From my start on the towpath at Williamsport to my arrival at Cumberland, Md the C&O is a beautiful trail. Quiet, clean, plenty of solitude, good camping - but for me a miserable trip even though I loved the trail.

Okay, why the negativity? Simply, everything I read and everyone that I'd talked to and every photo I saw showed the canal as this wonderful, crushed limestone, full width path.

Wonderful, except what I got was nearer to 90 percent like the picture below, more a farm lane with a lot of grass growing between the tire tracks. On a recumbent trike, this makes life miserable as you almost always have at least one wheel off in to the grass.

With the wheel in the grass I had to work so much harder that it was demoralizing. The saving grace was that I have the ability to go as slowly as I want to. If I had known when planning what I know now, I would not have taken the C&O.

So, if you are riding a trike, I have to strongly recommend you reconsider. But if you ride a 2-wheeled DF or recumbent, I think that you will have a very pleasant ride.