Invitation

Personal Invitation to Kate and Dion’s 4th Annual C&O Canal & Potomac River Bike Adventure

Image by dionhinchcliffe
Update 2: The full HD video of the trip itself is now up. We ended up going from above Hancock, MD down to Opequon Junction past Williamsport. A great time was had by all.

Update: The Official Movie Trailer For This Year’s Trip

Hi all,

Kate and I are organizing our 4th annual three day biking trip along the
Potomac this fall beginning Saturday, Sept. 3rd through Monday, Sept. 5th.
We are inviting you and yours to join us if interested. As usual, there will
be trail riding, sightseeing, and carb loading during the day and the usual
fun by the campfire under the stars at night. As always, we will personally
guide and host any and all that would like to come with us. The trip is
always one of our outdoor highlights of the year.

You can join us for as much or as little of the trip as you wish on any of
the three days or for the entire trip. Bikes are recommended — though not
required — for this adventure and you can go at your own pace the whole
way. This is also a kid-friendly adventure and anyone is welcome to attend,
though I recommend child trailers for anyone under 8 years old. There are
free improved (water & toilets) campgrounds along the Potomac about every 5
miles, so lodging is simple, cheap, and easy. I’ve enclosed full details
below. A planning map of the whole nature-packed, historic trip is attached.

We’ve done this many times over the last four years and it’s always a
terrific time and we hope to see you there. Please don’t hesitate to let us
know if you have any questions of any kind or want help planning. If you
can’t make it, it’s not a problem of course and you can track what we’re
doing anyway if interested (details below.)

Best,

Kate & Dion

FULL DETAILS OF KATE AND DION’S 4TH ANNUAL C&O CANAL & POTOMAC RIVER BIKE ADVENTURE — SEPTEMBER 2011

This outdoor adventure trip will be along the world-famous C&O Canal and the Potomac with water on at least one side of us at all times. Average temperatures at this time of year along the canal will be in the high 70s during the day while at night it’ll be in the high 50s, so it’s perfect for a longer trip like this one.

*** THE C&O TRAIL HAS FREQUENT CAR ACCESS POINTS, PLEASE JOIN US ANY TIME SATURDAY OR SUNDAY ****

The C&O Canal is one of the best maintained and longest bike trails in the world. It was originally envisioned by George Washington himself when he scouted it when he was in the British army before the revolution, and later become head of the C&O company before he became the nation’s first president. The C&O is beautifully maintained and its almost entirely flat route (the trail rises only at locks) currently goes for 300 miles from downtown DC in Georgetown up north continuously to Pittsburgh due to the recent completion of the Great Allegheny Passage project. The trip, as I mentioned above, is a idyllic one that is along the Potomac for the entire trip.

STARTING POINT: Brunswick, Maryland

We’re going to do a longer segment on this trip starting at the Visitor’s Center in the city of Brunswick at mile 55 and ride along the water up to picturesque Williamsport, Maryland at mile 100 by Monday over three days that includes stops at historic Harper’s Ferry and Sheperdstown, where the world’s first operational steam engine was demonstrated. The total distance for the three days will be 45 miles on firm gravel, or about 15 miles a day on average. So about 3-4 hours a day will be spent biking leisurely while taking in the great many sights and major landmarks on this segment of the trail (including Antietam and many key civil war locations that took place right on the canal itself). We’ll be seeing — and often biking over or stopping at — canal locks, bridges, aqueducts, rivers, picnic areas, river vistas, historical points of interest and much more.

Attached to this e-mail is a complete map of what we’re going to do. For this trip, we’ll pick the campsite that we like as we go along but it’s likely to be Dargan Bend or Antietam Creek (Night 1) and Killiansburg Cave or Opequon Junction (Night 2), see attached map for exact locations. The entire way along the whole ride is covered with small towns and scenic waterside views. While biking is the way to go (it’s gravel but road bikes work fine), you potentially have the option of hiking if you just want to catch up to us at one of the campsites, or even not hiking at all, just sleeping over. Please note that we might have to wait out a rain shower or two under a tree as well. This definitely means those who come must not mind getting a bit wet and dirty, though the ride is mostly quite comfortable. We’ll also see a great many animals including water turtles, frogs, heron, rabbits, deer, fish, horses, and cattle. Fortunately, there will be few bugs by the time we hit the trail in September.

Mobile phone service is available the whole way, though it’s not always 3G. You can see what a typical bike camping campsite looks like here from a trip a few years ago, we do travel in style and bring the latest high-tech conveniences (including coffee maker, solar shower, power bricks, laser light show, music, and more.)

*** WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO PICK US UP ON MONDAY IN WILLIAMSPORT AT TONY’S PIZZA AROUND 2PM ***

Also note that is a true, self-contained wilderness adventure: We must take everything that we’ll need including all food, water (we bring a water filter though there are many potable water pumps along the trail), tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, music, speakers, batteries, trash bags, solar panels, fire starters, snacks, and just about anything else you can think of including sunblock, GPS, first aid kids, complete spare parts, tools, and tubes for the bikes, cooking gear for 6 people, 3 lanterns, and more. We have comfortable chairs as well. All of this fits on our bike trailer (shown in picture in link above), but you will also have to carry a personal backpack with your effects (change of clothes and sleeping bag/blankets, toothbrush, comb, toilet paper, liquor, wine, any medication, etc.) We have extras of many things so let me or Kate know. I recommend that you acquire a pannier and a bag for your bike (~) even if you have a backpack. This will be required for your sleeping gear. Please contact us if you’d like any help planning, we’ve done this many times and can help make sure you have everything you need.

The plan for a typical day is to ride a bit, explore the great many features of the C&O trail, enjoy nature, eat lunch in a town, find a good campsite, collect firewood, set up, slow cook food, listen to music, read, play, and watching stars (I’m bringing a good electronic star map). As usual, we’ll bring gadgets/toys for the kids too including movies and PSP games. Important: The goal is not to travel huge distances but to enjoy the trail and company.

**** YOU CAN CALL US AT 202-538-0059 ON THE TRAIL SO WE CAN SET A RENDEZVOUS POINT IF YOU’RE GOING TO CATCH UP. ***

If you can’t make it and just want to come along virtually, we’re going to be posting pictures and video live on flickr.com/photos/dionhinchcliffe during the whole ride, you can check in us remotely throughout the weekend. You can also view a recent overnight C&O trip we did last year with William and Seth.

*** PLEASE DO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS IF YOU LIKE. ***

Start: Meet at Brunswick Visitor’s Center in Brunswick (see map) the morning of September 3rd as early as possible (or at any access point along the trail later in the day on Friday or any time on Saturday, please call while enroute)
When: September 3rd-5th, 2011
Finish: Tony’s Pizza in Williamsport, MD ~2PM EST. We’ll have a high-carb lunch at this inexpensive and great local place.
How Long: 3 days, pick up is Monday early afternoon.
Trail Details: Mile-by-Mile Guide
Sights along the way:

– The Appalachian Trail is the same as the C&O trail just past Brunswick, so if you haven’t hiked the AT, now you’ll be able to say you did.
– The Antietam Battlefield. We may not actually visit it depending on time, but it’s close.
– Harper’s Ferry. We might go here for lunch or to resupply, terrific views of the Potomac.
– Sharpsburg.
– McMahon’s Mill. A very scenic mill that still operates on the C&O.
– Falling Waters. The place where the Confederate Army crossed the Potomac to escape the Union Army, greatly extending the war.
– Sheperdstown. A nice little burg with good food and restaurants.
– Williamsport. There is an incredible hands-on canal museum here for kids where they can build canals, operate a lock, and be a captain on a canal boat.

Other great C&O Canal facts:

– There are over 1,375 structures along the trail and five major habitat zones including 10 major bikeable aqueducts.
– The canal itself used to cross high over the Potomac in Georgetown and go into Alexandira. It did this with one of the world’s largest aqueducts, now replaced by the Key Bridge. An incredible view of what it was like.
– George Washington was the first person to rigorously map the Potomac and he was the one that originally suggested the canal. The canal became one of his dearest projects that he would spend his entire life on. He eventually became the president of the Powtowmack Canal Company after the revolutionary war, an early version of the canal that went as far as Great Falls.
– John Quincy Adams personally turned over the first spade of dirt for the full C&O Canal on July 4th, 1828 at Great Falls.
– Many claim the Civil War started at Harper’s Ferry, helped on by a C&O Canal lock keeper at Lock 33 named John Cook who fomented a slave uprising and spied on the south using his strategic vantage point along the canal. Note: We’ll actually see Lock 33 on this trip, where John Cook conducted his activites that eventually got him hanged by the south for treason.
– Abraham Lincoln was one of the presidents of the C&O Canal Company.
– For any of you "X-People" out there, the current record for biking the entire C&O Canal from Cumberland to Georgetown (185 miles) is 11 hours and 41 minutes held by Paul Gruenberger and Ralph Olinger set October 1994. This was a supported ride starting from Cumberland. Paul Gruenberger also claims the unsupported record time of 12 hours and 36 minutes set in September 1991.
– The C&O Canal trail has over 150 culverts to accommodate the streams and rivers it crosses, we’ll actually inspect some of the older ones since they are marvels of ornate 19th century architecture.
– After WWII, Congress tried to develop the canal and towpath as a parkway. However, the idea of turning the canal over to automobiles was opposed by some, including United States Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas (also the longest serving Supreme Court justice in history.) In March 1954, Douglas led an eight-day hike of the towpath from Cumberland to D.C. Although 58 people participated in one part of the hike or another, only nine men, including Douglas, hiked the full . Popular response to and press coverage of the hike turned the tide against the parkway idea and, on January 8, 1971, the canal was designated a National Historical Park by then President Nixon.

We do hope to see some of you, it’s going to be a blast.

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