Cumberland to Frostburg

Day 3 was more of the same on the towpath. I thought this bog was particularly striking when I passed it: One thing I decided was that I couldn't sleep at a campsite anywhere near an old canal lockhouse. Any creepy historical building nearby I knew would scare me silly that night so I ended up staying in a nice open field at a campsite called Pigman's Ferry, which is a stupid name but I got over it.

I did meet one fellow biker, a middle-aged fire fighter from Cumberland named Keith. He was very nice and informative about the trail, and immediately became protective as I told him about my solo status. He asked me if I would be staying at a "populated campsite" that night which I wasn't against doing, but I had planned to get further along the trail that day, past the busier campsite. So I was nonchalant and upbeat about staying alone at a site further up, and maybe that won him over. Keith took this picture of me and sent it to me over email:


Keith gave me good advice to continue after the C & O to the Allegheny Highlands Trail which is a recently almost-completed rail trail from Cumberland, MD to Pittsburgh, PA. So FYI, you can bike all the way from DC to Pittsburgh on bike trails! I had already decided to get on the Allegheny based on Nick's (my sister's husband) recommendation and ride on it from Cumberland to Frostburg. Keith convinced me to continue on a little longer and since I needed to be a little further north in order to be parallel with Columbus, OH, I stayed on for about 100 miles. He also told me West Virginia was "hilly. VERY hilly" and that was all the pressure I needed to stay on a flat rail trail.

This is picturesque Cumberland, MD:


Though of course, it wasn't all flat as I found out on Day 4. The first 22 miles of the Allegheny trail rises in elevation from around 600 feet above sea level in Cumberland to over 2000 feet at the eastern continental divide. The first 16 miles to Frostburg, MD are the worst. I started along easy enough, and it LOOKED flat...but my bike computer told me I was going about 6 miles an hour, when I usually go 10-15. I thought, am I that tired? Under-fed? Dehydrated? Is my chain too dry? No--I was just going uphill for 16 miles. I had to stop to rest every half mile or mile; I went through 2 full bottles of water just on those 16 miles (there was also no tree cover so the sun beats down on you the whole time); and basically had to treat the total 30 miles I had done that day like the normal 60 miles I was doing on the canal path.

But Frostburg was a great destination. I stayed overnight at a little hotel at the top of the hill near the train depot, right off the trail. The owners were super nice and though they hadn't finished building and renovating the campsite next to the hotel, they let me pitch my tent for free and take a shower in one of their guest rooms for $7.50. The town of Frostburg caters mainly to the college students at Frostburg State...a tattoo parlor, a bike shop, a bunch of bars and pool halls. I pretty much stuck to my campsite. I was a little put off by the guy at the bike shop who wasn't sufficiently impressed by the fact that I had just completed the C & O in three days and had made it up that steep incline to Frostburg. This is me after I finished the C & O:


Tunnels
I passed through a number of tunnels on the C & O and Allegheny trails ranging from slightly disturbing to freakishly frightening. By far the most frightening was the PawPaw Tunnel on the C & O. It's over 1800 feet long and feels like you're in there for an eternity--no light, no sound but that of water dripping from the ceiling...It smells like clay inside and the temperature cools down substantially, which was its one redeeming quality. I used my headlamp and could literally only see the few feet in front of me where the beam of light hit the path. I felt like I was riding faster than I ever had rode before and I don't think I blinked until I left the tunnel behind me. Here's PawPaw before I went in:


The subsequent tunnels were not as long and I think it was the Big Savage Tunnel on the Allegheny trail that had dim lights built into the ceiling that made everything relatively visible.

One old train tunnel on the Allegheny had been closed and the trail...blazers, I guess they're called, created a detour around the tunnel. This was by far the most beautiful part of that trail. Much more wild and rugged than the rest of it and closed in by huge trees.