A family trip up the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath — Joshua Wier

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