July 4, 2016
Almost a state
The weather forecast called for rain starting around noon. We were determined to arrive in Sharpsburg before the rain arrived, so we left promptly at 7:00. Because it was the 4th of July there was no traffic to worry about on the roads from Frederick back to the C&O canal towpath trail.
Once again there were many cycle tourists along the C&O. Every few miles along the trail there are places to camp. Nothing fancy - just a clearing, a water pump and a porta-potty. Many of the cyclists looked like they were camping. The canal featured more locks. Many of the locks still had an adjacent old stone lock keeper's house. At least some of these houses can be rented - an interesting alternative to camping along the trail and staying in a town.
The aqueduct over the Cactoctin river was not quite as spectacular as the Monocacy aqueduct.
In due course we arrived at the point of land across from Harpers Ferry where many paths and errands meet. First of all there is the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. It is also a junction of the C&O trail, Appalachian trail and Maryland Heights trail. There is the canal and lock #33. There are two B&O railroad bridges crossing the Potomac and a RR tunnel. There are also the ghostly remains of stone footings for bridges from Harpers Ferry that once crossed the Potomac and Shenandoah. Finally there is the Sandy Hook road for cars.
We walked across the Appalachian trail bridge to the West Virginia side of the river. When we got to the other side we thought we were in West Virginia. Later perusal of Google Maps indicates that we were tricked by a thin sliver of Maryland that runs along the South bank of the Potomac. We were disappointed to discover we had almost, but not quite, entered a new state. What possible reason could there be for not putting the state line in the middle of the river where it belongs?
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A few miles down the trail from Harpers Ferry we had to stop because a big tree had fallen across the trail.
As we were making our way past the tree another tandem couple, Charlie and Sue, appeared heading in the opposite direction. It turned out that they had left Iowa on exactly the same day we had started our trip from Florida. They had many entertaining stories of places they had traveled on their tandem, some of which they have documented on Crazy Guy. We could have talked for hours, but rain was coming so we continued on our way to Sharpsburg.
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The guest house we are staying in in Sharpsburg oozes character. The house was already standing when the battle of Antietam was fought. Kerry's favorite feature of the house is the basement. Some of the basement walls are built of field stone, but part of the basement is carved into the bedrock of the hill on which the house sits. It is like being in a cave. The basement is naturally cool, which would be an asset if team S did not prefer a room temperature of 82 degrees.
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