Category: Maryland

September 15. 2020

We finished our 100 miles in Maryland today on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath. The towpath follows the Potomac River between Georgetown in Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. We used the trailhead in Points of Rocks to access the towpath.

We started at mile marker 48 and road south to mile marker 36. We were able to see 2 locks and the Monocacy Aqueduct. There are 74 locks along the 184.5 miles of the canal.

During the Civil War the canal was a dividing line between the North and the South. Troops on both sides lobbed ammunitions across the water and crossed the river and canal to raid enemy camps.

The trail was mostly shaded and with temperatures in the 70’s it was a perfect day for a ride. At times the canal was full of water other times filled with vegetation. The towpath surface was crushed rock and in really great condition. The section of the towpath we had ridden 2 days ago was 2 single tracks with grass in between. This was a much easier pedal.

There were campsites along the way and we saw many bikers the past couple days with packs on their bikes. It would be a challenge to complete the whole length of the towpath but there is so much to see.

Maryland is in the books – 100 and done! We are spending the night in a campground near Baltimore. Tomorrow we will be going to nothern Delaware to begin another 100 miles. More to come.

September 14, 2020

We got an early start this morning and we were on the trail by 10:30 AM. We were at the Big Pool trailhead which is the eastern end of the trail. About 10 miles down the trail we were in Hancock, which is the main trailhead. It was a bustling place with lots of bikers. We saw a guy with an Ohio State biking jersey on and commiserated about the lack of football this fall. We visited the local bike shop. They are right on the trail and were doing a brisk bike rental business.

We rode as far as the Round Top Cement Mill remnants which was a bit past where we turned around yesterday when riding the western end of the trail. We both felt that the western end of the trail was more picturesque.

We rode back to the motorhome, had some lunch and some rest time before heading out again. We wanted to see the Hancock Visitors Center which was about 9 miles away. The visitors center was closed because of that virus thing but we had a good time exploring on our own.

We completed 47 miles today and are both still feeling strong. Hope to complete our Maryland 100 tomorrow on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath.

September 13, 2020

We drove from Renick, WV to Cumberland, Maryland yesterday. Still have some miles to finish in WV and will catch those on our way headed home. Our trip north to Cumberland was on winding, sometimes steep and sometimes narrow roads. No freeways headed in this direction.

Today we road the Western Maryland Rail Trail starting at the western end at the Little Orleans trailhead. This was the nicest trailhead parking area we have seen in all our travels. There were nice big RV parking spaces. No squeezing between cars and parking half on the grass here. Hoping rest of Maryland is as accommodating.

The rail trail parallels the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath. The unpaved towpath runs 185 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. There are 9 connections to crossover between the towpath and the railtrail.

We rode a few miles on the towpath to connect a gap in the rail trail. The rail trail was asphalt and so nice to ride. It had been awhile since we’ve ridden on asphalt – what a welcome change.

We could see people canoeing on the Potomic River through the trees. After the leaves fall the views of the river should be beautiful.

We road out 15 miles and when it began to rain we headed back. It wasn’t a downpour like we experienced in WV but we were wet! There were lots of wet bikers today.

Tomorrow we finish the WMRT starting from the eastern end. We are spending the night in Hagerstown only about 20 minutes from the trailhead.