What a Fruit

May Something: I started my last full day on the canal with Swagman early, with a chance to glimpse an exciting bit of history motivating me to get moving. A short while after we began our trudge onward the walls around us turned to rock and closed in on both sides. Half a mile later we came upon the most impressive engineering feat on the canal: Paw Paw tunnel.
The tunnel is about 3/5 of a mile (3000 plus feet). The rock was forcefully opened by black powder as dynamite had not yet been invented. Black powder was notoriously unreliable, as likely to kill the workers as it was to actually break away the precise rocky obstruction.
Lee Montgomery was picked to head the project, which he planned to finish within two years, starting in 1836. As with most construction projects, there were cost overruns and delays. The tunnel wasn't finished until 1850 and Montgomery was bankrupted in the process.
Although you can see the exit from the very beginning, walking through the tunnel is creepy. Even with a flashlight I could not see the canal below me. I did not view any of the horrific beasts who know doubt dwell in that dark lair and I gladly passed to the other side in ignorance of their twelve eyes and sharp-toothed gaping maws.
Shortly after passing through the tunnel we turned left and crossed the Potomac into West Virginia for the penultimate time. Swagman and I entered the city of Paw Paw, which, like the tunnel is named after the Paw Paw fruit, the largest edible fruit in North America. We have not yet had an opportunity to enjoy its juicy joys as of this writing.
Paw Paw, as with the other cities on the canal has worn many hats throughout the years. At times the canal, railroad, orchard, and tannery industries have all been the employer of the town's citizens. All have departed and the burg struggles to find a niche in the uncertain future.
As industries have come and gone through the years, buildings have adapted to the changing times as well. The International Order of Odd Fellows Hall (named by Monty Python no doubt) has acted as the post office, city hall, library, etc. Grandma's Country Kitchen, where we ate breakfast, had once been used as a funeral parlor.
After our meal we returned to the C & O, completing a total of eleven miles for the day (plus a couple miles in and out of Paw Paw). I will go to sleep tonight at Potomac Forks, just short of Oldtown, Maryland. From Oldtown I will cross the Potomac for the final time, entering West Virginia and leaving the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath behind me for good.

11 miles/274 total miles

A History of Almost in Williamsport

May 9: Swagman and I awoke at the crack of dawn on the 9th of May with a long day ahead of us. I decided to start the day right with an experiment I had picked up the day before, a Metr-x chocolate chip cookie dough meal replacement bar. Please choose A)Good idea B) Bad Idea.
If you chose A you have clearly never consumed the product. I peeled open the wrapper, revealing something that looked like a frozen dog turd. The taste of the bar bore out the original impression. I chucked the rest of the crapstick into the woods, likely drawing a cruelty to animals charge when some unfortunate creature stumbles upon the remains.
Our goal for the day was Williamsport, Maryland, 16 miles away. We first had to leave the towpath thanks to a dam detour. Dam #4 has been under repair for ten years and, according to locals, will be finished in time for the 25th millennium. The detour was steep at first and windy with little shoulder. We accepted a ride up the last mile of the most dangerous road. After two hours we returned to the towpath and made steady progress towards Williamsport, which we finally reached around two. Right before entering, with no sewage treatment plant to distract me, I finally saw a groundhog. I was reminded of the Bill Murray movie and how I had been annoyed for almost two consecutive hours, with a brief intermission when the lead character kills himself repeatedly. The rest was not funny. I have to admit finding only the suicide scenes hilarious may point towards serious problem with me rather than with the movie.
Back to Williamsport, which had a less exciting Civil War history than our previous two stops. A brief takeover by the Confederates before Gettysburg is the only story the town has to tell. Earlier on in American History, the town had just fell short of fame when George Washington had the area surveyed during his search for a permanent capital, but chose the current location lower on the Potomac instead.
Although not hosting a gaggle of dirty politicians, the town did have a Sheetz, where I stocked up on groceries, and a Chinese restaurant, where I ate my serving of vegetables for the week (just wanted to let you know I am eating healthy Mom :).
We also hit the Third Base Tavern where I noted this particularly Williamsport also failed to host the Little League World Series. Despite another almost, the establishment was kind enough to supply a shot of unknown liquor to trail virgins of the C&O who are then allowed to write their name on the ceiling before passing out and going to sleep on the bar.
We limped into our campsite two miles beyond Williamsport an hour before sundown to find we had company for the first time, a young couple from Pittsburgh biking the canal. We stayed up to chat with them a while, but the long day took its toll and once the sun went down so did we. We had gone from mile 83 to mile 101 of the towpath. 67 miles remain before I turn left and head into West Virginia.

Bad News Bears: Williamsport recently had a problem bear. The police lured him out of town using donuts. You can't make this stuff up.

18 miles/208 total miles

The Blair Witch

Last night was rainy and windy, but fortunately the tent held up through the night, passing this first test. We waited out the weather, and fortunately the front passed by ten. John and I were on the road by eleven.
The main sights of our day were Civil War landmarks. Much of the war was fought up and down the Potomac River and I started to see the first evidence that in actuality there really is nothing civil about war anyhow. First off, our contingent of two passed White's Ford, which the Confederates used on three separate occasions during forays into Union territory. Later in the day we crossed the Monocacy Aqueduct, a forbidding thick stone structure whose masonry stood up to attempts by the rebels to destroy the crossing via Nobel's vile invention.
The most logical home for the evening was just on the other side of the Aqueduct, so we ditched our gear there and headed off the towpath towards Dickerson, Maryland. We had been stymied in an earlier attempt to buy hot food when the lunch counter at White's Ferry turned out to be closed. Our stomachs had tired of granola and yearned for something better. The five mile round trip to Dickerson culminated in our reward. I had the juiciest hamburger pretty much ever made, topped with bacon, cheese, pickles, and a wickedly good pepper relish.
We grabbed a few snacks for the future and headed back to Monocacy. As we neared I spotted an older woman carrying a stick, but not using it as a walking aid. Immediately it dawned on me that the "Blair Witch Project" had been filmed in the woods of Maryland. I felt terrible after we reached her and discovered she was a sweet older lady. We exchanged good wishes and trod onward. Then, suddenly, she turned me into a newt (I got better).

14 miles/153 total miles

A New Friend

Day two started without any hitches and I abandoned the campground around seven in the morning. At lock 22 I visited my first site on the MAPT (the Mediocre American President's Trail). Grover Cleveland had enjoyed using the area to decompress while president. Cleveland's main accomplishments are: 1)Being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms 2) Having an illegitimate child lead to a candy bar being named after him 3) Not having the city of Cleveland named after him.
Around lunch time I strode into Poolesville, about a mile off trail, to get more water and some snacks. The store there is closed, but I was able to obtain the water from a hose out back. As I reached the trail again I spoke to a marine named Winfield who had hiked the Appalachian Trail. The moment our conversation ended I turned to find another C&O hiker, Swagman John.
John is a former Navy man who has hiked the trail in its entirety over ten times and along with his brother and scout troop helped to break trail there in the early 70s. John and I started walking and talking and we didn't stop until we reached our bivouac for the evening, just past mile thirty on the C&O. We decided since we were headed in the same direction for awhile that we should stay together. I consider myself lucky to have found such an experienced hiker from which to learn. My time as grasshopper under the sensai's training has commenced.

14 miles/139 total miles

C&O Here We Go

After a couple days spent with old friends Scott and Sue as well as dinner with a new one,a vivacious lass named Ellen, I headed off on the metro to Foggy Bottom station. A short distance from my stop is the beginning of the Chesapeake and Ohio Towpath, which stretches from Georgetown, DC to Cumberland, Maryland. The ADT follows it until Oldtown, Maryland, eighteen miles before the end.
As you walk the canal is to your right and the Potomac to the left. I wondered at first whether the water in the canal might be a more effective murder weapon than arsenic. After a few miles the muck cleaned up a little and I began to spot life - herons, turtles, and ducks roamed about. A great blue heron allowed a glimpse into the underwater world by snatching a herring from the waters and devouring it in front of me.
My favorite stretch of the canal was mile 13-14, where the waterway widens and small rocky cliffs line the edges. At the end of that mile the Potomac butted in with an even more impressive sight to the right - Great Falls. Little Falls at mile 5 had given me a concept of the amazing volume of the river (4 billion tons empty into the estuary each day) and Great Falls showed me the power. The Falls lasted for nearly a mile, with the coupe de grace coming as the river narrowed and massive waves collided in a cacophony of sound.
I finished a total of 18 miles on my first day - 16.6 on the C&O and a little more on a detour to Glen Echo for lunch, plus the jaunt from the station to the towpath.
Exhausted, I pitched my tent* at Swains Lock, the first of many free campsites along the canal, and prepared for another day.

*I learned later I was setting the tent up completely wrong. Somehow the structure stayed together through the night despite my profound stupidity. God bless REI.

16 miles/125 total miles