GAP - C&O Canal - Day 9

 Tuesday, 20 October 2020

White's Ferry (Leesburg) to Washington (Georgetown), 32 miles

The last day of the ride had some spectacular sights: wildlife, Great Falls, beautiful vistas.

Resurfacing was underway from milepost 25 to milepost 23. We had to ride around piles of "crush and run" and small heavy equipment. And we mentioned to each worker how much we appreciated their work on the trail!

Resurfacing the towpath.

The Seneca Creek Aqueduct is the only one made from red stone -- the same stone that was used to make the Smithsonian "castle" on the mall in Washington. The upstream arch was destroyed in a flood in 1971 and has been replaced with a bridge.

Sue at Lock 22.

It was a good day for wildlife. Here a great blue heron was searching for fish from rocks in the Potomac.

We finally had a day that was warm enough for turtles to emerge from the canal to get some sunny warmth on a log.

A "small" flume separating Olmstead Island (left) from the river bank (right). Olmsted Island is really just an impenetrable set of boulders in the middle of the Potomac. A boardwalk crosses Olmsted Island for a view of the main channel. 

The main channel at Great Falls.

A panorama of Great Falls. The river drops over 70 ft in less than a mile with numerous 20-ft drops.

The overlook on the Maryland side (where the previous two pictures were taken).

"Widewater". Below Great Falls the canal enters a wide channel that was formerly part of the river. It is protected from the current Potomac River by a guard wall. Mother Nature doesn't always respect man's intentions and floods have been known to top the guard wall and flood this section.

Milepost 0 is in a well-hidden location where Rock Creek enters the Potomac. If you don't have a map, it would be nearly impossible to find -- you have to go through Thompson's Boat Center to get there, and this definitely feels like you are trespassing on private property.

We haven't gotten any better at selfies.

Washington panorama from the Key Bridge. After completing our ride, we had to cross the Potomac to pick up a rental minivan in Rosslyn to drive back to Pittsburgh and retrieve our truck.