C&O canal trail, and you guys around it.....question

me and a few of my friends are supposed to leave this wed. to come down and bike the whole 185 mile canal trail...but checking the weather forcats last night it looks like rain down there for the next 10 days.

would this be accurate? you guys been getting pounded by rain too? were gunna call off the trip if thats the case seein as were supposed to camp out every night along with biking..4 days straight in the rain is NOT what i call fun.lol

thanks guys

I was up there a few months back and water was up in the parking lots!

There is a reason you see trash, clothing, mattresses, etc up in the trees, 15' over your head!

Not sure of current conditions, but I do know a warning was issued on Friday for that section of the Potomac river.
A few days ago, it was calling for hot and dry. Looks like they stuck a good bit of rain in now.

Hard as hell to plan when the weather readers keep lying to us!

Hope you can make it- very nice area.

thanks for the info!

we decided to call it off and were going to look into doing it at the end of summer.

I live close and hike the C&O regularly. Rain has been sporadic and short lived but that doesn't mean it can't change. Potomac is still swollen but not effecting the tow path. Some of the side trails are closed due to high water levels.

We are planning to hike from Great Falls to Harpers Ferry (approx 45 miles) this Friday and Saturday so hopefully the weather holds up for both of us.

Good luck.

We used to bike the trail every spring. Got rained on a few times too. You made the right decision to call it off. After one day of biking in the mud and rain everything you own WILL be wet regardless of how well you think you packed it.

Dodging ruts in the trail and debris is one thing; going through muddy puddles all the time drains all of your energy quickly.

We always camped along the way....I imagine the trip is easier is you're staying somewhere a little nicer. Unless you're the Ironman type who can do it all in one day. I guess that's probably 20 hours of straight riding.

There's a detour (unless the trail has been fixed in the past few years) that takes you on a pretty grueling 5 milles off the trail and up some nasty hills. The trail got washed out many years ago and was never repaired. That section can still be hiked, but not biked.

Good luck to you if you reschedule it. The canal is one of my favorite places.

thank you for al the help guys! we decided to call the trip off for now. were thinking about doing it the third weekend in july. we really wanna camp it out..so dry warm weather would be awesome! lol

Might be awesome, but you'll more than likely get dry, HOT weather!

Have FUN!

Just thought I would post an update for you. We hiked 22 miles the first day and then got hammered by a huge storm. We pulled out for reliable shelter and then hiked the rest of the way the next day and a half. Humped approx. 55 miles total in 2 1/2 days. I am beat.

That being said, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of that will not clear up in the near future.

1) Mosquitoes are abundant so be prepared.
2) Mud is thick along long stretches with lots of standing water.
3) If camping, firewood is scarce (almost all is water logged) and campsite ground is wet in general.
4) Multiple trees down across the trail in less traveled areas.
5) We treated all water at the campsites as non-potable. Better safe than sorry imho.

It was a great journey with the exception of #1 above. At times the mosquitoes were brutal for what seems like miles and the 40% deet made little difference. Since you will be biking you should have less of an issue than we did.

Good luck.

One other item - I would recommend going North to South. It's downhill

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