Crested the Eastern Continental Divide

         A gradual climb both yesterday and today brought us (John Hay, Aaron and Eli Spiegel and me) from Rickwood, Pa. over the Easturn Continental Divide to a camp site on the C&O Canal just past Old Town, Md.  In Cumberland, I picked a new tire and had some minor adjustments taken care of at a local bike shop before heading onto the not so user friendly C&O trail.  Rocks, roots, pot holes, mud puddles and plenty of mud have made for a difficult ride for the first twenty miles.  I almost dumped the bike twice as I navigated through stretch of slippery mud.  The next one hundred and sixty miles to Washington should be interesting if not a real slog.  

        We found two great places along the trail for lunch and dinner before stopping for night on the other side of the canal. No showers but  a dip in the Potomac River did the job  The trains are paralleling the trail and we are hoping that the train horns will not be blaring every thirty minutes as was the case last night. The volume of train traffic funneling through the Gap is astounding.  Coal and oil cars, stacked up trailer trucks and standard freight cars are passing by in the thousands. 

      The Great Allegheny Paasage and the C&Q canal trails are beautiful in every aspect.  The mountainous landscape and temperate forest which surrounds them makes for a very enjoyable ride. The ride to Washington should take another three days.  Meanwhile the four of us have our tents set up with the site to ourselves.  The bullfrogs in the Lillie covered canal are croaking away and the crickets are making a racket.  It is very pleasant as I lie in my tent writing this blog.