June 9, 2022
to Little Orleans
A rememberable day. I had heard many things about the C&O, few of them good. Today, I saw and felt all of that. There had been some rain. The trail was rocky and muddy. It was not as bad as the Illinois towpaths, The Hennepin and the M&I. We had our group lunch near the Pawpaw tunnel.
The tunnel itself was open but the trail was closed immediately after. The detour took you over the Pawpaw mountain and then parallel to the trail to where it was open. It was steep and rocky and had some roots etc on the way open. It was steeper on the way down but it was a wider construction road. Only one of the ebikers tried to go via the detour. The rest chose to take the vehicle to the b&b where we were staying. Three non e-bikes also chose to finish before the detour. Everyone and every bike was caked with mud. There was a hose outside the lodging that got much use. Will my jersey ever be clean again?
Two of the three cyclists staying at the b&b chose to ride up the hill to it. It was listed as 1300 ft in 6 miles, but it was also an incredible 600 ft in the last 1.5 miles. A steady Grade of 7 to 9 %.We will go down it tomorrow.
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 1,683 miles (2,709 km)
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