Joshua Wier / walkerwier.com

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A family trip up the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath

Two smiling standing over their bicycles next to an old canal lock with a damaged gate

"Ohio" was always just aspirational; the C&O Canal runs from Washington, DC, to Cumberland, MD, following the Potomac. A long (184 mi) off-road path, it was perfect for our first trip towing a trailer (not pictured).

Bikes ahead on a gravel trail next to a stagnant but serene green waterway
River between rocky outcroppings

View from the "Billy Goat Trail", just off the Towpath in our first day out of DC

Waterfall viewed from above

Great Falls, also just a few miles from DC

View across a river to small but steep rocky mountain. A railway crosses the river on a bridge and enters a tunnel through the mountain.

View towards the towpath (on the Maryland side of the river) from Harper's Ferry, WV

Fisherman in a yellow raincoat standing in a river on an overcast day
Concrete path to right of a calm waterway

"Big Slackwater"

A waterway enters a tunnel in a rocky cliff face

Paw Paw Tunnel

Wooden path built on stilts over a waterway through a rocky canyon

View downstream from the Paw Paw Tunnel

View from inside a cave-like space to woods outside

Small mine?

View of a calm river from its bank with fog in the distance

Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA, Georgia ⇄ Little River National Preserve, Alabama

Paige standing on a large boulder surrounded by trees

"Rocktown" in Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA

A small stream of water exiting an old tunnel in a rock wall

Abandoned rail tunnel

Looking out of a tunnel with water covering the ground. Tunnel is finished with bricks and an arched ceiling. Paige standing outside.
Paige standing in calve-deep water in a cave-like tunnel. Tire under water in foreground.
Looking out of a cave-like space toward green trees. Book-sized rocks mounded up in entrance.

A different abandoned tunnel, this one from a mining train, one of four such tunnels on the Estelle Mines Trail in Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA

Silhouetted bicyclist in narrow, unfinished tunnel
Spring in man-made channel exiting hillside and going under a large, narrow rock placed as a bridge. Flat area with fire ring in background.

Campsite in Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA with its own spring

Georgia/Alabama border

DeSoto Falls, DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Smaller, less-vertical waterfall. Refrigerator-sized boulders sticking out of the creek downstream
River at the bottom of a narrow valley, viewed from a distance

First glimpse into Little River Canyon as we started biking from the downstream end. Not too dramatic yet...

River with fairly flat water. You can tell it bends against a cliff-like wall in the distance.
River with a rapid between two flat stretches in steep canyon viewed from the cliffs above.

...but it gets more canyon-like.

Panorama of river in a steep canyon. Same rapid visible in the photo above is visible in the left (upstream) end
Wide waterfall with a vertical drop of about two stories downstream of a highway bridge

Litte River Falls

Bird-foot violets on road embankment in foreground. Out-of-focus cyclist (Josh) in background
Bikes leaned against a sign that says "CLOUDLAND / CHATTANOOGA →"

No sign for the state line, but this road is right on the border.

Paige on gravel (but well-graded) road next to a fenced field of yellow flowers