C&O Trail Day 2: Brunswick to Williamsport -- 52 Miles (June 2020)

Day 1: Brunswick, MD to Williamsport, MD

We had another perfect day of weather and this ended up being our strongest day on the bikes.  Not sure why day 2 was stronger than day 1, I assume our bodies were acclimated to the work without fatigue setting in. 

Brunswick is just south of Harpers Ferry and it's a really nice and interesting part of the trail with caverns and both restored and abandoned structures.Harper's Ferry is a neat little town, unfortunately we couldn't get over to it because the footbridge was closed due to damage.  At mile 58 the C&O merges with the Appalachian trail for a few miles so you'll run into some hikers. 

My favorite part of the ride was the second day in the slack water region (need mile marker). I would say 95% of the ride is the same. You are under a shaded canopy of trees between the Potomac and the canal. Most of the time you cannot see the river, you just sort of know it's there.  Don't get me wrong, this is great because riding in the sun would be very difficult in June.  However it can be somewhat boring.

Slack water dumps you on the river for a few miles and it's a really nice change of pace. At the end of this part of the trail we stopped for a rest and ended up being photographed by a newspaper reporter.  Our story never made the local newspaper, at least as far as I could tell, but it was a serendipitous exchange. 

So, what is a towpath? Because I didn't know before this trip. The C&O was built in the 1800s to get supplies from DC to Cumberland.   The supplies were moved on barges that were towed by four horses at about 7 miles an hour.  There are 74 locks that account for the elevation change and there are lock houses, some of which you can stay at overnight if you wish.

By all accounts the towpath was a financial disaster and bankrupted it's investors.  You can get an overview of the history here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Canal

Another interesting part of the C&O is the history contained within it, especially around the Civil War.  Mile 70 is an entry point to the Antietam battlefield but there are numerous other points of river crossings and battles. 

We decided to end Day 2 in Williamsport where we had our first PUSSY ALERT of the trip when Gary and I were trying to figure out how to get from the Williamsport dock into the town.  As will happen during bike trips you'll consider something stupid while the obvious is staring you in the face.  In our case we thought we had to haul our bikes by hand up and down stairs when we had two better choices in front of us. We could either ride 150 yards down the trail and take a bike path or take the road to the boat ramp.  

Gary didn't want to risk riding the extra 150 yards in case we had to DOUBLE BACK so we decided to ride back toward the spot we had stopped at about a mile before...I know...this makes no sense. That's when I saw the dock road and we just took that, unfortunately it was up a steep hill but we didn't have to carry our bikes up a footbridge like total assholes.  When you are riding it's important to pay attention to your visual cues...like the goddamn parking lot and the boat ramp.  

We rewarded ourselves with some Crab Fries and Onion Rings at "Tony's New York Pizza" in Williamsport. We also wanted beer but instead we just decided to drink Coors Light. 

Overall, a very smooth day.  I think it set us up for a slightly overconfident day three. 

Note: The morning before our ride I took a dump at Gary's house that was so foul it resulted in marital discord as he blamed his wife as the source.  I cannot live with such guilt.  IT WAS ME! IT WAS ME! IT WAS ME!