GAP + C&O Trip ... in 24 Hours

Trip Planning

For several years I have had my eye on a trip on the GAP and C&O.  These two trails form a 340 mile "soft surface", off-road trail linking Pittsburgh and Washington DC.  My first foray on the trail was about 15 years ago.  A professor at Penn State runs a cycling class where the final exam is a century ride on the GAP trail.  The college student riders would start near the Salisbury Viaduct and ride Northwest to end in McKeesport.  I joined them for the final ride.  At that time, the trail had significant missing pieces near Pittsburgh, so we ended the route early.    I was primarily a marathon runner then, so I managed to squeak out the 100 miler on "running legs" but always vowed to return someday to explore more.

The GAP is the Great Allegheny Passage.  It follows an abandoned rail line that used to serve the coal and steel industries that once made this part of the nation the most concentrated area of industry and wealth in the entire world.  The 150 mile trail ends in Cumberland, MD where it immediately joins with the C&O trail.  The C&O trail is comprised of the abandoned Chesapeake & Ohio Canal towpath, a 184.5 mile trip down to Washington, DC.  All told, the combined trails span 336 miles from end to end and provide a great trip through American history and some amazing scenery.

I've been wanting to do this trip for more than two years, but bad weather and a busy schedule have all conspired to keep it at a distance. This weekend I was supposed to go race the Wilderness 101 mountain bike race in State College PA, one that I've done several years in a row now.  I decided at the last minute that I'd much rather try this trip instead and so switched gears at the very last minute.  I already had the weekend "reserved" and the weather was super.  I figured now was the time if I was ever going to do the trip. 

I absolutely love my Salsa Fargo.  I use it for road rides, gravel rides, exploration, casual riding, and even through two extremely hard Dirty Kanza 200 races.  I cleaned her up and loaded her with a good selection of bags.

I had to pack light enough to be quick, but take enough provisions to make it through.  On my Fargo, I had a gas tank bag, a feedbag and and tangle bag, all Revelate Designs.  I had a garmin GPS and a Spot tracker so my friends and family could follow my progress without me having to stop all the time to text them.  I had a SP dynamo hub hooked up to a super bright headlight and also a USB charger to keep the GPS juiced.  I took just a few tools, a very light change of clothes for the end, and tons of food.  I risked it by not taking any cycling clothes to change into, no jacket, and no other footwear.  The one place I didn't skimp was water carrying capacity; I mounted four water bottle cages and was glad I did. 

I had read an article in Bicycle Times about a tandem couple trying to complete the whole trail in 24 hours.  I thought this sounded like a neat challenge and would give it a try.  I have been wanting to explore more of the extreme adventure racing genre, expanding my horizons beyond a "long day race".  This trail and trip seemed to be the perfect distance and opportunity to try my first thru-night ride.  The tandem couple had a support crew following them along, providing food, water and support at very regular intervals.  Instead I opted to follow the "self-support" mantra of adventure racing relying only on what I brought with me and what I could buy or scrounge while enroute (in reality I had no choice -- no one was stupid enough to volunteer chasing me along the route all day and night).  With regularly spaced towns, I figured I always could bail safely into some B&B for the night if I couldn't make it through; the risks were as about as minimal as possible. 

My general plan was to drive to Pittsburgh early on Friday morning.  Start riding from Pittsburgh around 9am.  Get through Cumberland by dark.  Ride through the night and finish in DC sometime around 9am the next morning.  Logistically I had to figure out a way to get back to Pittsburgh with my bike.  Shuttles were expensive (about $500).  There was a Greyhound Bus leaving at 11am each day and an Amtrak train leaving at 4pm.  Both of these options required disassembling and stuffing my bike in a box, which I didn't have.  I guessed that I would be able to figure all this out once I got there and trusted that in an adventure like this, you just figure things out.  (Note: I have since learned that Amtrak just equipped their trains for roll-on service early this Fall). 

5am Friday, July 25

I woke up very early on Friday, July 25.  After walking the dog (one hour) and stuffing my face with my regular two breakfasts (another hour), I left home at 5am and drove the three hours from central Ohio to Pittsburgh.  I got settled into the First Center garage and hauled my Fargo out of the back of the car.   A guard monitoring the garage wasn't eager to let me in, figuring that I was going to be "on trail" for several days leaving my car to fill up his garage.  I managed to convince him that I would have it out of there by tomorrow night and he let me in.   I found the GAP path right behind the garage and easily followed a few street signs that led me the two miles or so down to Point State Park, the official start of the GAP trail.  There was only one other father/son team there heading out on the trail.  Official depart time 8:50am Friday. 

It was easy enough to follow the trail out of town and I had only a few minutes of traffic lights and things to negotiate.  Pittsburgh puts you on a dedicated trail fairly quickly.  I crossed the Hot Metal bridge just a few miles into the trip.  

The trail was paved for a while, maybe 20 miles or so.  I went by about 50 or so "through riders" in this segment who, like me, where all headed to DC albeit on a longer time scale.  Once I got through McKeesport, it got more remote and turned to crushed cinder / dirt.  Trail traffic became much sparser except for close proximity to a few towns. 

12:10pm Friday July 25th

I met this snake sunning on the trail just outside of Connelsville where I stopped for two cold drinks, a bag of chips and to refill my bottles, mile 60 or so.  I seem to need more food than my other fit riding buddies.  And I seem to need to eat earlier in a ride/race.  So I was keenly aware of loading up on calories constantly during this first 100 miles. 

 Before I knew it, I was sailing through Ohiopyle (Mile 75).  I had expected it to be more congested, more people.  There were a few crowds, but I got through quickly with only a stop for a photo op.  Last time I came through was a Saturday and it was so packed I had to walk my bike through. 

2pm, Friday July 25

At Confluence (Mile 87) I was planning a meal stop.  I had pictured the trail going right through town with numerous quick food choices, but it wasn't how I remembered.  I think the trail must have been re-routed away from its passage directly through town.  I had to go off trail for a half mile to find a barbecue joint.  Given my time constraints I didn't explore further into town.  I spent 20 to 30 minutes at the barbecue place, about 2pm or so, mile 90ish.  They actually had a porta-john with piped in music!  This was the only time I had to heed nature's call on the trip ... again, every stop is another few minutes I am not making progress towards Washington.

5:10pm, Friday July 25

Next up was the Salisbury Viaduct (Mile 117).  This is an impressively loooooong span.  There was a noticeable uphill grind most of the way on this first third.  I had been scaling the Western face of the Eastern Continental Divide for the last 40 miles or so.  The grade was not steep, but it was noticeable.  Worse there was a headwind, about 5 to 7 mph.  Again, noticeable.  The sun was hot where there was not shade.

I didn't take too many pictures on this trip and there were so many things to photograph.  Pursuing the 24-hour goal kept me humming along and kept the stops to an absolute minimum.  At this point I was roughly 35 min ahead of the sub 24-hour goal.  I was almost at the top of the divide too and looking forward to a downhill tilt.

Having grown up in Central PA and spending too much of my childhood on a mountain bike in the remote foothills, I have become aware of the subtle changes in flora and geography as the trail/road nears the top of the numerous ridges.  I could definitely "feel" the elevation I had achieved over the last few hours.  Finally I hit the Contintental Divide, about mile 127, 6pm or so.  

 I took a quick pic of the Big Savage Tunnel, not bothering to get off the bike. 

 And a quick snap of the Mason Dixon Line.

 After the Continental Divide, it was 2% downhill for 20 miles or so.  I really enjoyed sailing down this stretch.  After about 4pm, I saw very few people on the trail.  I think most people quit early in the afternoon.  Here the trail parallels the famous steam railway, but it wasn't in operation at the moment.

During this GAPt phase I must have passed a hundred or more riders.  Most were day riders, only about 10% looked like they were carrying gear for the whole trip.  Only one rider passed me.  He was on a Salsa Ti Warbird and went by at 22mph or so.  During this first phase I had been managing just over 16mph average rolling speed.  My legs felt very solid -- I had taken it easy and felt well positioned for the 60% of the trail that still lay ahead.

7pm, Friday July 25

I made it to Cumberland around 7pm.   In Cumberland I had to again go off trail to find some quick food.  I had to settle for Wendy's (yuck) and snarfed a burger and extra large lemonade.  I hit a gas station for two bottles of ice tea and stuffed a 10 piece chicken nugget into my feedbag.  I topped off my four water bottles.  I was planning on stopping at a C-store somewhere before midnight but that never happened. 

I was more than an hour ahead of schedule at this point, mostly due to the high speed descent into Cumberland.  I burned about 25 min in Cumberland knowing this was a key stop to refuel before the long night ahead.  

Dusk was arriving as I settled onto the C&O.  The trail was in better shape than I had anticipated.  Yes, there were patches of mud most all the way, but three days without rain had dried most of them up.  The GAP trail is largely crushed cinders.  It is a flat and relatively smooth surface.  You could do this trail on a road bike, but a cross bike (28mm to 35mm) tires would be perfect.  My 2.3" mtn bike tires were overkill, but I don't think they slowed me down much at all.  The C&O is a bit rougher.  This trail is some gravel, but I would say it is more dirt than anything.  As it was dry, the surface was relatively firm.  There were numerous potholes all along the way which I could dodge or ride through.  Most were dried up but some were still slick and gunky in the bottom.  I remember several moments in the middle of the night where my bike slid sideways, fishtailing slightly, and I had to pull myself out of a fall.  There were enough roots and potholes to keep me on my toes.  It was difficult to settle into a rhythm as the bouncing was just enough to disrupt me and keep me out of the saddle.  Here I am glad I had the mtn bike tires.  In the daylight I am sure I would have been fine with cross tires (or even road tires).  But in the dark, when it is hard to see relief in a flat, uni-dimensional headlight, I could trust my mountain bike tires to roll through things I couldn't see well enough to dodge. 

I stopped taking pictures at this point because it was dark and I didn't see any major landmarks.  Clearly this was not going to be a trip that wins any photography awards.

The C&O has a very different character than the GAP.  Much more remote feeling.  I had expected to go through towns, see gas stations and meet lots of people.  But I was enclosed in this very dense tree canopy and felt like I was a million miles away from anyone else.  There were hardly any structures on or near the trail, let alone businesses.  Looking at the map, there are towns nearby, but you don't see them on the trail.  I only saw campgrounds about every 10 miles or so.  The signs for towns off the trail are all so small that I couldn't read them in the dark.  It is hard for me to tell how much of this is attributable to real character difference and how much is due to the darkness. 

Throughout the day there was lots of wildlife to see.  I caught view of two snakes, a trail chicken, a wild turkey, and zillions of bunnies (rabbits will not become extinct anytime soon).  On the C&O I spotted many many deer especially at dusk, three possums, and two hoot owls.  There were tons of small bugs, clouds of them, on the C&O.  I suspect this was partly because of the night hour.  But I had to ride with my mouth shut or I'd be swallowing them the whole way.  Squeeters too, all over the C&O which provided extra motivation to keep the wheels rolling.

9pm July 25 - 7am July 26

I did fine with my first thru-night ride.  I had no issues with nodding off or hallucinating.  The trail conditions meant I had to constantly scan the trail for mud pits and dodge them all night long.  It was like a 9 hour video game marathon session -- spot a pothole and dodge it, look for the next one.  The last two hours, between 4am and 6am were the hardest mentally, mostly because I had expected to encounter daylight much earlier than it finally came.  There were several sections of the C&O that were a bit tricky to navigate.  It looked like there might be sharp drop offs on the side of the trail, but it was so dark that I couldn't tell.   The PawPaw tunnel and surrounding area was a bit difficulty to navigate in the dark; I think it was a chunkier rock surface here on the trail.  Again, I was glad I had the mountain bike tires and many years of mountain bike racing experience to draw upon.  Only once did I round a bend a bit too fast and almost fall off into the black abyss.  I had no idea if it was a 1 foot drop or something much worse.  I had to keep the speed in check.

I saw almost no one.   As I was passing campgrounds in the early evening, I would spot a few campers still up, circling around fire pits.  Early on Saturday morning, I saw a little trail traffic -- usually fishermen getting an early catch.  Between 11pm and 6am I saw only one couple.  It was about 1am on some remote stretch of the trail.  I think they were smoking a joint or something.  My headlight is so bright that I am sure it was blinding them.  I tried to deflect/cover it a bit so I wasn't so offending. Other than that couple, I felt like I was a million miles from anyone else for most all night. 

My biggest issue was lack of services.  I knew that by riding at night most of the regular stores would be closed.  But I thought I could find a late night or 24-hour C-store somewhere.  No such luck.  I ran out of water around 1am and had to search.   The park service has pumps at the campgrounds along the trail.  I tried one at 1:30am and pumped for 10 minutes ... nothing came out.  I tried a lodge of some kind ... no spigot.  So I rode another 45 minutes to find another pump.  This one had water after about a minute of pumping.  I filled all my bottles and made it through to the end.  I think I "wasted" about 30 min or so searching for water inefficiently; that was frustrating as I was watching the 24-hour goal tick away.  I was getting sick of Cliff Bars and wanted a real meal.  I started to feel low on energy with about six hours to go.  Those last six hours were a slog, and I suspect it has as much to do with lack of food than overall leg fatigue.

I had wanted desperately to try for the magical 24 hour mark.  I was ahead of schedule arriving in Cumberland.  A long stop there put me just ahead of schedule.  The bumpiness of the C&O made it hard to keep my 15mph goal pace, especially at night.  With about 6 hours to go, I could see it slipping away from my grasp along with my fading energy level.  I knew I wasn't going to make it.  So at that point I kind of mentally gave up on that goal and went into a slower mode instead of suffering greatly only to miss the mark by five minutes. All my years of race experience was helpful to let me do the "mental math" accurately so I knew how close I was to my goal and when it was reasonable to give up.

7am, Saturday July 26

The last few miles of the trail had some increased traffic.  The sunny pleasant Saturday morning had brought out tourists and locals running, dog walking and biking on the trail.  They slowed me a bit, but I was so shot at this point, I didn't care.  And I knew my 24 hour mark wasn't happening.

I pulled into Georgetown and made my way over to the Thompson Boat Center where the trail ends at Mile Marker 0 at 9:27am.  People had warned me that it is actually hard to find the official terminus of the trail.  I am glad I researched it ahead of time, because it was still difficult.  It would have been frustratingly impossible otherwise. 

My final stats were 336.5 miles.  24:37:00 elapsed time, 22:49:00 riding time.  14.8 mph riding pace.  Almost 6k feet of elevation gain.  Here is the link to my strava page and GPS file for this ride.

10am, Saturday July 26

I had almost no time to stop and celebrate or rest.  I still hadn't eaten since 7pm the night before in Cumberland.  I was filthy and tired.  But I also had to shift into "get home" mode. 

I wanted to make the 11am bus, so no time to stop and rest.  I "borrowed" a hose at the Thompson Boat Center to spray off my bike and legs.  I was covered in tons of trail dust!  I rode through downtown DC over to Union Station.  This was harder than I imagined because there is a highway that cuts behind the Lincoln Memorial.  It took me a while just to make the first mile or two, then I was fine once I got onto the Mall.  I arrived at Union Station about 25 min after finishing the trail.

It took a while to find and get my bike up to the Greyhound station at the top floor.  I bought at ticket at 10:15am (45 min till the bus departs) but had to get a bike box; the Greyhound clerk said I could get a box either at the Amtrak counter or at the Post Office.  Since the Amtrak line was hugely long, I decided to aim for the Post Office.  First I went into a bathroom to wash myself down and change into my regular clothes out of my scuzzy biking clothes.  Then hustled down to the US Post Office and waited in line for a few minutes.  No bike box.  Ugh!  Now it was 25 minutes till bus departure.   I went to the Amtrak counter where there was a long line. Bought a bike box and waited for it to be delivered at the freight entrance.  Finally got the box with like 7 minutes to spare.  Carried the box and my bike back upstairs to greyhound and started scrambling like mad to get it into the box.  Off with the seat, the bars, the pedals.  Stuffed everything in the box.  No tape to seal it, so just dragged it through the terminal.   Arrived just at 11am with my bus pulling out.  Ugh again!

At this point I still haven't eaten since 7pm the night before.  There is another bus leaving for Pittsburgh in 20 minutes.  Not enough time to run downstairs to get food and get back up ... I wasn't leaving the line to miss my second bus.   Unfortunately this bus was 45 minutes late, but we were never given any status updates.  So I never felt like I could step out of line to get food at the risk of missing a bus.  Finally got on the bus (with some rustling getting the sort-of-boxed bike on the bus).  We stopped at a Highway rest area for about 20 minutes.  Finally some food (sort of)!

7pm Saturday, July 26

We arrived in Pittsburgh about 7pm.  I got another bite to eat and then retrieved my car from the parking garage.  Seems strange to think I had just dropped it off about 36 hours ago, so much had happened in that small amount of time!  I drove the three hours back home and arrived back in central Ohio around 10:15pm on Day 2.  Funny thing -- my wife was hosting a party at our house (we do this like once a year at most), and so I walked in to my house (still filthy) to join the party in progress.  Beer never tasted so good!  I ended up going 44.5 consecutive hours without sleep.  It caught up to me over the next few days.

Parting Thoughts

I like to think that adventure riders and racers cosmically mix with their events.  When I do something huge like this, I think a little part of that trail comes home with me.  I feel like a different person.  At the same time, I think a little of me stays out on that trail, scattered out there somewhere over all those dusty miles.  

I would like to do this trip again as a three or four day option.  I know I missed a lot by zipping by everything and by riding half of the trail in the dark.   There are so many places to visit, explore, photograph and enjoy when you aren't whizzing by them at 16mph in the middle of the night.  In the years that I had been planning to do this trip, I had been reading about the trail history.  There are two excellent texts that I would heartily recommend to the book nerds out there.  The first is An Uncommon Passage written by Edward Muller.  It is a great history of the GAP trail and lays out all the important historical figures and settings during the big steel/coal era.  The second book is Home on the Canal by Elizabeth Kytle.  It details the long history of the C&O canal.  I love riding my bike through ghost towns and post-industrial landscapes after having done a bit of research to learn about the people who used this land before me. Otherwise I would only be gawking at the pretty scenery blissfully unaware of all that had unfolded there. 

I would also like to try the trip again to bag the sub-24 goal.  I know I could do this now I know what to expect.  Self-support definitely has a cost, because it does take time to find food and water and such.  But it is totally doable.  I would pack more food (real food) and spend more time locating late night food options so I know where they are ahead of time.  I think this trip is easier going East, getting the hill over with in the first half.  But it might also be easier to do the C&O in daylight as it is a rougher surface.  I might also take my cross bike next time which is usually about 1mph faster for me.

I also would like to bring my family to do parts of the trail on a multi-day, easier tour.   I'm lucky to have a cycling wife and two adventuresome kids. 

This is a fantastic trip!  My journey spurred my father and sister into action.  They attempted a 3-day crossing only to be outdone by the remnants of a hurricane which dumped buckets of rain on their head on Day 1.  I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a little cycling adventure.  What an amazing asset this trail is ... and to finally have all the pieces in place.  I hope more long-distance trails like this pop up!  Join Adventure Cycling and Rails-to-Trails to help promote the development of experiences like this.