It Sure Seemed Like a Long Hill

August 23, 2005

Sorrell Ridge Hiker/Bike Campsite to Frostburg

I hit the hay at nightfall, around 8 pm. After an hour of tossing and turning I heard someone approaching on the towpath.

Sorrell Ridge Hiker Biker Campsite, one of many along the towpath.

In a few hours all you will hear are trains, a dog, and eerie forest noises in the night.

It was pitch dark and my visitor was scanning the camp site with two lights. I felt like a character in "The Great Escape."

After 10 minutes of scanning, whoever it was rolled his bike down off the towpath and set up camp. By ten it was quiet, except for the dogs and trains across the river and the creepy sounds of the forest night.

I barely slept, feeling like Woody Allen, totally neurotic about the noises all around. At 3 am I was startled by crash in the direction of the porta potty. Probably a limb or a marauding black bear hungry for turkey and cheese.

For the next hour I debated whether to use the porta potty, knowing that it was now a bear magnet. I overcame my neuroses and, to my great relief, found no man eating beasts lurking in the dark.

I slept for a couple of hours and started to break camp at 6:30. Mystery Camper appeared from his tent to tell me how he was from Rockville, MD, that he begged a meal at a closed eatery near the towpath, how he has done the round trip C&O ride several times, etc., etc.

On and on he talked. I thought I'd never escape his need for companionship. If ever a man needed a dog, this was one. As he talked he coughed a deep phlegmmy cough. He frequently blew his nose directly into the collar of his fleece pull over. Totally grossed out I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. He followed as I awkwardly pushed my bike uphill to the towpath. He offering no assistance as I struggled. Maybe he thought his endless babble would impel the bike up the slope, slippery with dew.

I rescued my goodies from the porty potty, slinging them over the vertical seat back stays. He continued to chatter as I rolled away. About 50 yards on, I heard him yell something but I couldn't make out the words. So without turning or slowing, I raised my hand and waved. Two hours later I learned that the bag with my turkey sandwich had fallen as I left him. I hope he enjoys it.

I stopped after an hour of cycling in the fog, startling countless deer as I rode. I passed through the Paw Paw tunnel. It was spooky but the temperature inside was not nearly as cool as I had heard. I think perhaps I was reacting to the fact that in the coolness of the morning, the tunnel offered no variation from the outside.

The Paw Paw tunnel is just around the bend.

I rode into West Virginia to the town of Paw Paw and had a convenience store smorgasbord. I railroad worker stopped to trade tails of running marathons and biking the GAP trail.

After an hour, I was back to the towpath and the business at hand. The towpath is beautiful but the miles and miles of sameness is hard to take. I noticed that cuts through rock were more frequent. The number of hard dips or swales in the towpath was making me concerned about damaging my bike. It was mentally exhausting to steer a safe path.

At nearly 12:30 pm, I reached milepost 183, which I thought was the end of the line. The steeples of Cumberland MD were nowhere to be seen. Keep pedaling, fool. Ten minutes later I reached the end of the line. I checked out a bike shop and bought a current GAP trail map. After rejecting an offer of a portage ride to bypass biking the hills to Meyersdale PA, I ate lunch, chatted with some kids enjoying their last day of summer vacation, and headed west and up, bound for Frostburg, MD, the next city west.

I thought the towpath was 183 miles long. I thought wrong.

The canal changes character mile after mile. Here, nearing Cumberland, the canal is swampy and the towpath is double track.

Canal Place in Cumberland is all ready for the C&O towpath and the GAP trail to connect. Even the signs are up.

The hills were really not too bad but I was struggling mightily. I stopped after five miles and checked my wheels for true. My back wheel was rubbing against a brake pad. I decided to fix it when I saw some shade. Seeing no shade I toiled into Frostburg and asked a clerk at a convenience store if there was bike shop in town. She told me to ride 2 blocks and there would be one on the left.

On the way to Frostburg. To get to Ohio you need to get over this ridge.

US Alt 40 follows the old National Road, the way west for settlers of the midwest. This mile marker is a remnant of the original route.

What luck! I asked a shop employee if he could true my wheel. On the truing stand he found the wobble and a "hop". At one point the wheel had a high spot. I have been riding with this hop for months now. The mechanic determined that it was caused by a spoke that was too tight; it was pulling through the rim. At the spoke nipple, the rim was cracked. The shop owner was consulted. After several minutes we decided to build a new wheel using the old hub. They are doing the work tonight so I can continue on my way tomorrow. Trip saved thanks to Hunter and Shane at Adventure Sports.

I am lodged two doors down at the Frostburg Inn, a rather rough around the edges bar cum restaurant cum motel.

There is plenty of food within walking distance, and I intend to eat as much of it as possible.

This is the elevation map from the GAP trail website (http://www.atatrail.org). It is originally from a tour journal by Ed Quigley (http://www.thirdwave-websites.com/bike/0405biketrip.cfm) who granted me permission to reproduce it here. I found it after my trip. Note the rather nasty looking spike between Cumberland and Big Savage Mountain.

Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 225 miles (362 km)

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