John's C&O Canal Adventure
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Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Pigman's Ferry
This was our first campsite, and to be honest, I overestimated our abilities. We went 16 miles on our first day, and it was four miles too many. We were fine until mile 12, but those last four were torture. We should have stopped at Irons Mountain after 10 miles, but there was a pretty sketchy homeless guy squatting there, so we pushed on. There was a pay campsite at mile 12, but we didn't have a reservation so we had to push on. My feet were destroyed by this point. Very disappointed in my boots, as I had pretty bad blisters, despite them fitting well and tending to hotspots as they developed. After we got our camp set up, an upstream biker asked if he could share the site. There was plenty of room, so of course we had no objection. We told him we just walked here from Cumberland, he said, "What? Did you lose a bet?"
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Lock 75
Lock 75. Its in pretty good shape! Downstream gates restored, water in the canal prism, masonry intact.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Lockhouse 75
This is the first lockhouse we came to, at lock 75. Squared timber construction. I found it interesting that a variety of construction techniques were used for the lockhouses, it seems there was no standard design for them.
Monday, June 17, 2024
Turtles! (and a secret otter)
The sections of the canal that still have water in them have quite a bit of aquatic wildlife. We saw lots of turtles, some snakes, and a rare treat, an otter! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it. The otter swam out onto a log and was watching us curiously. As I reached for my camera, my daughter was so excited to see the otter she screamed and dropped her trekking poles, scaring the critter off.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Saturday, June 15, 2024
What Is This?
I have no idea. There are brackets attached to it, perhaps for a platform. Maybe it was for loading cargo onto the canal boats, or fodder for the mules?
Friday, June 14, 2024
Ruins
One of the first canal structures we came upon was this small lock. I believe its a guard lock, used to control the amount of water in the canal prism. Its much too small to be a lift lock.
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Pigman's Ferry
This was our first campsite, and to be honest, I overestimated our abilities. We went 16 miles on our first day, and it was four miles too...
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I suppose a good place to start is with a bit of background information about me, that's a bit more in-depth from what can be squeezed ...
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I think its important to test your equipment. So this morning I decided to make scrambled eggs using my cooking gear, and having the food p...
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It's a long walk. I'm averaging 14 miles a day. Luckily, it's all flat terrain, and while I'll never say it's impossi...