Pedaling to Harpers Ferry on the C&O Canal Trail

There are many good bike trails in the Washington, D.C. region.  While we biked 32 miles on the Mount Vernon Trail from Mount Vernon to Alexandria and back again on March 7, 2012, and did another 10 miles or so on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail from National Harbor to Alexandria and back on April 5, 2012 -- not to mention a day pedaling around D.C. itself on March 11, 2012 -- we have wanted for years to explore parts of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Trail National Historic Site.  On Thursday, May 6, 2021, we finally had a chance to do so.

It was easy to pick the section we wanted to ride first.  We've loved our stops in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park over the years, our most favorite visit being our November 11, 2012 hike into Old Town Harpers Ferry.  On that earlier hike, we visited the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and walked across the Potomac River, following the Appalachian Trail on the Winchester & Potomac Railroad Bridge.  On the other side of the river, we noticed a bike path and later determined that it was the C&O Canal Trail.  Wouldn't it be fun to bike the trail, park on the opposite side, and cross the bridge, back on the A.T., to have lunch in Harpers Ferry!

And so it was done.  We found the Point of Rocks access point, about 13 miles from Harpers Ferry on the trail, drove to Point of Rocks, and set off on our bike adventure:

The weather was perfect for our ride:  mid-60's Fahrenheit, and mainly sunny with wisps of clouds.  The trail surface was a well-maintained, finely crushed gravel, perfect for long-distance riding:

We found that the canal trail was shadowed the entire way to Harpers Ferry by the tracks of the former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad, which was acquired in 1901 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, subsequently by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, and finally by CSX.

Within a short distance of our start, we heard the first of perhaps a half dozen freight trains as it whizzed, clanked, screeched and clunked by us.  Our first sight of the train caught it entering the Port of Rocks Tunnel:

The B&O was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from the city of Baltimore wanted to continue to compete for trade with trans-Appalachian settlers with the newly constructed Erie Canal (serving New York City), two other canals serving Philadelphia and Richmond respectively, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal connecting Washington, D.C. with Pittsburgh (it never reached Ohio). 

The fates of the railroad and canal on this stretch between Point of Rocks and Harpers Ferry have been intertwined since the two competing projects were both commenced on July 4, 1828.  From the start, problems slowed progress on the canal, including rocky ground, steep cliffs with narrow access, disputes with landowners, and acute labor shortages forcing the canal company to recruit workers from other states and abroad, resulting in a dizzy stir of activity by a motley crew of Irish, German, Dutch, and English immigrants. A long legal battle with the B & O involving the right-of-way between Point of Rocks and Harpers Ferry slowed construction of both the canal and the railroad until about 1832. Inflation increased the cost of labor, materials, and land during the late 1820s and 1830s until they far exceeded the original estimates. Labor unrest among the predominantly Irish workers and the financial panic of 1837 added more difficulties, and between 1842 and 1847 construction stopped entirely. The canal was finally completed in 1850 at a total cost of $11 million.

After the canal's peak year in 1871, coal traffic began to decline, as mining companies shifted more of their business to the B & O Railroad. A major economic depression in the mid-1870s and major floods in 1877 and 1886 put a severe strain on the C&O Canal's finances. In 1889 another serious flood forced the canal company into receivership, at which point the B & O Railroad bought up the majority of C & O's bonds. The railroad had captured almost all of the canal's trade by 1924 when another devastating flood struck. This time, no repairs were made, and the canal's operation as a trade route came to an end.  In 1938, the railroad sold the entire canal to the U.S. Government for $2 million, which placed it under the supervision of the National Park Service. The Park Service did some restoration under the emergency work programs of the 1930s, and other repairs took place in the following decades. In 1961, President Eisenhower proclaimed the canal a national monument. In 1971 Congress declared the C & O Canal a National Historical Park, thus conserving its historic and natural features for all to enjoy. Today, visitors can examine how the locks work, take rides in canal boats pulled by mules, and bike and walk along much of the canal's 185 mile route.

Today, stretches of the canal vary from being in nearly its original shape, full of water, to boggy ponds such as this one where turtles sunned (one of many turtle sunning spots) --

-- to wetland, to simply a dry shallow swale separating the canal multi-use trail from the railroad tracks.

The Park Service has been able to preserve, and in some cases completely reconstruct, important features of the canal.  We passed four locks that ranged in condition from excellent (totally rebuilt) to completely decayed.  The most impressive structure on the canal was, however, the reconstructed Catoctin Aquaduct (#3).  Built to carry canal water across another feature such as a stream, it crosses Catoctin Creek. Completed in 1834 from locally sourced granite, it was also called the "Crooked Aqueduct" because of the sharp turns before and after it on the canal. Recklessness among boatmen (usually because of speeding) resulted in accidents, damaging the sides of the aqueduct. In March 1870, the board ordered that all boats should slow down 50 yards from the aqueduct, and stationed a watchman to ensure compliance, as well as printing handbills to that effect.  

Here is a photo of the original aqueduct:

By Historic American Buildings Survey - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID hhh.md0687.  Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30550418

Since it uses two different kinds of arches: elliptical in the center, and Roman on the side, the two stresses do not balance each other, and are prone to failure. Cited as the worst built structure on the canal, during construction the west pier was torn down and rebuilt. Leaking seriously since 1859, it sagged badly in 1926, finally collapsing in October 31, 1973.  Between 2007 and 2010, funds were raised for restoring the aqueduct. In 2010 the National Park Service awarded a $3.93 million contract to carry out the restoration work. 459 original stones from the aqueduct were found and used in the restoration, and the aqueduct was reopened to visitors on October 15, 2011.

The result is an impressive structure that is accompanied by useful explanatory material.  Our stop here was longer than most of our stops, because it took some time to absorb the whole experience.

Each lock on the canal typically was supported by a lockkeeper's house and related facilities.  Each of the locks we passed had a restored house, such as this one at Lock 28, which is available for overnight stays arranged with Canal Quarters, a service offered by the C&O Canal Trust, a nonprofit organization that provides overnight stays in seven lockhouses.

Along our route, we also crossed streams -- with or without original aqueducts -- where it was possible to enjoy the view of a parallel stone bridge constructed for the B&O Railroad.  The visual textures and symmetry of these structures was compelling:

The largest town along our path was Brunswick, a former mill town and home of a large railyard for the B&O Railroad.  Many of its 19th Century buildings are still intact, and we could glimpse them as we crossed the road leading across the tracks into town:

Just past Brunswick, a highway bridge passes over the canal path.  Most graffiti seems to be policed and cleaned, but two whimsical works of art have been left for appreciation by walkers and pedalers:

Within a half mile past Brunswick, we came across a large tree that had fallen in recent storms, so recently that the National Park Service hadn't had a chance to clear it.  As we pedaled up, one (clearly piqued) bicyclist was energetically (and somewhat compulsively) trying to clear a path under or around the tree.  While he fussed, we walked our bikes up to the tree, observed that others had walked them through the highest clearance, and so did the same, leaving him behind us, still trying to clear a way that satisfied him:

We told you there was more than one interesting railroad bridge:

David had climbed down a bank to get the photo of the railroad bridge above, and, when he turned around to make his way back to the canal path, he spotted Kathy, who waved across to him from under the shady boughs of trees lining the path:

As we neared within a mile of the pedestrian bridge to Harpers Ferry, we spotted this beautiful flowering tree - perhaps a dogwood, gracing the far side of the canal on the bank of the railroad grade:

We reached the bridge, which is confined to pedestrians, primarily because access to the bridge on the canal side of the Potomac River is by a narrow spiral staircase.  We locked our bikes, climbed the stairs, and gained a beautiful, panoramic view of the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers: 

This was, indeed, the Appalachian Trail!

We strolled across the bridge and were greeted by the quaint, village of Harpers Ferry:

In 1944 Congress authorized the establishment of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, to take in most of the town and have it administered by the National Park Service. The majority of the existing homes in Harpers Ferry are historic. Some are registered in the National Register of Historic Places.  

In 1957 the Baltimore Sun said that the lower town was "a sagging and rotted ghost town". The first task of the Park Service was to stabilize the buildings on Shenandoah Street, the main commercial street of lower Harpers Ferry. Roofs were covered, missing windows replaced, walls on the verge of collapse reinforced, debris removed.  All in all, most of the lower town has been completely rebuilt.  

Since rebuilding, two casualties have struck the parts we visited.  On July 23, 2015, a fire broke out in downtown Harpers Ferry, destroying eight or nine businesses and two apartments in two historic buildings. The buildings are being rebuilt.  Then, in the early morning of December 21, 2019, multiple cars of a train owned by CSX derailed from the railroad bridge crossing the Potomac River. The derailment damaged a portion of the pedestrian bridge, which is attached to the railroad bridge, foreclosing all pedestrian access across the Potomac River.  To our good fortune, the bridge reopened in early July 2020.

We packed our lunches, but Kathy wisely pointed out that, after such a long morning ride, nothing would fuel our return better than a dessert of ice cream.  How could anyone disagree with that?  So those of us who did not disagree, enjoyed:

Having restored our energy, we crossed back to the canal path and started peddling to our beginning trailhead.  Miraculously, while we had not noticed even one Appalachian Trail white blaze while biking toward Harpers Ferry, they stood out clearly as we peddled back:

We were curious where the A.T. would leave the canal path, because the A.T. generally follows the Appalachian ridge, whereas the canal path follows the river valley, low by the river.  As in the case of the blazes, while we had not noticed on the way to Harper's Ferry, the A.T. was clearly marked with a double blaze to mark the turn of the A.T. off the canal path at the small village of Weverton, Maryland, perched high on the Weverton Cliffs above the Potomac River.

Speaking of Maryland, we forgot to mention that, since Harpers Ferry is in West Virginia, it was natural to conclude that, at some point, we crossed the state line from Maryland to West Virginia as we bicycled.  This question did not even enter our minds until, as we cycled, Kathy spotted this symbol, scratched by hand in the gravel of the canal path, marking the state border:

So where is the survey monument to formalize this great spot??  As it turns out, this hand-scrawled gravel document is FAKE NEWS.  The border of Maryland and West Virginia, which also forms a tricorner with Virginia, lay directly across the Potomac River from this spot.  So maybe the survey monument is over there.  We chose not to swim over to check.