Finding Mile 0

Gina and I took the opportunity during a trip last weekend to DC to help Ramiró (Gina's dad) move into a new apartment to check out some of the sights along the GAP and some of the places we will travel through during our trip. It got me really excited about my upcoming run. There is going to be some beautiful scenery, remote passages and lots of lonesome trail.

Our first stop was in Cumberland, Maryland. This is the transition point from the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to the C&O Towpath leading to DC. We were able to use the Trail Book to navigate through Cumberland to find the trail at the terminus of the C&O canal.

One direction: Cumberland -> Pittsburgh:


Then turn around: Cumberland -> DC:


This point is 135 miles from Pittsburgh and 184 miles from DC. From there we passed by several of the exits from I-68 and I-70 that Gina will take. After we helped Ramiró and Gloria move, we spent some time searching out "Mile 0" in Georgetown and the beginning on the C&O canal. It was a good thing we had the guide book, for being a national landmark, "Mile 0" is not easy to find. It involves navigating around a large boat house and walking around past a fence. We walked out a bit parallel to the canal. It was really cool to see all of the old locks. I'm excited to experience the history of the canal and the passage on our journey.

I started working on the itinerary of our trip last week during my spring break. I got a good start, but didn't quite finish. I should be able to finish this week and I'll provide a link to the spreadsheet. It's a Google Doc, cool, I'm high tech.