Day 6-Harper’s Ferry to Georgetown, DC

It is hard to believe this is the last riding day of the trip. The sun is out…

Most of our things dried nicely.  We have soggy shoes but that is only a minor annoyance. We lined the inside of our panniers with plastic trash bags to prevent further soaking as we navigate through the leftover puddles on the trail.

Breakfast was yummy.  We will try to snag the National Parks Passport stamp at the local park bookstore.  Then, Georgetown, here we come!!

Before leaving town, we were able to hit the bookstore and collect the stamps for the trail and Harpers Ferry. This really is a beautiful place. 

We had a little later start than we wanted. Climbing down the metal stairs is a little easier than going up. And the lack of rain has helped our pace.

We wanted to grab a couple extra pictures that we couldn’t get yesterday because of the rain . One good thing to know is that they are planning to change the entrance to the bridge could be more biker friendly.

The C&O is definitely a trail of seizing opportunities. If you see a port-a-potty, you use it. If you see potable water, you fill the water bottle. If you happen to hit a town, you figure out what to eat, even if it isn’t time to eat. 

Music makes the whole ride better! As we pulled into Point of Rocks, where we plan to grab subs to take down the road for lunch, we heard music. Moving down the trail, we passed an older gentleman, walking the trail, playing (scat) a sopranos saxophone.

BTW, we really enjoyed our quick stop at Big Bellies in Point of Rocks. Honestly, not much else in the area.  They gave us each a bottle of water on-the- house in order to refill our water bottles. Sometimes it is the small things that make the biggest difference.

We carried our lunch to about mile marker 45 where we found a lovely park (Nolands Ferry) with picnic benches and a toilet — and it’s right near the water. It really is a gorgeous day.

Took a quick break at “historic White ferry“. There isn’t a whole lot here, but there is a grill that serves breakfast and lunch. Question is whether it will be here in the next time we come around 

Mile 34 —- officially 300 miles since we started!!

If you followed the blog, you know we have been turtle rescuers throughout our trip.

Today we came across a very large snapping turtle… right in my path. JB was busy watching a heron and did not see a turtle as he passed. If a biker going too fast hit it, the turtle would have won. So we used a stick to encourage “Hank the tank”  off the road.  It took quite a bit of encouragement and we are pretty sure he was not a happy camper!

The surface of the C&O from mile 20 on is a pebble and large rock mix (it isn’t much better between 184.4 and 20 either). You basically hold on for dear life as your bike is thrown back and forth.  Then there are fallen tree branches of various sizes and consistency. Here’s my rant — if you see a branch down on a bike trail, move it. We passed several people walking the other direction, even bikers speeding along the trail, who could have/should have seen the obstacle we were come to and did nothing about it. When we got to the branch that was down on JB’s side of the path, we didn’t have much warning. I called out “big branches”, but JB didn’t see the entire mess until he hit it. He and his bike went flying. We were probably fortunate that the damage wasn’t worse and that he did not end up in the canal. Second rant— if you see a rider who looks like they are a little disheveled (picking up panniers from all over the trail), don’t ding your bell at them as if you need them to get out of your way. Take a minute and ask if they are OK. We asked several people along the trail if they needed help or had bike mechanical problems.

As we were collecting JB’s panniers and checking to see that his legs were OK and his bike was still in one piece, we were dinged at to get out of the way.  I almost lost my testimony…

We stopped at Great Falls, which is around mile 12. It was beautiful to see how the water funneled through  the rocks with such power.  

The last few miles were long. We tried to count the single-digit mile markers, but as we got closer to the city, they disappeared. Eventually, we started seeing C&O detour signs. Unfortunately, we were not aware of how torn up the C&O canal was in the city. We had to push our bikes up several sets of stairs and navigate through Georgetown traffic to find Thompson Boathouse and the mile 0 marker—tucked very oddly behind the boat buildings.

The boathouse itself is pretty cool, filled with rowing shells.  We were able to get our picture at the 0 marker, meeting up with three gentlemen who were leaving Harpers Ferry around the same time we were this morning.

We arranged to stay at Adams Morgan one bedroom retreat.  Jen and John have been amazing to work with!!  Jen was able to confirm that there are adequate bike lanes or trails leading from the mile 0 marker to their home and also to the Mall and train station. There are literally bike lanes and paths forming a 16 minute, downhill ride to the Washington Monument!!  We are the first people who have inquired about staying here after riding the GAPCO and they weren’t really sure what to do with our bikes.  They graciously allowed us to keep them in the small basement area that is part of their private living quarters but attached/accessable to the B&B apartment. They have a washer and dryer and basic kitchen facilities.  There are a lot of places to eat that don’t close early and a grocery store within walking distance.

Now we relax and get ready for a day visiting DC and catching the train back to Pittsburgh.  

We DID a hard thing!!