[Part 4] First Bicycle Tour - Riding the GAP-C&O Trail from Pittsburgh to D.C.

This post covers the fourth day of a bike tour from Pittsburgh to D.C. in July 2017. If you haven't already, read the previous posts first:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

We camped the night before at the first free camping spot on the C&O Canal Trail, just outside Cumberland, MD. There were already 3 cyclists set up there, but they didn't mind us joining them. All appeared to be in their twenties. There were two women riding together. It was their first bike tour. They had backpacked together in Utah. There was also a guy who was riding all the way from San Francisco by himself. Someone tried to steal his bike in the middle of the night. He yelled at the guy and scared him away. He discovered his water bottle missing from his bike in the morning.

So please take this bit of advice. Always, even in the middle of the woods, lock your bike near your tent and bring all belongings into any vestibule you may have for your tent. Keep your valuables guarded! This becomes a bigger problem near these towns. Even small towns have thieves who steal your stuff!

I really enjoyed meeting other cyclists traveling the same route. It's fun to bond and share stories about each other's rides. Anyway, we all got back on the trail at different times although going in the same direction. Someone at the bar the night before said Little Orleans was a good town. It was 50 miles away so we planned to head there, get food and beer and camp at the first free spot after the town.

This route follows an old canal that has been closed nearly 100 years. The trail is a bit rougher than the newer GAP trail. Because it rained for a couple days the trail was muddy at times with puddles. We found it often easier to just lift up our legs and go straight through the puddles. This decreased the chance of slipping when trying to manuever through the mud at the edge of the puddles. There are locks and lockhouses along the route. Sometimes just the foundation of the lockhouse remains. Others are still fully intact. There was even a lockhouse you could rent for the night. Or you could just camp for free at multiple spots along the trail.

We stopped in Old Town for breakfast and to stop at the post office. Our rain gear was mostly useless so we ended up mailing it back home to save space and weight. Rather than cover my clothes, I decided to take most of them off the next time it rained and just ride in cycling shorts. The breakfast spot was inside an old school, which also housed a Mennonite church. The food was cheap and felt like a perfect homecooked meal. The restaurant name can be seen behind me in the photo below.

We rode the trail some more only to discover a detour sign.

At 3118 feet, the Paw Paw Tunnel is the second longest tunnel on the route. It was recently closed for repairs so we had to take an old logging path and climb over Paw Paw Mountain, with our bikes and gear. This wasn't possible to ride uphill and it was probably crazy of us to ride downhill, but we did anyway. We needed to make up for lost time and we wanted to get to Little Orleans and camp early this time.

We rode a bit further and finally made it to Little Orleans. Bill's is the only place in town and everyone I talked to said we had to go there. I was excited, thirsty and hungry...and Bill's was closed on Tuesdays. And since it's the only place in town, Little Orleans is essentially closed on Tuesdays. It was another 20 miles to the next town. 70 miles in a day is no big deal but this was brutal after climbing a mountain. We rolled on.

We made it to Hancock and went to a Save a Lot to buy food and a corner store to buy beer. We rolled into camp after dark. There was already a tent set up. We asked if we could stay. It turned out it was the same two women from the night before. It was nice seeing people again on the trail. I made popcorn on a wood stove. I had dropped a radio on the trail. My friend went back to get it. Luckily he was able to find it by signalling with the other radio. I'll continue with day 5 tomorrow.