Hiking the C&O: Day 7 (June 26, 2019)

Little frogs all over towpath

Williamsport Maryland

Abandoned House

Dam #5

High School hang out just beyond the bend

Charles Mill

4 Locks

Hiker/Biker campsite "North Mountain"

Day 7 on the C&O. Another sunny day. After eating breakfast and breaking down camp, I hiked a short distance where I saw some floating docks. I walked down to one and jumped in the river with my clothes on. This was beginning to be a daily morning ritual for me. My wet clothes allowed me to stay cool all morning while hiking. Also this kept odors to a minimum, and decreased my irritability. If only every hike had a river running alongside it the whole way!

My feet were sore, but my body was feeling pretty good during the morning hike. I walked past a small trailer-park town along the Potomac on the Maryland side. I'm not sure how land rights work on this trail, but this was only the second time such a town was built along the banks of the river, the first being White's Ferry. That was the main difference between the Maryland side of the river and the West Virginia side. The Maryland side was hardly ever developed, perhaps the land is owned by the Park Service with the C&O canal. The West Virginia side of the river often had small communities built along the riverbank.

Around lunchtime, I entered the small town of Williamsport, Maryland. My phone and camera battery were getting low again. I also planned on doing a small resupply to get me to Hancock, Maryland. I still wasn't eating all that much as I was not afflicted with "hiker hunger" yet. I walked to the gas station called Sheetz in town, bought a cold cut sub and some Gatorade, and a few items for resupply and ate on a picnic bench outside. I get anxious in town, so sitting down and eating allowed me to get re-centered. After eating lunch, I found a small park nearby that had electrical outlets on a stage where I was able to recharge my batteries. Also, the fair was in town. It appeared opening night was going to be that evening.

After relaxing in the shade and recharging the phone and camera batteries, I started to make my way out of town. I saw several bikers sitting outside a small café called the Desert Rose café. They obviously knew something I did not. I went inside and was happy to see they sold milkshakes, so I bought one and drank it outside. After finishing, I was ready to hit the towpath again. There was construction going on the towpath outside of town so a detour led me back around mile 100.

The canal was really peaceful once again in the afternoon. There was one particular bend in the river that was incredibly scenic. Big sycamores and maples were growing along the riverbank, and the plants looked practically landscaped. There was an old abandoned house nearby, and gold sunrays shined through the trees. I bushwhacked down to the river bank to get a view. Then I experienced the scariest moment for me on the hike. When I went down to the riverbank, suddenly I sunk thigh deep into mud that was almost like quicksand. I couldn't pull my leg out, and the mud was sucking the shoe off my foot. I tried pulling my other leg out and the same thing happened. I had my pack on and couldn't move. I finally pulled one leg out and my other one sank deeper. I fell onto my hands and my arms went into the mud. After struggling for a minute, somehow I managed to crawl out of the mud on my hands and knees. When I reached solid ground I was covered in mud.

After getting back on the towpath, I had it in mind to hike another four miles or so and call it a day. The towpath had other ideas in mind for this non-planner. There was plenty of perfect camping leading up to the distance I had in mind. As soon as I reached the mile marker where I wanted to call it a day, riverbank real estate dried up and I started seeing more people again. Soon I was approaching a dam. The parking lot at the dam was filled with cars and young people. They seemed to be hiking to a swimming hole. This was one of my most surreal moments of the hike. After hardly seeing anybody all day unless they were on a bike, I rounded a corner on the towpath and there were like 40 high school kids hanging out on the towpath, which had turned into a concrete ledge next to the river. I had to squeeze my way between them like Moses parting the Red Sea to continue up the towpath. One kid shouted out, "Look, he's hiking!"

I ended up having to hike an additional 5 miles before finally calling it a day. 5 extra miles after deciding you've already had enough was demoralizing. It forced me to camp in my first hiker biker site though which I think was good. I was the only one there, but still felt anxious wondering who else would show up and when. It seemed anything was possible on this hike, and I didn't like the idea of surprise visitors. Before eating dinner, I took another swim in the river to wash off all the mud...