DAY
1
Arlington, Virginia. We’ll gather just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., at the Virginian Suites, where we’ll meet our seasoned team of leaders and have our first map meeting, dinner, and overnight. The motel is within easy walking distance of two of the most stirring sites in the capital region: the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. And, if you arrive early enough in the morning (by 10 a.m.), you’ll also have the opportunity to join us on a guided cycling tour of the National Mall.
DAY
2
Washington, D.C., to Brunswick, Maryland, 59 miles. Our ride through history begins by pedaling across the Potomac River together, stopping to snap a group photo on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. After a few miles on the Capital Crescent Trail, with its dozens of joggers and cyclists, we'll ride into deep hardwood forests and onto George Washington's route west: the towpath paralleling the C&O Canal, a 184-mile-long National Historical Park. Soon, you and your new friends will ride past Great Falls Park, where the Potomac River gathers speed and force as it tumbles over a series of jagged boulders in the narrow Mather Gorge. The farther we get from the nation's capital, the wilder feeling our surroundings become. We'll set up camp at the Brunswick Family Campground - Mile Post (MP) 54.5.
DAY
3
Brunswick to Williamsport, 48 miles. Today our group will ride a section of the C&O that runs coincidental with a stretch of the granddaddy of American footpaths: the Appalachian Trail. Maybe we'll even catch sight of a few through-hikers heading north. Later, we'll take leave of our bicycles and walk up the steps and over the bridge spanning the Potomac to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, considered the place where the Civil War began. We may temporarily leave the C&O and pedal through a rolling farmscape to Sharpsburg and the Antietam National Battlefield. The peaceful atmosphere at Antietam today belies the fact that the bloodiest one-day battle in American history took place here on September 17, 1862. We'll wrap up today with a program by the National Park Service on the history of the C&O Canal, and camp tonight at the Snug Harbor KOA outside Williamsport - MP 99.6.
DAY
4
Williamsport to Little Orleans, 46 miles. After a tour of Fort Frederick State Park, which preserves a pre-Revolutionary War British outpost, we'll jump off the dirt-surfaced C&O and onto the Western Maryland Trail, a 22-mile-long, hard-surface rail trail. Next up is the quaint little town of Hancock, where Weaver's Restaurant & Bakery serves up what are reputed to be some of the very best homemade pies east of the Mississippi. We'll set up our tents at the Little Orleans Campground, later a local historian will give us even more insight to this fascinating area - MP 142.
DAY
5
Little Orleans to Cumberland, 48 miles. Today we will pass through the single most impressive structure on the entire C&O Canal: The Paw Paw Tunnel. Excavated between 1836 and 1850 this cool, damp, and mysterious passage burrows through the hills for some 3,100 feet. Our final stretch of the C&O Canal will take us into the beautiful town of Cumberland, with its friendly citizens and classic downtown pedestrian mall. We'll camp on the grounds of the Cumberland YMCA - but only after sampling the frozen treats scooped up at the Queen City Creamery - MP 184.5.
DAY
6
Cumberland to Rockwood, Pennsylvania, 45 miles. First thing this morning we'll pedal onto the crushed limestone surface of the Great Allegheny Passage rail-trail to begin a long, but very gentle uphill that takes us into the Allegheny Mountains. Our group will surmount the Eastern Continental Divide, which marks the division point between the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico watersheds; we'll also cross the famous Mason-Dixon Line, going from Maryland to the Keystone State of Pennsylvania. Today's ride proffers the best long-distance views of the entire ride, and also presents the opportunity to pedal through another impressive tunnel, the 3,300-foot-long Big Savage. The ride ends at the pleasant Husky Haven Campground in Rockwood.
DAY
7
Rockwood to Adelaide, 47 miles. Early on we'll spin through Ohiopyle State Park, with its beautiful bridges and waterfalls, perhaps pausing to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's nearby architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater. There's also a wealth of terrific hiking trails in the state park, in case you'd like to get off the bike for awhile and stretch a new set of muscles. For much of the day, our group will follow the Youghiogheny (YOCK-uh-gay-nee), known as the white water mecca of the east. If autumn is in the air, we'll inhale the hearty essence of duff decaying on the forest floors, and the delicious scent of hardwood smoke wafting from farmhouse chimneys. The day ends at the River's Edge Campground outside the mining town of Connellsville - MP 91.
DAY
8
Adelaide to Boston (just outside Pittsburgh), 45 miles. On this, our final day, we'll pedal through the old mining towns of Dawson and Whitsett, and then ride out of the Allegheny Mountains toward McKeesport, where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers converge. We'll likely finish the ride at the Waterfront in Homestead, Pennsylvania: a self proclaimed "Pittsburgh Cool Spot." After we convene, it's time to enjoy a shuttle back to our starting point in Arlington. True, the trip may be over, but memories of the traffic-free pathways you pedaled, through one of the most historically important regions of America, will stay with you for years to come.
