Yah for no rain!! and an open bike shop :)

Hey John - I'm probably blurring bits of both together in my memory, to be honest. The first day of C&O I was quite interested in the locks, lock-houses, and canal vs. river views on both sides. But by lock 30 or so, it just wasn't as interesting, and my attention was focused much more on the trail itself as muddy wet obstacle rather than route.

There was one day I think I was getting a bit tired of "green tunnel" and that was Frostburg to Ohiopyle. There were some river views and bridges, but only a couple of towns (like Meyersdale & Rockwood). It was a pretty pleasant day, as I recall - the trail was something I no longer had to worry about as it was nice and even. It just seemed like fairly long stretches of nothing but trees. When there were views, the smoke kept them from being as interesting as they might have been, and that may have detracted from the experience as well.

Never having done a trail like this before, now that I think about it, the very mild grades with no real hills to climb keep the views a bit more in check. Last year, I remember stopping at a lot of hilltops and looking around to sort of see where I was and where I'd been, and gauge my progress. You don't get that on these trails so much.

I'm still glad for the experience - you're right, a good chunk of the C&O isn't much better than when mules were the primary traffic. It's clearly being improved substantially (the area around Harpers Ferry was great) but it's going to take a few years.

On boring scenery, did you mean "...especially the C&O" vs "...especially the GAP?" My wife would never do the C&O Towpath again - she said it was 3 days of being in a green tunnel. I've done the entire GAP, felt it had much more variety (city, green tunnel, riverview, industrial, etc.) and none of the green tunnels lasted much more than 10 miles.

As a local MD/DC cyclist, the Towpath today is lightyears better than it was 20 years or so ago when my wife and I did it. Much resurfacing, and the WMRR alternative have been huge improvements, but as you found out close to 1/2 the length is still not far from being what the mules used to plod along on!

Fortunately that was the only incident. Just saw the video of Rory meeting the VP. So cool!

I'm sorry you fell, but so glad it wasn't worse!

Musk thistle

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/76007-Carduus-nutans

Cute!

Sounds like the act of adding salsa to something.

Spotted knapweed

https://nwwildflowers.com/compare/?t=Centaurea+stoebe

Some kind of Brassica (mustard family)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53113-Brassica

Large bindweed

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75968/browse_photos?place_id=20

Soapwort

https://www.florafinder.org/Species/Saponaria_officinalis.php

Salsify

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/54143/browse_photos?place_id=20

Might be hoary alyssum

https://nwwildflowers.com/compare/?t=Berteroa+incana

Vetch

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/57317-Vicia-villosa