriving at the overlook, so we decided to continue with our hike.

Once back at the trail junction, we took a right and headed up the hill towards the Stone Fort, the ruin of a civil war fort overlooking the valley to the east. We ate lunch in the sun at one of the other civil war structures on the mountain, the Powder Magazine. From the top of the ridge, we were actually able to see Sugarloaf Mountain off in the distance as well as the high-rises of Tysons Corner in Virginia. It was definitely a good air quality day. We had a nice walk back down and we took a break across the bridge in Harpers Ferry on the way back. We had a wonderful hike.

 Harpers Ferry from the C&O Towpath.

 Harpers Ferry from the Maryland Heights Overlook. The Shenandoah River flows into the Potomac on the left side of the photo. If you click to enlarge, you can see the line where the waters of the two rivers are different colors.

 Looking up the Potomac River from Maryland Heights.

 The wall of the Stone Fort.

 Looking east down the Potomac. If you click on the picture, the tall buildings of Tysons Corner are visible in the center of the horizon.

 Rodent teeth marks on a sign at the Stone Fort.

 A Downy Woodpecker along the towpath.

Another view of the Downy Woodpecker.

A Windy Spring Ride out of Brunswick, Maryland

We rode out of Brunswick, Maryland yesterday. We are starting to train for this year's bike tour and the ride we did yesterday helped us get back into some climbing. We are going to need a lot of it over the course of the next few months.

It rained all the way to Brunswick. I kept checking the radar and the forecast and both promised that the area would dry out in the morning from west to east. Since Brunswick is west of here, we had our fingers crossed. Sitting in the car in the parking lot watching it sprinkle didn't help. Finally, we decided it may as well be now or never. The sprinkles stopped and about 30 minutes into our ride, we actually saw a bit of sun. As the day went on, it got sunnier and windier.

The route took us from Brunswick to Burkittsville, then over South Mountain and down little rural roads along the west side of South Mountain. Eventually, we wound up connecting with the C&O Towpath at the Maryland Heights trailhead. We rode the towpath back to the car and then up to Beans in the Belfry at lunch. While we were waiting to order, a reporter from the local Brunswick paper asked us if he could feature us as this week's "Cyclists of the Week." This will be our second feature (which we let him know). A little over two years ago, we rode to Beans in the Belfry while on our way from Pittsburgh to DC and we were featured then!

 Farm fields north of Brunswick

 Michael and our friend riding past flowering trees

More farm fields. Everything is starting to turn green.

We stopped for a quick break and happened to see this pheasant. It isn't a great picture, but I can't say that I've ever seen one before in Maryland. (And it turns out, they are actually pretty rare in the state).

 An even rarer sighting: The lesser known Cotton-Tailed South Mountain Bigfoot.

Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchmans Breeches) on the C&O Towpath

 Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells)

 My ride for this year's unsupported tour. I'm starting to ride with weight to get ready for carrying all of my stuff.

 The Potomac from the footbridge at Harpers Ferry.

Dicentra canadensis (Squirrel Corn)

Turtles on a log in the old canal. This is one of my favorite things about the Towpath in the spring.

Pittsburgh to DC, Part 2: the C&O Towpath

I left off in my last post with us finishing the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail in Cumberland Maryland. After lunch and a visit to the local bike shop for fuel and new tires for Michael, we continued on our way, starting the C&O Towpath at milepost 184.5. We had a better idea of what to expect on this section since Michael and I had biked the next 105 miles last year over Memorial Day weekend. By the time we left Cumberland, it was nearly 4 p.m. We only had 23 miles to go, so we managed to get to our campsite just before dark.

Looking back on Cumberland, Maryland.

Farm fields southeast of Cumberland.

We originally planned to camp at Potomac Forks campsite. When we got there, the water pump wasn't working, so we continued on to Town Creek Aqueduct campsite. It turned out to be a much, much prettier site. The picture above was taken as the sun was going down.

Day 5: This is the same view in the morning at sunrise. We couldn't have asked for a prettier spot to spend the night.

Five miles into our ride on day 5, we arrived at the Paw Paw Tunnel. At a half-mile, it is nearly as long as the Big Savage Tunnel on the GAP Trail, but unlike the Big Savage Tunnel, it is not lit. Last year, armed with a headlamp and a flashlight, I thought I would be able to ride through it. It got exactly three feet into it and realized that it was a horrible idea. The towpath through the tunnel is really uneven and there are puddles of indeterminate depth. Did I mention the canal, which I swear, harbors monsters as yet unknown to science? This year, I didn't even try. I just walked from the beginning.

The east end of the Paw Paw Tunnel.

One of the many lockhouses along the Towpath.

Remains of a cement plant outside of Hancock, Maryland and a nice example of an anticline below it.

We had gotten a weather forecast in Cumberland and heard that it was supposed to rain overnight. We had the option of camping or staying in the "bunk house" (above) behind C&O Bicycles in CumberlandHancock. I have to say, it reminded me of at least a couple of developing world hostels that I've stayed in, complete with outdoor showers (which were hot, at least). The price was right, though, and it was dry.

 Inside the bunk house.

Dam 5 on the Potomac River on day 6. It did rain overnight, so we battled soft mud all day long. I, not being a mountain biker, completely underestimated the energy and concentration it takes to muscle a bike, let alone a fully loaded one, through all of that.

One of my favorite places on the Towpath is Big Slackwater. I love how the path is perched along the edge of the river against the cliffs. It is also paved, which was a really, really nice break from the soft mud.

On day 6, we were headed for our friend's house, which turned out to be a good thing, given how dirty we all were at the end of the day. I think I carried as much mud on my bike, bags, and me as I left on the path. I got so much mud in my rear derailleur that I lost the ability to shift to different gears until I sprayed it off with my water bottle. We hosed everything off at our friend's house.

Day 7 was blissfully dry and the path had dried out quite a bit overnight. We made Harpers Ferry by lunchtime. This is the view from the bridge over the Potomac in Harper's Ferry.

 Monocacy Aqueduct, which is the longest of many aqueducts on the Towpath.

We camped that night at Chisel Branch campsite, which was right on the river. We had a spectacular sunset. The campsite is in Montgomery County, near White's Ferry, close to where we occasionally go out for road rides. It felt a little odd to camp so close to home, but it set us up for a great last day on the trip.

We got up early on the last day to get past Great Falls before the crowds arrived. We mostly accomplished that with time for a quick walk out to the overlook on Olmstead Island.

 Milepost 0 on the Towpath in Georgetown, tucked in between Rock Creek and Thompson's Boathouse.

 After finding Milepost 0, we rode over to the White House, had lunch in a coffee shop, rode up the National Mall and then to our house. Our original plan was to get on the Metro and get home that way, but a suggestion was made to finish the trip by riding home. It turned out to be a great idea and it was really cool to ride all the way to our house from Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh to DC Part One: The Great Allegheny Passage

We spent last week with a friend riding from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC on the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) and the C&O Towpath - 335 miles, almost all of which is completely traffic free. Talk about heaven for a cyclist. The first 150 miles of the trip is on the GAP trail, which is a rail trail. The remainder is on the C&O Towpath, which I'll cover in my next post.

The GAP Trail starts at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our friend Horizontal Tread's wife provided transportation from Maryland to the beginning of the trail. We owe her one because transportation to and from the two ends of the trail is the biggest logistical hurdle making the trip from Pittsburgh to DC. Every cyclist we met going all the way through asked about how we were handling that part of the trip. 

Getting dropped off 350 miles from your destination with nothing but your bikes and what is packed on them helps you focus on the ride ahead! After lunch at Primanti Brothers in downtown Pittsburgh, we headed over to the fountain in Point State Park, took some pictures and were on our way. We promptly missed a turn and wound up at a dead end. Fortunately, another pair of cyclists set us straight. We also stopped on Pittsburgh's South Side for a milkshake at The Milkshake Factory, which was totally worth the detour. And then we were really on our way. The trail quickly took us out of downtown and down the median of a freeway - probably my least favorite part of the trip. Then we wound through the industrial graveyards of the outskirts of the city along the Monongahela River. 

Our ultimate destination on the first day was Cedar Creek Park, where there was a hiker/biker campground. We rolled in just as the last light drained from the sky, after having ridden 40 miles that afternoon.

Michael, me, and our friend at the fountain at Point State Park in Pittsburgh with our bikes.

A route sign at the Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh.

Looking towards downtown Pittsburgh from the Hot Metal Bridge, which once carried molten steel across the Monongahela River.

Our shelter at Cedar Creek Park. In the morning, one of the park rangers stopped by and wound up giving us a brief history lesson for the area, which was pretty cool.

The history lesson delayed us a bit, but it turned out to be a good thing. In addition to learning a bit about the area, we were still packing up when a rain storm blew through. We waited it out in the shelter. Half an hour later, we began pedaling southeast. Just seven miles into the ride, Michael got flat. He patched the tube and booted the tire with duct tape and a plastic wrapper. The tire was ruined, but we need it to last until we could find a bike shop. Connelsville was our best bet, but it turned out that the bike shop was closed since it was Sunday. He wound up riding that booted tire for 100 miles (he did put it on the front wheel, which is under less strain than the back wheel).

We lucked out with rain in the morning of the second day, but not in the afternoon. We got soaked on the trail. In fact, the storm blew through with enough force to cause lots of branches to fall around us as we were riding, which was a little scary. We went into the town of Ohiopyle and got a tire, a cup of coffee, and some cookies. Then we rode the mile back to the state park to get to the campground. That was interesting. We had a reservation for a walled tent in the campground. Getting to the campground involved a 0.5 mile hike, pushing the bike (riding up the trail isn't allowed), straight up to the top of the ridge. Of course, the moment we started up the trail, it started pouring again. It didn't stop until we reached the top, so it was more like hiking up a stream. It was awesome. Or not. Our walled tent was pretty nice, though and it was nice not to have to pitch the tent.

Michael with his booted tire.

A pretty archway on the edge of Connelsville, Pennsylvania. The ridge in the background is the westernmost ridge of the Allegheny Mountains.

A railroad bridge in Connelsville. I found the variety of railroad bridges to be a surprisingly interesting part of the ride.

Our "walled tent" at Ohiopyle State Park. It isn't the prettiest structure, but it was dry and had room for us to spread our gear out.

We woke up to sun on the third day. I made a miscalculation in mileage. I thought we had 48 miles to ride that day, but it turned out to be 58 miles. We climbed steadily for nearly 50 miles. The grade was never very steep - at most it was 1.5% according to the signs, but after 50 miles, I felt like I had been climbing all day. It turned out to be my favorite day of the trip anyway. The trip started with a beautiful ride through the woods along the Youghiogheny River. We slowly, very slowly climbed past various little towns, through tunnels, and over bridges towards the Eastern Continental Divide and the Big Savage Tunnel. The landscape up near the divide was spectacular and the leaves were just beginning to change. Then we got the reward for all the climbing: an 8 mile descent into Frostburg, Maryland.

Our friend and Michael (in yellow) riding through the woods near Ohiopyle State Park.

 The Youghiogheny River near Confluence, Pennsylvania.

 The view west from the Salisbury Viaduct. This was one of my favorite things on the trail. The viaduct is nearly 2,000 feet long and perched over a beautiful, wide valley. In the distance, there are wind turbines along the ridge (click to enlarge).

 Another view of the Salisbury Viaduct.

 The Keystone Viaduct, just south of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.

Riding through the woods near the Eastern Continental Divide. The leaves were just starting to change up there.

The Eastern Continental Divide, the high point, literally, of our trip.

Big Savage Tunnel. This restored tunnel is almost 3,300 feet long. Unlike the Paw Paw Tunnel on the C&O Towpath, Big Savage has lights.

 The inside of the Big Savage Tunnel.

Not too far south of the Big Savage Tunnel is the Mason Dixon line. Here I am with one foot in Pennsylvania and one foot in Maryland.

 We camped behind an inn in Frostburg, Maryland. It was cold that night - down in the 30s. I woke up early to a spectacular sunrise.

A sculpture in Frostburg.

We made it to Cumberland, the end of the GAP Trail and the beginning of the C&O Towpath on Day four. A slow start due to the cold and another flat on Michael's bike meant that we arrived in town (after a 15 (!) mile descent) right at lunch time. We visited the local bike shop to get a new tire and have the rim checked out before setting out on the C&O Towpath. More on that in my next post.