Day 9: I meet someone who viewed my video at the campsite

June 23, 2024

I find I'm on the road really early each morning. And I'm retired. Go figure. It's not like when I retired I went from not getting up at 6:00am to changing to a 8:30am wake time. My body still does the same thing. I'm up and at it when I'm up and at it. And I find when I'm adventuring, such as I am now, I'm doing the same thing. Oh, and getting out to beat the heat in the later part of the day. Yeah, that has something to do with it, too.

So 6:40 my wheels are rolling and I hit the trail out of Frostburg MD. Great night last night and the last in a hotel room. Temps are finally dropping a bit, although it will still be over 90-degrees at campsite tonight but tomorrow night it will be in the 80's when I hit the sleeping pad in the tent. Good times, good times.

First 15 or so miles in the day is a roughly 1.5-2% downhill grade into Cumberland. This means you get to see views such as this as you descend.

The first 15 or so miles of the day were all downhill. Good thing, too, as I haven't even had breakfast today. My goal is to make it to McDonalds because not only is it tasty (and I like their coffee) but it's the most cost effective first meal of the day. Sub-$10 for an egg sandwich, hash browns, and coffee. I'm lovin' it for sure...

Who doesn't like riding through tunnels? Especially when they are lit inside.

7:30 and I'm in McDonald's. Again, I'm finding more and more fast food places have covered their electrical outlets. Most likely to prevent people hanging around in their eating area too long recharging their devices. Which is exactly what I would have done to be fair. Upon walking in to the lobby, I find two sets of backpacks just inside the door. It looks like homeless keep them there and then go use a shower facility nearby (my guess would be the YMCA across the tracks). Wasn't bothered by anyone at all - it's just that I make sure I'm aware of my surroundings, so that's why I notice things like that.

And now I begin my 2-1/2 day, 184.5 mile ride to Washington DC. It may seem aggressive but the C&O is flat so putting in longer days with longer miles is certainly doable.

8:15 breakfast finished and I roll through downtown and hit the C&O portion of the trail. I stop at the Fairfield Inn and use their bike wash station to wash the lime dust off the bike. I realize it's a Sisyphus-ian effort as the lime dust will only repopulate the bike, but at least it's a breather for a few miles where I can actually see the color of my bike.

Somewhere before Oldtown I'm stopped and refilling my water bottle when two other riders approach and ask me about my gear. They are riding the C&O and we start to chat when he says he has to keep moving because he's just too hot to sit there. We all saddle up and crank the pedals and continue our chat. They invite me to get something to eat at a cheap eatery off the trail (most likely the schoolhouse kitchen in Oldtown) but I decline as I want to keep riding. I have a long day ahead of me.

You can rent some of these blockhouses for an overnight stay. No water or electric, but a historic stay nonetheless.

11:00 and I'm dismounting and walking through the Paw Paw tunnel. There are other explorers in the tunnel, some chatting, some singing. I make my way through with my headlight and it looks like I'm the only one using such a luminous device. I cover it as I approach other travelers as I feel it's such a high beam and may blind them. Last year when I came through I shared the tunnel with a bunch of workers as it has just reopened about a week before I arrived following a 2+ year long closure.

Paw Paw tunnel. Something like 3300' long. Seeing the light at at the other end of the tunnel gives travelers a false sense that they can see inside the tunnel. Nope. while you can make it by feeling along the wall and railing, with this shot you can see just how valuable a headlight is.

Riding southbound, when you exit the Paw Paw tunnel you can see the cut the workers had to make in order to complete this works project.

I ride with a mother-daughter team along the Western Maryland rail trail. We chat about parking lots, shuttles, trailheads, camping, Banff, the Tour divide, and touring the northern highlands of Scotland. They continue on as I detour into Hancock to get some lunch/dinner. Since I didn't carry a stove with me I've become accustomed to shifting mealtimes. A mealtime is now whenever I want to stop and refill calories. Today it was a sandwich from a convenience store at 2:30. I get it to go and find a nice picnic table in a public park. I watch fellow park goers kill time in a nearby pavilion as they recharge their electric car in the adjacent recharging station.

Ah, calories! Dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon!

Leaving Hancock I only had about 5 miles to get to camp, but when I arrived at Little Pool campsite, I decided I felt good enough to push on the 5 or so miles to the next campsite. So I refilled my water and continued on to the next campsite, Licking Creek. Just prior to that, though, I ran into two other cyclists touring the C&O coming north. They said they decided to push further north as they encountered a person at the Licking Creek site running a generator and their "spidey-senses" were triggered. I told them about little pool being empty and it's a great site. I did pass Licking Creek and the person there had a minibike, the generator was running, and a lot of "stuff" indicating to me homeless. So I continued my journey to North Mountain, another 6 miles down the path.

Along the way to North Mountain, a ranger in a white Park Service pickup is driving on the trail northbound. I stop and tell him about the guy at Licking Creek. "Oh, the guy with the minibike?" he says. He further adds he knows about him and never heard about any trouble. So it looks like he's a regular. Still, I'm glad I decided to continue on.

I'm not sure if this is a Scottish Castle or maybe just a remnant from the old canal days.

I make it to North Mountain around 4:30. Long day. 93 miles. I set up camp and turn on my Thermacell to keep the mosquitoes at bay - that thing works great. I set up camp and just relax after the day. It's still hot but the campsite is shaded and provides some relief.

A rider rolls in about an hour later. I invite him over to the picnic table to share in the mosquito-relief but he stays around his tent as he sets up. Usual chat about "where are you riding from this morning?" I find out he departed from Frostburg, same as me. So I know he's done 93 miles as well. Turns out it's his first cycle touring trip and he's looking to do more. He talks about trying to connect Pittsburg to Buffalo to do a long cycle trip and I explain I did just that last fall and posted on YouTube. He said he watched one video because there weren't a lot he found on YT on the route, and when I said "that was me" and showed him my T-Shirt, he said "YEAH! I think that was you!" Pretty cool to meet people on the trail who have seen the video, and that those videos provide some help with people on the trails or planning their own adventures.

Night was hot, and I slept, but not the best. Tomorrow is another day.

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Today's ride: 93 miles (150 km)
Total: 664 miles (1,069 km)

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John PickettThe Thermacell sounds interesting. Mosquitos on the C&O can be brutal.

I did Erie to Pittsburgh last summer as well. Unfortunately for me, the Paw Paw tunnel was closed so I had to push my bike up and over using a hiking trail. No fun.
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2 months ago

Paul MulveyTo John PickettLast fall in September I rode through the C&O as well and the parks department had just opened the tunnel about a week prior to my arrival. So coincidently it was timed rather well. In fact, there were still NPS workers there cleaning up the construction site when I passed through.

The Thermacell works quite well. it uses the same formula as those spiral devices we burned when we were younger (permethrin or something like that). Give it a few minutes to establish the "bubble" around the location of the Thermacell and then you're golden.
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2 months ago