Harpers Ferry, WV to Washington, DC: The End of the Tour

June 3, 2019

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The last day of any bike tour, no matter how short or long, is always the red headed stepchild of the ride. Or, maybe more like the youngest kid in a really big family. It’s a day that everyone still loves and cares about but are always forgetting it’s there. Driving away from home on vacation, Mom and Dad will look in the back seat and ask, “Wait. Did you make sure the last day of the tour was in the car?” “No, I thought you did!”

That’s kind of how it was for Margaret and me today. Since yesterday I had been crafting a closing theme for the journal about how the Bog Monster was finally vanquished, but my mind kept wandering and it never took hold. On top of that, honestly, the Bog Monster did NOT surrender! There were still ample portions of standing water and semi-dry mudholes to contend with, but on this final day even that became a barely noticeable nuisance in our rush to get to the finish line. This day’s ride, being so close to DC, was loaded with history, and the highest number of restored locks, buildings, and other items of note. But every time we’d approach something like that, one of us would shout, “Wanna stop?”, and the inevitable reply from the other was “Nope, let’s keep rolling.” So, sadly, this final day was probably not as well loved by us as it should have been.

There was still some adventure though! You remember that Marg’s brakes are shot? They are. Nothing in the rear, and just the tiniest bit of friction in the front. I know, I know … safety first would dictate that we actually DO something about that, and we did pass a bike shop early on today, but when I shouted to Marg, “Wanna stop and fix those brakes?” she shouted back, “Nope! Let’s keep rolling!” The cows were set on getting back to the barn today.

Item One this morning was getting across the bridge at Harpers Ferry again. Recall from yesterday’s journal that there is a spiraling metal staircase on the Maryland side that is tight and twisty, and can’t be negotiated without taking your panniers off the bike. That was our first task of the day, and was a lot easier in the morning, when your legs are fresh, and in today’s case, when you are going down the stairs versus up. It warranted another photo-op for sure.

Once we got rolling the next order of business was managing a closure on the trail because of a giant wash-out. Our original plan had been to ride our own detour into Virginia for a few miles and then return to the towpath, avoiding the closure altogether. With the brake issues though, we instead planned to ford the creek which had caused the washout. Dan, our host back in Paw Paw, knew all the workarounds on the trail and texted us a link that gave live water flow data at the creek. If the number was below seven cubic yards per second he said you could safely cross by pushing your bike through. The number this morning was 3.8 so our plan was set. “Haha” we though, “This is pure genius.”

But we did not account for the possibility that the trail work crew, like the Black Knight in the Monty Python movie, would simply say “Ye Shall Not Pass!” No amount of sweet talking, pleading or huffy outrage would get us permission to give our plan a try. Man, these guys had NO sense of humor about it either. We were Denied. Eventually, we realized the folly of trying to talk our way through the wash-out, so it was back to riding the detour into Virginia and hoping it didn’t have too many steep downhills for Marg’s brakeless bike to negotiate.

Marg arriving after her rear-brakeless jaunt through the hills of Virginia after being denied by the C&O crew

The first section over the Potomac WAS steep … VERY … but all uphill, so that was just a simple matter of grinding along. After that the route was up and down, and did require a few walks downhill, but not too many. In fact it was a bit like a nature walk, as the road changed from pavement to dirt for a while. There was zero traffic, which we liked. When we finally hit a two lane highway that led back to the Potomac at Point of Rocks, the descent was gradual and had several short uphills to scrub your speed a bit, so it was made to order for Marg’s brake situation. On top of that, the road was glass smooth, sinuous, and wound its way through gorgeous Virginia countryside. Truly, that road was borderline erotica compared to the rattletrap muddiness of the C&O. After a handful of miles we found our old friend the C&O again, and resumed riding down it’s unmanaged path.

We rattled and sloshed our way at a pretty high tempo, giving the side eye to all the buildings, locks, and historical signage along the way. About six miles outside of DC you could see the approaching urban landscape, with lots of road traffic and industrial buildings paralleling the path. About three miles from the end of the towpath, there is another DC bike trail heading the same direction as the C&O which is paved and smooth as can be. It took a lot of backbone not to hop onto it and reduce our agony, but Margaret wisely insisted we see the C&O all the way through to the end, so we continued to bump along its gnarly surface.

I fully believed this was one more hazard the C&O was throwing at us.

Tricky curveball the C&O threw us inside DC. No signs to direct us up and over the bridge instead of going straight.

Now on the final approach to the Mile “0” marker of the C&O canal.

The last mile of the route gets a bit confusing. There is little to no signage in DC to make sure you know where the towpath winds around, and we missed the fact that an old and rusty pedestrian bridge must be crossed. Because of that we wound up in the streets of DC on the wrong side of the trail. After some map reading we realized our error and backtracked. Another mile along the path led us to a final curve and down a driveway to a local rowing club, where, after an inquiry, we found the marker for Mile “0” of the C&O towpath. It was a bit of a sad ending for this worthy and tough opponent. You ride your bikes behind a storage building, over a small creek and into a forgotten and neglected area where the marker resides. The area was scattered with garbage, weeds and scrub brush. There were a couple guys about 30 yards away, in the trees, smoking dope (no mistaking that aroma) to put some icing on the deflated cake here at the end. But, what the heck … you play the cards you are dealt and By God … we did it! We took several celebratory pictures, and then hung around for ten more minutes when Margaret discovered a mulberry tree and ate a bunch of fresh berries. “I haven’t eaten any fruit for days!”, she exclaimed, in way of justifying hanging around. No argument from me.

The last segment of the ride was to get from the Mile “0” marker to our VRBO rental. I had pre-programmed a route in my bike GPS, but I’d used information from Strava Global Heat maps to make decisions, and didn’t truly have a strong conviction that the route might be the most bike friendly option. We popped out onto the east end of the National Mall, next to the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pond (which was drained for repair and doing a poor job of reflecting). We snapped “End Of The Ride” pictures, and then set off into the traffic to get to our rental. The route I’d selected wasn’t too far off the mark, but not perfect. Fortunately, it was rush hour, and a great many bike commuters were heading home. One totally bad ass looking young woman was highballing along on her bike and you could just tell she knew what she was doing. Margaret shouted from behind, “Follow her!” We jumped on her rear wheel and did just that. She helped us (unknowingly) find the best route and we were at the VRBO in no time. It was a hoot doing this urban riding, especially since there were a LOT of bike commuters. Kudos to DC drivers who were really respectful of us and are obviously accustomed to, and looking out for bikers.

And …. Well, that was that. We moved into our little apartment and set up housekeeping, went out for dinner, and we’ll play tourist for a couple days and head for home. We’ll post a page or two of all that, but we can already feel that melancholy mood when the tour is over. *Sigh* When’s the next ride, anyway? Real life is boring : - )

That’s our apartment there ... Yeah, that black hole. Actually its pretty nice : - )

Today's ride: 71 miles (114 km)
Total: 356 miles (573 km)

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