Day Two on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail

After a good night sleep and buffet breakfast at the Clarion Hotel in Harpers Ferry, my husband drove me back to Brunswick, Maryland, to start out on Day Two on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail.

Harpers Ferry

It was muggy to start.  It was just a short ride to Harpers Ferry, and the infamous stairs to the bridge. I say infamous because if you want to take your bike across the river to Harpers Ferry, you have to carry your bike up these stairs.

We had dined in HF the night before, and my husband and I had toured HF on our honeymoon, I didn’t see any need for more time in the area.  Down the trail I go!

Since we weren’t meeting any friends for dinner, I didn’t have any time constraints, I was able to just bike along.

The C&O Canal Trail is really a green tunnel through here. I did listen to some podcasts.  There were NO bikers going west. In fact, I only saw 18 bikers, from Harpers Ferry to Williamsport. 14 of them looked like bike tours.

Snyder’s Landing

I stopped at Snyder’s Landing to have a bit of a lunch break, and found my painted rock.  It was from a group called Hagers Rocks. I carried that rock and left it in Ohiopyle, PA.  I have only found a few rocks, but I always take a pic to post it in their FB group so the painter can see where their rock ended up!

Big Slackwater

This section of the C&O Canal Towpath Trail contains Big Slackwater. This was a 2012 restoration of a section that floods had wiped out, making a horrible five mile detour around. This was a nice pleasure to ride on. It was narrow, but there was nobody out on this fine day in August, giving me the trail to myself.

Mile 100

I guess it’s actually Mile 99.7 Cushwa Basin, where the Williamsport Visitor Center is located. It was closed today. Oh well. It’s close enough to call it 100 miles finished!

Day Two Wrap Up

Hot and muggy, but overcast so I was grateful for that. A very muddy day, I had to pour multiple bottles of water over my bike to get the worst of the mud off. I carried more calories today. I was happy to have my MP3 player with me today. If you want to bike alone, go the second week of August, 18 people between mile 55 and 100 on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail!

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