C&O end-to-end, miles 5-12

Hike #2 on the C&O Canal Towpath! The weather was much improved this time as I started off from mile 5, where I previously left off. This hike took me past the beltway and into double digits.

T thinks I've done most of this section already, but I don't remember much of it. At least one part of it was closed for the past year or two for rebuilding, and I know last time I was there we used the detour.

There is actually a fair bit of interesting things to see in this section, so it's not all counting mileposts and lockhouses. There is a kayak run, a private canoe club, the Little Falls dam and pumphouse, and Carderock. It also passes both ends of Billy Goat C; confusingly, one end is marked closed. On the other hand, with the world as it is, my capacity for taking in surprises is used up, so a highly predictable trail feels kind of nice.

I turned around at the bridge to the parking lot at Old Angler's Inn, around mile 12.2.

As a practical consideration, there is a good stretch at the beginning of this section where there are no restrooms. If needed, one could stop in the woods, although some stretches offer more privacy than others. (Despite the construction, there are open port-a-potties at mile 5.) Parking at mile 5 is not at the canal itself, again due to construction, but there is parking in the neighborhood nearby.

The name is the best part

This weekend I did a shorter hike on Sunday, notable only because I finally did the Whistle Pig Loop, the only trail in the complex of trails northwest of Black Hill I hadn't yet completed. This short trail loops around a field. It is overgrown in warmer months and usually muddy. At least this time of year the vegetation was tamed.

While the trail itself isn't much, the clouds were spectacular.

You can't park at this trail; I chose to park at Bucklodge, a creepy trail which has not grown on me at all with more visits. You could also park on Clarksburg Road and take Ten Mile to Danger Noodle to Jewelweed to Whistle Pig. Neither trailhead has restrooms or amenities, so plan ahead.

Another long training hike

My first long hike of February was 10 miles in Black Hill, covering territory I regularly see. We've had a very snowy year so far, and I wanted to get some miles in without snow - and before the snow and ice that was forecast for that day, starting at noon. So I did I quick local hike, home by lunchtime.

C&O end-to-end, miles 0-5

This year, I intend to hike the entire C&O Canal Towpath, starting at mile 0 and working my way northwest to mile 184.5. The idea is to do it in order, to get a sense of how it changes along the route.

I started yesterday at the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro stop and walked to mile 0 in Georgetown. After snapping a photo at the mile marker, I then had to walk to the start of the towpath - promptly to be greeted with detour signs. Not auspicious, perhaps, but any official detour counts, and I've walked that section before. 

Just before Key Bridge, the detour ended, and I looked out on a lumpy blanket of ice. Two weeks of snow had compacted rather than melted. I had brought an old pair of traction devices with me, which kept me from sliding about. The ice kept most folks away; it was odd to have the trail nearly to myself on a nice weekend day. It was even odder where the towpath runs parallel to the Capital Crescent Trail, and not ten feet away there were crowds.

Not far past the DC border is mile marker 5. If it had been any other day of the week, I could have gone another five miles and caught a bus back to the Metro, but it doesn't run on Sundays. Instead, I crossed the Clara Barton on a pedestrian bridge and took a woods trail uphill to the Capital Crescent Trail, following it back to Foggy Bottom. My total mileage was 12 miles, although only five were on the C&O.

First long hike of the year

I am trying to do more long hikes this year, but January so far has not been conducive to long hikes. This is the second weekend in a row with a big snowstorm! So my 10-mile hike was simply in my local Black Hill Regional Park.