My campsite for the previous night had a small waterfall and stream nearby, which made for a good night’s sleep. I fell asleep early and rose early.
Woke up at 5:00, since I had gone to sleep early. Checked the weather and those thunderstorms they were predicting were now unpredicted. So that was good. Instead it looked like a decent day for weather. It is forecasted to be rainy tonight and tomorrow. So I reserved a hotel room about 40 miles down the trail for the next two nights. So nice to be able to do all that from my tent!
At 5:30 a cardinal started singing and woke up the rest of the birds. It was quite the performance. The Carolina Wren, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Fish Crow, Canadian Goose, and Wild Turkeys all joined in. Honestly, I don’t know the songs of all these, but the Merlin app does, and I highly recommend it.
While being serenaded by the local birds, I ate my oatmeal and packed up my gear. I was biking by 7:00.
Since I knew I was only going 40 miles, I dropped down a gear and had a slow, silent, easy bike ride. This part of the trail is very smooth and well maintained. For a large part of this section they let the forest take over the canal, which made it look like I was biking through a tunnel of trees.
I came across several birders with their cameras and binoculars during the early morning hours. Spent a lot of time enjoying nature. Besides all the birds, I saw a fox, deer, chipmunk, rabbits, woodchucks, cranes and herons. Most were too shy for pictures.
There were several old lock houses that I passed today. Here are pictures of a couple of them.
In other places, where the canal intersects with a small river, they actually built an aqueduct for the canal above the river.
I met and talked with some other bike packers during the day. All were doing the GAP and C&O trails from Pittsburgh to Washington DC., which me and my friend John did a couple of years ago.
As expected, the weather wasn’t the greatest today. It was cloudy all day. About 15 miles in I started feeling rain drops. I opened up my MyRadar app and saw that I could expect some rain. I stopped at Edwards’s Ferry where there was some shelter and waited it out for 20 minutes. BTW, there are lots of historical markers along the trail. Lots of history from the revolutionary war and the civil war.
I made it another 15 miles then was stopped for rain for another 45 minutes. Backtracked a little to stand in the doorway of this pump house during the rain.
I made it the rest of the way to Brunswick, MD where I stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. Then I climbed up some steep hills to my hotel for the next two nights.
Overall it was 42 miles with 400 feet of climbing. 220 of that climbing was in Brunswick getting to my hotel.
Tomorrow is an off day, so no blog post. I’ll be reading, meditating, exercising, praying, and doing laundry.
Thank you for all the support and encouragement!!
Hi Jim
I love the piclures escpecially the scenery and old buildings. Also like hearing about the birds singing and your stopping at the site with the sign of Jeb Stuart. My grandfather had a book that told about him and I enjoyed reading and seeing the clipping. Ben has the book now. I expect you will have a day of rest tomorrow. Bridget just came in and is going dog sitting. She says Petey misses his family.
Hi Jim, the pictures have been fantastic. What a great way to memorialize your trip. I look forward to what follows. Love Dad.
Great history classes in your photos and writings.