C&O Canal Bike Adventure- Day 1 of 3

A few months ago Rob and I started chatting about what we wanted to do for our 10 year anniversary. It isn't until December, but we are hoping to be pregnant then so we thought we'd celebrate it a little early. At first I started looking at cruises and suggested this to Rob, who loved the idea, but then later I thought about a biking trip. Two couples in our ward have cycled from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington, D.C. on a trail called the Great Allegheny Passage and I thought that sounded fun, and a little different from the typical, and suggested this trip in lieu of the cruise. Initially Rob didn't like the idea but it grew on him and soon he willingly agreed. To save a little money and have a slightly more adventurous trip we decided to complete it partially camping. Wahoo! An excuse to spend money on camping supplies! (We didn't have any previously)

As we looked at schedules we decided to tone down the trip a little and only do the 184.5 mile lower portion (C&O Canal) so that Rob's dad could get back to his ward so he could attend to his "bishoping" responsibilities. Rob's parents had graciously agreed to come out here and watch our two kiddos. Our plan was to bike the 184.5 miles to Washington D.C. and then continue cycling home another 25 miles on a trail called the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) trail.

Tuesday we headed out the door with a one-way car rental and an inexpensive bike rack to Cumberland, Md.

On the drive to Cumberland I mentioned to Rob that the rental car was shaking a bit more then it should. Rob turned around and noticed that one end of his bike had slipped from the bike rack (the new tie-down strap was really smooth) and was hanging awkwardly from the rack so we immediately pulled over and refastened it to the rack. We were grateful to find that nothing on his bike had been damaged.

Apparently the return car rental location had changed so we spent 10 to 15 minutes on the phone with a man from Hertz who directed us to his location which ended up being out of town and near Cumberland's small airport.

Finally, at 3:00 in the afternoon we were ready to start pedaling away.

After going down a somewhat busy road we were able to find the C&O canal trail head and officially start our trip.

Our plan for that day was to bike 50 miles to a hiker and biker campsite called Cacapon Junction at mile marker 133.6. Little did I know when we started out that several events would make that impossible.

The afternoon started out beautiful and we were happy to be finally pedaling away in the middle of nowhere with many beautiful sights.

One of many snack breaks 

Within 2 minutes of being on the trail it rained a bit but soon ceased. We had heard from friends that it would occasionally rain so we had expected such an event. The sky cleared and we enjoyed another two hours or beautiful weather. After those two glorious hours we heard the rumble of distant thunder and saw the approach of glowering clouds. Wind pushing before the storm kicked up a lot of debris from the ground and trees which got into our eyes making them itch. It was too dark at that point to wear our sunglasses. Half an hour later it started raining again and the intensity steadily increased. The thunder cackled and lighting lit the sky around us but we didn't stop pedaling because what good would it do us? We had been taught to never take shelter under a tree, there were no buildings to shelter us and we still had miles to go before we reached our intended camping spot. My thought was, "Well, I wanted an adventure".

I was quite relieved when we reached the Paw Paw tunnel. The Paw Paw tunnel is about a half-mile (3,100 feet) in length and would provide shelter from the storm. We turned on our bike lights and headed off into the dark.

When first entering the tunnel you think you can see a shaft of light at the other end but the further you go the darker it gets and the light at the end of the tunnel disappeared. It was in this quiet environment that I heard my back brake rubbing on the rim. No wonder pedaling had seemed a bit harder than usual. Halfway through our pushing (most people push their bikes as it is too dangerous to ride) we noticed some dust or fog in the air that seemed to be becoming denser. Since we could no longer see light at the end my quasi thought was "The exit has been filled because of a landslide and this dust stuff is the backfill, we are going to have to turn around in the middle of a dark and claustrophobic tunnel and go back into a lightening storm and somehow push our bikes over the large hill that constitutes where the tunnel goes through to continue." This thought came to mind because I had read about the history of the trail and a similar event had actually occurred in 2012. Well, we kept going, the fog or dust dissipated and we saw a glimmer of light as we approached the exit and heard the sound of pounding rain (which ended up being the sound of a beautiful waterfall). It was still raining when we exited the tunnel but not nearly as vehemently as before.

We were able to make decent progress until we came to a tree that had fallen across the path. Rob tried to move it but it was too big so we ended up pushing our bikes into the canal (which thankfully was not filled with water in that spot) and went around the tree.

Soon after this event the daylight started fading and we decided to stop and make camp for the night at mile marker 144.5, also known as Devil's Alley. The campsite we had intended to stay at was another 15 miles away and we would have to make up the distance the following day. The late trip start, storm, mud puddles, a downed tree, lack of strength on my part, and the brake constantly rubbing, conspired against us. Did I mention that we were soaked?

The rain tapered off quite a bit but we still ended up setting up camp in the rain. Rob's idea to insert the poles through the sleeves and make the tent under the tent's separate rain layer kept the inside of the tent dry. The campsite was close to the river and beautiful! Each hiker/biker site had a campfire ring, picnic table, portapotty, drinkable hand water pump and a flat tent site. I now think that this spot was one of the prettiest of the trail tent sites.

The items on the picnic table are our clothes that we hoped would dry during the night (they didn't). 

View from our tent

While Rob started boiling water for our dinner (backpacker's freeze-dried food rocks!) I was able to get into some dry clothes and start setting up our air mattresses and sleeping bags. Rob brought our dinner to the tent and we enjoyed chicken salad in tortillas, beef stroganoff with noodles and a dessert of raspberry crumble.

I wish I could say that I slept well that night because of the exertion of the day, but I didn't. I'm not used to sleeping on an air mattress and ended up using it as a pillow and sleeping on the hard ground which was more comfortable. Then it seemed like every 15 minutes there was a random event outside that interrupted my sleep just as I was drifting off. First it was a train, then a plane (I think we were in a flight path), then a train, a random boat motoring up the river at 11:00 at night, then another train and another plane. That night the distant sound of thunder had us both praying that it would not rain again. I know the events of the day were also mentally "getting to me" as I hadn't expected many of our adventures; thankfully Rob helped calm my frazzled nerves. Like most people, I do much better when I know what's coming. Finally around 1:00 AM, I finally drifted off to sleep for a second night of little sleep (the night before we left I only slept 4 hours because of last minute preparations and anticipation).  Rob initially quickly fell asleep and was disturbed only by the boat, some coyotes, and my tossing and turning, and then my needing to talk through my concerns.

And to think that we'd have to bike 75 miles the next day to a hotel we had reserved the 2nd night. What had I gotten us into?