Originally Posted by
john m flores
This was my first time on the GAP/C&O and I was a bit surprised at how different they were. Can't say that I preferred one over the other, but I did appreciate that they were different and that things changed along the trip.
I was surprised too.
But in planning the trip, I knew that one was predominantly tow path for a canal, thus mostly flat except at lock and dams where you have a sudden change in elevation.
And the other was rail. And I had read that you spent a lot of time pedaling up a long hill (when east bound) even though the hill was flat enough that you did not notice it.
Thus, I knew they were different, I just did not expect them to be as different as they actually were.
That was only my third bike tour, so I was still on the steep part of the learning curve.