This morning, we woke up at Happy Hills to a completely quiet campground. Things seemed so serene while the hundreds of people up late partying were still sleeping.
Ellen was up first and started the coffee. Just FYI, the biker guys next to us had their guide/helper drive them to breakfast and then the guide/helper assisted with taking down their camp and cushy air mattresses.
Not that we were judging.
Although…. we did decide to ask a nice fella named George, a Happy Hills employee, if he would drive us to the start of the trail in his truck. The road back to the trail was extremely hilly and precarious. So, George kindly took us!
He dropped us off at the Western Maryland Trail (WMT), where we rode a glorious 15 miles on heavenly pavement:
It was a great start to the day and set the tone for the remaining 60 miles. It was also very easy to find the C&O again once the WMT ended.
On the WMT, we averaged about 16 mph, and I think we all felt that today was our strongest riding day! We mostly rode at around 11-12 mph once we picked up the C&O again, which may not sound fast, but here’s what our bikes looked like:
During today’s ride, we rode along the Potomac, and heard people boating and skiing all day. It was a cool way to spend July 4th. We saw lots of locks and dams, too:
There was a cool stretch along the river, where we basically rode along a paved cliff:
It was also very tempting to stop and take a dip in the water. About halfway through the ride, we ate a great lunch at Desert Rose Cafe, to fuel the other half of the day’s ride:
Afterwards, we ran into our new trail friends Rob and Dorothy, again. They are the couple who gave us the nice bike pump. We saw them several times along the trail, and it was always fun to see what they were up to for the day.
We passed a significant milestone today, as we now have fewer than 100 miles to ride!
We were very excited to get to Harper’s Ferry, after having ridden for 7 hours today. We had to cross a bridge, however, that required us to carry our bikes up a metal, winding staircase:
This bridge was full of tourists barging their way down the stairs while we were coming up, which I think made us all have less-than-civil thoughts toward them. We then had to ride/walk our bikes 2 miles to our hotel on a scary, hilly highway.
However, Ellen’s brother and family surprised us by being at our hotel with delicious baked goods in hand. And, they bought us dinner! Just what we all needed after the day!
Tomorrow, DC. Let’s finish this!
Today’s Mileage: 74
Tommorrow’s Itinerary: Harper’s Ferry to DC
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