2026 - GAP and C&O Trail: Day 1 - Washington D.C. to Harpers Ferry

Day 1: Washington D.C. to Harpers Ferry

The first day of any tour is always a bit of a panic. Today, we met at Frank’s home in the middle of Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. It’s a beautiful, hilly area located just outside the city center—away from the Capitol, the White House, and the monuments more widely associated with the capital city.

Just a block or so away, we jumped onto a hard-packed bike trail that wound its way down to the Potomac River and the start of the C&O Canal Trail, which will be our home for the next two days. The smooth asphalt and hard-packed crushed granite were a pleasure to ride on. Heading in the opposite direction, we watched a steady stream of morning commuters biking into D.C. to start their work week.

As we rolled along, I was surprised by how well-preserved the abandoned canal actually is. We passed many of the old stone canal locks with their historic structures still standing, and in some cases, the original wooden gates were still holding back water.

We worked our way up the Potomac as the canal ran right alongside it. The view of the river was incredibly impressive. It was much wider than I had envisioned from the stories in my childhood history books about George Washington throwing a silver dollar across it! We discovered that many of the canal viaducts were still standing (with at least one having been rebuilt in 2011), and we even found an intact lockkeeper's home. Click (here) to learn more about the C&O Canal.

By their very nature, canal trails generally do not have significant climbs, and today's ride was no exception. My biking buddies back home must be laughing at how flat it was—we only climbed a total of 768 feet over a distance of 66 miles! It made for a smooth, fast day, and we pulled into the Quality Inn in Harper's Ferry right around 3:00 PM.

Day 1 Stats: