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C&O Canal - Great Allegheny Passage Overview
By spokesman | April 10, 2008
It is possible to ride the 330 miles from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh on bicycle without using any roads. The Chessapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal towpath goes 180 miles from Georgetown in Washington D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland. A network of rail trails called the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) extends 150 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Pittsburgh. I did the complete ride about 5 years ago before the GAP was completed in 2006. There is an excellent guide book on the C&O canal by Mike High called The C&O Canal Companion
Unfortunately, there isn’t a book on the GAP portion of the ride as good as the Mike High book on the canal. One book is called Linking Up: Planning Your Traffic Free Bike Trip Between Pittsburgh and Washington, DC
This route provides an excellent opportunity for traffic free bicycle touring. There are airports that are accessible from the route at both end of the tour as well as Amtrak stations, so cyclists from other parts of the country can easily access the route. There are campsites and plenty of lodging options along the route, so both campers and inn-to-inn travelers have plenty of options. Several touring coompanies and groups offer supported tours.
I will post additional information on planning a trip, segments of the ride and key sights along the route in the future.
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Topics: C&O Canal/GAP |
August 1st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
[…] enough water so that you don’t run out. I always carry at least 2 water bottles. On my C&O/GAP tour, I carried 3 bottles since I knew that water stops would be far apart. On supported tours, this […]
September 16th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
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