Day 53 Cumberland MD to Little Orleans MD

Stats: mileage: 51; total climb: 304; total mileage: 2391

We are now in the 13th state of our trip, Maryland. It seems unreal that we have come so far!
Once again, it rained-while we were sleeping and having breakfast-and we missed it! As we left the motel, the skies looked "good news/bad news" but we set off any way.
This boardwalk leads from the Visitors' Center to the actual start of the C & O Canal. It may be wet, but there is no rain coming down.
Paul is ready for the adventure. This is his fourth and my third trip on the C & O. Justice Douglas knew what he was talking about when he worked to make this treasure into a linear park managed by the Park Service.
Although we did not get rained upon, we paid the price for riding on a wet canal path. It's just stone dust and it gives Paul something else to do at the end of the day!
This is the first lock as you head towards Washington, DC. Today the lock tenders house was open and the volunteer was very informative. One of the idiosyncrasies of the C & O Canal is that this is Lock 75 and there are only 74 locks on the canal.
For most of today, the old canal was to the left of the towpath and is a shady wooded path.
This lock has water in it. The gates are gone so the water is not contained. Other places along the canal are dry.
The Potomac River runs along the right of the towpath and was visible through the trees for most of our trip. Sometimes the river seems to not move and other times it goes rushing by. Frequently the river looks as though you could walk across it.
After lunch in Paw Paw, WV, we headed to one of the marvels of the canal, the Paw Paw Tunnel. It was quite an engineering feat. With the opening of the tunnel, five miles of the Potomac were reduced to 5/8 mile of canal. This is the west portal.
There are over six million bricks used in the lining of the tunnel. It is only wide enough for one canal boat at a time. The railing that you see is the original and has the rope marks along the top.
The east portal at last. This picture is for the survivors of the Tour de Torture I.
After another 15 miles of riding along the towpath, we made it to Little Orleans. We turned off the trail and rode up the hill to the Little Orleans Lodge. Then we made our way back to the only place in town, Bill's Place for dinner. A perfect first day back on the C & O Canal.