DC to Pittsburgh, Day 3 (63 miles)
I awoke on day 3 to a very cold morning and a beautiful display of fog lifting off the river.

Sunrise on the river.

Fog in the morning.

After cooking oatmeal for breakfast, we packed up camp and moved on to the final third of the C&O towpath. The C&O canal had stiff competition from the railroad during the later part of its existence. Although the railroad ran directly parallel to the canal and provided a much more efficient transportation link between DC and Cumberland, the canal was seen as a more reliable alternative, as it did not rely on any kind of fancy technology -- just mules pulling boats down the stream. A 22 mile stretch of this former railroad has been converted to the paved Western Maryland Rail Trail, providing modern day travelers an alternative to the dirt towpath. We took advantage of this trail, giving us a nice speed boost for its duration.

The railroad was cut straight through the mountains.

Today's ride took us through Hancock, MD, where we had lunch at Weaver's restaurant, a tradition for towpath travelers. I think they just appreciate the all-you-can-eat salad and pasta bar. Tara and I managed to finish off 7 plates of food between the two of us.

Lunch and resupply in Hancock, MD.

Re-energized, we continued down the towpath, crossing back into West Virginia. The most interesting feature along today's ride was the Paw Paw tunnel. Taking 24 years to build, it was one of the most complicated construction projects of its time, cutting through 1km of solid rock, and shortening the canal journey by 5 miles.

Entering the Paw Paw tunnel.

Very cool tunnel surface. (Long exposure, no flash).

Wow, it's dark in here.

Out the other side.

Despite the cold morning, today turned into a nice, warm, sunny day, perfect for putting in more miles. We're never quite sure how many miles we'll be able to cover in a given day, often just stopping when we get tired or run out of daylight. This freedom is part of the allure of bicycle touring -- every day you're able to pick whatever pace and distance you want, stopping to see whatever sites are interesting along the way, without a set schedule. The only goals we set are that we're going to ride our bikes from DC to Pittsburgh, and that it should take us about a week to do it.

We stopped for the night at the Spring Gap Recreation Area, another beautiful pay site ($10 per car again) along the river that happened to look remarkably similar to last night's site.

Camping at the Spring Gap Recreation Area.

This evening, however, we were visited by abundant wildlife, including a family of geese, a stray cat that we had to chase away, and the sounds of many birds, including owls and woodpeckers.

A goose family at our campsite.

I cooked pasta again for dinner, and slept much better than last night. I'm starting to get the hang of camping and my spirits have improved. Maybe I can handle a longer trip than this. We'll see...