5-Crossing the Appalachians on the Great Allegheny Passage: Cumberland to C&O Lock 73

Sleeping in the car the last night was a bit odd. The National Park has a free overnight parking area - perfect for Mr. Cheap. Unfortunately, it's under the I-68 overpass. Not that I'm complaining - it's free, and it really is a good use for the space. And I guess the sound of the semi's overhead did kinda sound like surf if you used some imagination. Though I didn't expect to be able to feel them pass over through the suspension of my car 50 feet below. Actually I did sleep well.

Right next door to the overpass is the historic train station, now used by the Western Maryland Scenic Railway upstairs and the Park Service downstairs for their canal interpretive center. At 7 am, though, what I really was interested in was a restroom. No luck - all the public restrooms were locked until opening at 9. I wasn't going to make it to 9. My other overnights had been rural with pit toilets - they're open when you need them. So I went searching for a breakfast joint. The one I wanted to try on the waterfront was closed for the season, so after walking downtown for a while I ended up at a McDonalds. Not what I had in mind, and  insipid as expected, but I needed inputs and outputs. And wouldn't you know it, on the way back to the car on a side street I found the place I was looking for originally. What was closed on the waterfront was their summer tourist stand. The Queen City Creamery and Deli has flower boxes overflowing its sign, a deli, an attractive diner style counter, and homemade breakfasts - but I was full of McBurrito. So now I know I need to come back with Ann, the breakfast queen herself.

Rested and ready, I jumped on the bike and headed from the mile184 marker down the towpath. The C&O Canal path has a completely different character than the Great Allegheny Passage. To be expected since it was not a railroad - it only had to be wide enough for a mule, the speeds were much lower, and the cargo carriers only 90 feet long. It is also completely flat, falling only 700 feet in 184 miles. And it is accompanied by a pond, or a swamp, or a grassy ditch all the way.

The surface is not pristine limestone dust like the Passage, but more a high quality two track, with evidence of occasional puddles and small ruts during wet spells. You won't need a mountain bike, but wider tires, and maybe some tread, might be good. The path itself is nicely shaded and covered by trees, but the surrounding plain is prime farmland and industrial land, so you see a lot more civilization. As well as the Potomac River which the canal followed and borrowed water from.

Look at this FEMA trailer storage facility I found (Next to a power plant, downstream a bit from a prison, across from a water treatment facility. You get the idea. Though from the map it looks to get wilder again before Hancock and Hagerstown). I never thought about where they kept those things, waiting for the next disaster. The cool thing about this trail is that in such a developed area it exists at all, and in fact goes unbroken all the way to Washington D.C. ending in Georgetown on the waterfront. 

So I was looking for more history than scenery on the towpath. And the aqueduct carrying the canal over a tributary of the Potomac and the locks were worth the 7 mile ride to them. One lock was reconstructed so you could see how it worked, as was the lock keeper's house. The technology of the canals preceded the railways, and was incredible in its own right. This one was originally conceived by George Washington and partners, but not built by others until the after the success of the Erie Canal. The interpretive center at the Park headquarters gives a nice overview of the technologies and people of the canal. It's well worth a stop. And they do have nice restrooms when they're open.

The towpath has nice campsites regularly along the path on the Potomac, but I decidedly prefer the wilds and mountains of the Passage.

My history mission complete, I headed back to Cumberland for a final meal before leaving for home. Success again - Ristorante Ottaviani was a wonderful surprise. An Italian-American restaurant located in a narrow store front, it was welcoming and nicely decorated. The narrow room had the open kitchen tucked along one side and the bar along the other, with tables in the front by the window and back across from the bar. All the tables had been pulled together, but the bartender - who was to be my waiter - set a small table for one next to the bar. They were very busy preparing for two large parties that night, but still made me feel at home. The red sauce was recommended for my ravioli and was a revelation - one of the best I've had. The Pino Noir was serviceable and well matched, the bread fine, but the side of asparagus divine. Halfway through it I had to ask the bartender for a second helping, so he calls out to the kitchen across the way, "Tony can you hook me up with another side of asparagas!" Lightly sauted in dab of sweet butter with a few crystals of salt tossed on, it arrived crunchy and still hot 5 minutes later - as good as the first. I complimented the red sauce, to which he said, "I thought you'd like it. Don't tell my mother, but I think it's better than hers." I asked if it was his recipe. "No it's Tony's mom's." The breadfast debacle at McDonalds -redeemed. 

It was a fun trip, ending on a perfect note. Now all I faced was a 2 hour drive home and some late night shopping to restock the fridge. Isn't that how all vacations end?

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbp1111/CumberlandToBOLock73?authkey=Gv1sRgCJiHqrGEutnzKw#