But first, an update from last night.

Husky Haven was a great campsite! It had showers, was clean, and our site came with a big pile of firewood.

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We stayed up until almost midnight chatting around the fire, roasting marshmallows, and drinking from our flasks.

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While we were chatting, a stray dog came up to us to say hello and we weren’t sure if it was friendly.  Lauren got scared and basically ran away, I observed things from afar, but Ellen handled the matter by Walking Toward The Dog In An Intimidating Manner. The dog ran away, scared.

Our campsite was quite close to a railroad track that ran at all hours of the night.  So, after some fitful sleeping we got up, ate, broke camp and were on the trail by about 9:30 am.

Today was our last day on the GAP, with 44 miles to go until we picked up the C&O Towpath in Cumberland, MD.  The first 20 miles were, again, a relentless incline.

Highlights of this portion were the Salisbury Viaduct:

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Some trail hospitality:

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And some great vistas up high:

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And then, we finally reached the Continental Divide, signifying the glorious end to uphill biking for awhile:

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At this point, the rain that had been threatening for the past few days began to pour, as we began our descent. Both the rain and the downhill were a great relief, and we maintained speeds of 16-17 mph the remaining 24 miles to Cumberland!

During this part of the day, we passed the Mason-Dixon Line:

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We passed lots of other cool sights, too, but it was raining far too hard to take our cameras out.  The rain and the mists were quite beautiful, though, as we descended.

We then arrived in Cumberland, the official border of the GAP and the CO:

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Cumberland, although much smaller than Chicago, felt very jarring, especially riding on roads with cars.

People were honking horns and, as we reached our hotel soaked and tired, clean shiny tourists were in our space asking obtrusive questions about our trip and itinerary. We just wanted to unpack and get dry.  The interactions felt noticeably different than with those we had been having with other bikers and campers, with whom it seems we shared a “we’re all in this together” mentality.

After showers, we went to a nice, delicious Italian restaurant, after which Ellen discovered she had been wearing her pants on backwards. We proceeded to have a laughing meltdown for a good 5 minutes.

So, on that note, we’ll end.

Today’s Mileage: 44

Tomorrow’s Itinerary: Cumberland, MD to Hancock, MD