C&O Canal Adventures Walking, riding, and cleaning up the C&O Canal

The Fifteen Mile Creek Aqueduct is located near mile marker 141.  It’s a single-arch structure with the upstream wall missing, which is typical of most of the smaller aqueducts along the C&O Canal.  However, for thirsty cyclists and hikers, it’s a sure sign that Bill’s Place is a few turns of the pedals away.  The creek flows through the western end of the Fifteen Mile Creek Campground and has a boat ramp near its mouth on the Potomac River.  The aqueduct also marks the end of our volunteer area in the park, so I’m not sure why it took us so long to take a picture.

 

 

I’ve always said that the food selection in Hancock is broad enough to keep most hikers and bikers happy, and now you can add another restaurant to the repertoire.  On March 1st, the Potomac River Grill opened near the Rt. 522 bridge over the river (former home of the long defunct Bridge Restaurant), so today we decided to to give it a try.

 

 

On past through rides we’ve stayed at the America’s Best Value Inn, which is across the road from the restaurant, and people touring both the C&O Canal and Western Maryland Rail Trail now have the option of heading to their lodgings before taking a short walk to a really good meal.

As the word grill implies, the options include beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken, ribs, burgers, and a number of side and dessert items.  Platters are $10 and include either a pile of pork or brisket or a half-chicken, plus fries, a side, and a piece of cornbread.  The sandwiches (pork or beef) and burger are $7 each, and ribs range from $11 (half-rack) to $21 (full-rack).

The list of sides includes potato salad, fries, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, lima beans, and applesauce.  Dessert items range from $2 to $4 dollars and include pineapple upside-down cake, key lime pie, brownies, and fruit cobbler.  What we had today (chicken and pork platters) was very good, and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back and explore the rest of the menu.

For now, the hours are 11 am to 9 pm, and I’m sure there are plenty of bikers out there wondering about breakfast.  Our waitress told us that will be coming soon, and there should be plenty of good offerings.  Anyone traveling the C&O who is interested should head past the bike shop on Pennsylvania Avenue to the main drag, take a left, and continue to the video store.  There is a dirt road beyond the video store’s parking lot that leads to the back of the restaurant.  Bon appetite!

 

Lately, I’ve been told that my titles for these posts are pretty boring.  With that in mind, I’ve borrowed a line from Foreigner’s “Double Vision”–one that seems to fit the situation.  After a couple of days of relatively heavy rain, the Potomac is high, muddy, and looking pretty agitated below Dam 5.  When the river is running low-to-normal, fishermen boulder hop about halfway across and fish in a small hole just below the dam.  If they were fishing there today, I’m guessing that they would be waste deep in fast moving, dangerous water.  Today’s level is pretty typical of the Potomac after a spring rain.  In fact, the drop at the dam can all but disappear during flooding, leaving only a wave of turbulence that stretches across the river.  All things considered, today was pretty mild, but it is a subtle reminder that the flood season is upon us.

 

 

 

Like many people, we’re guilty of straying far away from home to get our C&O Canal kicks.  McCoys Ferry (mm 110),  Four Locks (mm108), and Dam 5 (mm 107) are all about forty minutes away from our hometown of Martinsburg, but we have only seen them as blurs when riding by on our bikes.  It seemed like a good idea to take a short excursion prior to the Super Bowl, so we took to the road to see what we could see.

 

 

 

I’ll start with the McCoys Ferry campground and its environs.  On the way there, we noticed the Green Spring Covered Bridge about a half-mile from the towpath.  The bridge is actually a modern, decorative structure that spans a small stream as part of a driveway.  Don’t get me wrong: I would love to have my own covered bridge, but I found the nearby railroad trestle and culverts far more interesting.  In the beginning, I was drawn to the C&O primarily for its recreational value, but this history stuff has kind of rubbed off on me over the years.

At one time the railroad and the canal were bitter rivals, but the trestle merely blends into the scenery at McCoys Ferry.  Other amenities include numerous picnic tables and a boat ramp.  The area draws a crowd during the summer, but on Super Bowl Sunday, we had it all to ourselves and found the hike and sightseeing to be very enjoyable.

Candee’s son Tyler tagged along on today’s hike, and he was primarily interested in finding a good place to fish this summer.  The Potomac runs slow and deep for a few miles above Dam 5, and I’m thinking that the catfishing is probably pretty good.

 

Like many areas along the canal and river, McCoys Ferry is part of Civil War history.  According to the sign, the Confederates tried to capture the ferry boat at McCoys landing but were rebuffed by the Clear Spring Guard.  Also, J.E.B. Stewart crossed the river here on his second ride around McClellan’s army.

 

 

 

We are generally drawn to the canal for its recreational value, but occasionally the C&O’s structures catch our eyes.  Some are easily spotted from the towpath, but the culverts are generally overlooked by hikers and bikers.

 

There are eleven aqueducts along the C&O Canal, and they mark the points where the canal crosses over larger streams.  Culverts, on the other hand, occur where smaller streams were routed underneath of the canal.  I’m hardly the expert, but there are over one hundred culverts, and many of them are very impressive.

Fellow C&O Canal Association member Steve Dean has photographed all of the culverts and plans on turning his efforts into a book.  People who have an interest in the canal’s structures and history have opened our eyes a bit over the years, and the locks, aqueducts, and culverts are as different from each other as the diverse groups who built them.  I would certainly advise hikers and bikers to get off of the trail and take a look around.  There’s a lot more to the park than what meets the eye!

From McCoys Ferry, it’s a short ride to Four Locks.  The site gets its name from the four locks that raised the canal thirty-three feet in order to cut across Prather’s Neck and bypass a four mile bend in the Potomac River.  Lock House 49 is open to the public for overnight lodging.  It’s a bit on the rustic side, but it would be a great spot to stop while doing a through-ride from Cumberland to Georgetown.

 

 

I guess you could say that Four Locks holds a special place in our hearts.  On our 2011 ride, we ran into heavy storm debris above Little Orleans and several more downed trees well below Hancock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were forced to lift our bikes over countless snags and even had to walk them through the canal bed in places.  By the time we reached Four Locks, we were worn out and frustrated, but I remember saying, “Enjoy the next mile.  It’s down hill and on the house.”  The easy pedaling and coasting seemed to lift our spirits, and we never lost momentum the rest of the way.

 

 

From Four Locks, we took another short ride into the Dam Five area.  The dam and river create an image that is worthy of a post card.  The dam was completed in 1857 and survived several of Stonewall Jackson’s attempts at destroying it during the Civil War.  During low water, many fishermen can be seen fishing from the rocks directly below the dam, sometimes as far out as the middle of the river.

 

In all, the scenery between McCoys Ferry and Dam Five is outstanding.  Likewise, heading upstream leads one to Fort Frederick State Park and Big Pool.  There are many places along the C&O that look relatively similar around every bend, but this section reveals something new and interesting along the way for both newcomers to the park and canal aficionados.  In spite of traveling through every mile of the park several times, Candee and I have missed a lot of interesting things.  With that in mind, today made for three wonderful short hikes, and, like most excursions, we learned a number of new facts and saw things we’ve never seen before.  Until next time…

 

 

This isn’t the first time that we’ve done a website or blog pertaining to the C&O Canal, and somewhere along the way we’ve left several pictures scattered around the internet in near oblivion.  Many of these go back to our earliest days on the canal, and some even help to fill our current void of photos and text pertaining to miles 0-50.  These shots bring back a lot of memories.  In fact, I can remember the day that Candee suggested that we should take up biking as a hobby.  It sounded like a good idea, but our first ride between Williamsport and Fort Frederick in 98 degree heat left me wondering about my sanity.  Imagine what I would have missed!

Over the years we have seen a number of interesting sights and creatures.  I can’t say that either of us have fancy camera equipment, so many of the critters we have seen have escaped posterity in a blur.  However, I do have to brag a little: we’re both experts in turtle photography, and on more than one occasion we have managed to capture an image of a Great Blue Heron posing on a wall.  However, one missed opportunity stands out more than the rest.  We were riding on the Western Maryland Rail Trail just above the Devil’s Eyebrow when a rider sped up to us and stammered, “B…b…b…bear over th…th…th…th…there!”  Candee armed herself with her camera, but the bear was long gone.  So…I’ll leave you with a picture that we did manage to get.

Sometimes it’s great being out on the trail.  You never know what you’re going to see.  Other times the river is the star attraction.  For example, in March of 2010 a heavy rain fell on the Potomac Valley, and it melted what was literally feet of snow in the mountains of western Maryland.  Needless to say, the river became very angry and threatened the towns along its banks and the C&O Canal NHP itself.  We headed out to assess the damage, which fortunately was minimal, but one picture stands out…

Generally, it’s about a 15′ drop from the top of the arch at the Sideling Hill Creek Aqueduct to the creek itself, but that day water filled the entirety of the structure.  It was an impressive sight, as was our first ride into Great Falls.  It’s hard to imagine such a large river near a metropolitan area containing a massive and dangerous set of rapids.  I understand that the view is even more impressive from the Virginia side of the river, but the Maryland side isn’t half-bad either!

I guess you could say that the river offers up something new around every bend, and sometimes the floods deposit a thing or two that catches the eye.  When we first started riding, we spent a lot of time parking the bikes and hiking down to the Potomac to check things out.  I particularly like a picture we took of some driftwood right below the mouth of Sideling Hill Creek.

In 2009 and 2011, we completed through-rides from Cumberland to Georgetown, but back in 2006 one of our more anticipated short trips was from Great Falls to the 0 mile marker.  As it turns out, we didn’t find the marker until several years later, but we were fortunate enough to see the canal boat Georgetown plowing through the water.

Of course, we had no idea how many rangers and volunteers it took to entertain the people or to keep the park in good shape.  We were both surprised and impressed to see volunteers in period attire leading tourists and locals on a boat excursion on the canal.  Oh…and let’s not forget the hard work of the mules.  Back in the day, the success of the canal depended upon them!

The last couple of times that we rolled into Georgetown, it marked the end of a really long three-day bike ride, but back in ’06 it was only the beginning.  We love the canal from Cumberland to DC, and one picture in particular reminds me of the way many of us feel about the canal, towpath, river, and mules that powered the old canal boats…

I can hardly wait for the warm weather to come back!  It will be great going on more rides, taking pictures, and seeing all of the things we’ve missed before.  When your favorite park is 184.5 miles long, it seems like there is something new around every corner!