August 30. Another Flat and Bike Bunkhouse

  Where we camped last night, the train track was on the West Virginia side of the Potomac.  Because we were at the point of a long peninsula on the Maryland side we could hear the trains for a long time as they went around the peninsula on the other side. From the shore of the river, you could just see the train in several spots through the trees.  Since we had seen trains that seemed abnormally long to us on earlier days, Kay counted the cars on a couple as best she could, one was well over two hundred and one was about 150.  We also saw the Amtrak train.  

  Today we got up to an eastern screech owl calling.  It was a nice morning but several days ago the weather report was for rain and the last we knew it would be starting sometime in the middle of the day.   We had something to eat and walked down the path to look at the Potomac, and it was about 8" lower than the night before!  This made us curious if we could wade across, as the river was quite wide there and the current was less strong than yesterday. We got a little farther than yesterday but it started to get deeper and we didn't dare go any farther.  When we got back, Jim noticed his rear tire was flat,  the same tire that was flat 3 days ago in Cumberland.  We found a very small puncture but with two flats in the same tire, we decided to check with the bike shop in Hancock. This is also where we had planned to spend the night and we had gone a little extra yesterday so hopefully we could get there today before the rain. 

   The towpath was a two-track most of the time, with the grass grown up at least a foot in the center and on the sides. 

We again saw deer and herons today.  When we got to Little Orleans we heard that the West Maryland Rail Trail, which we would be joining soon, was just up the road. We got on it, went a short ways--and had to get off it again, back down to the canal towpath by a very nice ramp-bridge.  This was due to the old railroad tunnel being closed off because it was a refuge for bats, and the trail being directed down to the C&O to get around it.  In the next part of the towpath, construction workers were laying down a thick, very rideable crushed limestone coating which took us to another ramp and back up to the paved rail trail.  Most of the time we were still going along the canal, just on the opposite site, but sometimes we hugged the bluff while the canal headed away following the river.  We noticed that shortly after we left the towpath, that it was back to a two-track.  

   Along this trail we saw a couple large fields of sorghum and saw a line of large turkeys crossing the trail ahead of us. We also saw a good-sized turtle sitting right on the edge of the path. 

   The bike shop mechanic found damage to Jim's tire so replaced the tire and also had a shifting cable replaced on Kay's bike that was sticking somewhat. 

           Kay's bike getting the cable replaced.

  The bike shop has a bike hostel behind the shop which has a long lean-to with a screened-in front containing a series of bunks with yoga pad or similar on them.  There are also two port-a-potties and two showers, a refrigerator, and an outdoor area with a fire pit, chairs and picnic tables.   This is where we were planning to stay and we timed it well as while the bikes were being worked on, it began to pour hard.  While we were chatting with the bike shop people 5 other people came in off the trail all wet and muddy.  At least some of  them were planning on staying at a nearby hiker biker campground and were very glad to stay here instead.