July 5, 2016
Mud
Yesterday afternoon we walked around the Antietam battlefield in a light drizzle. We passed the sunken road (bloody lane) and the national cemetery. Just walking by ourselves was not a very moving experience. This morning was a completely different experience. We went to the Antietam visitor center and heard an absolutely spell binding description of the battle by a young park ranger. He first set the context in terms of the goals of the two sides and then painted a picture with words that let us see the battle unfold on the landscape in front of us.
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After a leisurely 10 miles on rolling hills with the widest shoulders you could wish for, including stops for the battlefield visit and a late breakfast / early lunch, we found ourselves back on the C&O canal towpath. Yesterday's rain left the trail much muddier than it had been the day before. The path is a double track (essentially a set of pickup truck tire tracks), so in most cases we could switch lanes to avoid mud puddles. But it took a lot of concentration to choose a good path so it was not easy to look up and enjoy the scenery.
We did enjoy a stop at the water fall at dam #5 on the Potomac River. After a brief time out in the sunshine at the falls we were happy to get back under the canopy on the trail.
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The further west we went along the trail the muddier it got. We met several bikers coming east from Cumberland - all of them were much muddier than us. We switched over to the paved Maryland rail trail for the last 10 miles into Hancock. The super 8 in Hancock let us use their hose and gave us old towels so that our bikes could enjoy a trip to the spa and shed their mud before entering the hotel. I hope the bikes enjoyed their beauty treatment, we will be back on the trail tomorrow.
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