Well that plan to camp the whole way didn't last long.
I pushed it pretty hard yesterday with all the climbing, and I'm feeling a bit beat.
I originally planned to ride 82 miles of the flat flat towpath and the Western Maryland Rail Trail to Little Orleans, where there is a commercial campground with showers and stuff. I called them when I got to Hancock to see if they are still open, and they were, but they weren't very inviting. Office closes at 5, doesn't open until 10 (so no coffee) but they do have a tent site next to the bathrooms. I decided to get a room in Hancock.
I was also pretty worn out after 50 miles of unpaved towpath. About half of that was smooth new crushed stone, but the other have was the old-style rocky and rutted mess.
I could have kept going to a primitive campsite, and brought a sub from Subway with me for dinner, and a Frappechino and a muffin from Sheetz for breakfast. But I calculated that pushing hard today just makes the next two days really short, and if I stop in Hancock, today and the next two days are all about the same length. So I stopped.
At this very sad and forlorn Super 8. Which I have stayed at before right after the pandemic, and which I swore I would not stay at again. It's the only choice. Big surprise! They've been fixing it up and it's much nicer! The lobby is all new, the staff is engaged and attentive, and the guy who registered me got a big laugh when I told him my pandemic check in horror stories. He says they fired the manager from then.
I also swore I would not stay in Hancock if I can avoid it because the dining options on a Tuesday night are Subway, Sheetz, and Pizza Hut.
This Pizza Hut still has sit-down dining. Sort of. If you order for take-out, they don't mind if you actually sit there and eat it. The girl who was taking take-out orders took my dine-in order, and said she would bring me the pizza when it was ready. She looked like she was about 12 years old. She had a dim conception of how eating in a restaurant works - she brought me a plate and a knife and fork, but I had to go and find napkins and Parmesan myself. It's really weird eating at Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is barely alive.
If I had rode on today to Little Orleans, tomorrow I would have stayed at a campground in Frostburg. I was looking forward to that. I've only ridden the GAP trail eastbound, and Frostburg is in the middle of a long, easy descent to Cumberland, so I've never stopped there because why stop in the middle of the easy fun coast to Cumberland. But that descent is a climb going westbound, and stopping halfway for the night would be great.
Instead, my plan is now to stay in Cumberland and have a 60 mile day, instead of a 75 mile day with a long hill at the end. I've already booked a room at the Ramada.
It's awful nice camping.
I had a great time at the hostel. Most of the other guests were also bike touring. There was a lot of comparing notes about what's coming up, and stories about past tours. The hostel is now called the "Cross Trails Hostel", since it's at the intersection of the C&O Towpath and the Appalachian Trail. They guys running the hostel said it's a slow period for AT hikers since the people heading north have already come through, and the people heading south aren't here yet.
The towpath is a magical other world.
Lunch was 40 miles into the ride in Willamsport, where there is a terrific diner.
I visited the Third Base on my very first ever bike tour, which was nearly 30 years ago. It looks much nicer now than I remember it being then.
Here's the Strava Track. https://www.strava.com/activities/15517096961
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