Martinsburg Conclusion

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We are a little over halfway through our 2 week stay In Martinsburg West Virginia. We have been traveling all over the area in search of geocaches and have made good progress in completing the Hidden Treasures series in order to earn our geocoin. By now we have been to just about every corner of Berkeley county and have passed by a couple of gas stations/convenience stores that we felt obligated to stop and check out - Rutter’s.  From what I can determine, this family of Rutters isn’t related to my family. The home location of the company is in York Pennsylvania but now have these about 90 convenience stores scattered around Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. We had hoped to pick up some sort of souvenir but at least the one we stopped at didn’t have anything that markets their name. Oh well, a selfie will have to do.

We're Famous

In looking for other nearby hiking opportunities, we stumbled upon a section of the Appalachian Trail just outside of Boonsboro Maryland. Listed in AllTrails as the Turners Gap to Monument Knob section of the AT. This 3.9 mile out and back hike has over 900 feet of elevation gain so it should be a decent workout. It’s only a little over 20 miles from camp and the trailhead here has pretty decent parking for quite a few cars. We start off by checking out Dahlgren Chapel. Built in the 1880’s, this church has beautiful stone work. We find the geocache on the grounds just behind the church and head up the trail.

Old South Mountain Inn at Trailhead

Dahlgren Chapel

Yellow Salsify

Like almost every section of the AT that we have hiked, the trail is in great shape. It seems like just about every tree that has been felled along the trail has the classic AT logo chain sawed into the cut end in case there was any question as to us being on the correct path. About 1.25 mile into the hike, we reach the edge of Washington Monument State Park. I was well aware of Washington Monument in DC, but had never realized there were other ones around the country. The Appalachian Trail continues through this park and gets within a few hundred feet of this monument. Originally built by villagers of nearby Boonesboro in 1827 which predates the more famous one in Washington DC by about 20 years. This one is much smaller - at just 40 feet tall but it is still impressive and has a great view of the area by being perched high on a hill. It’s not clear if the gate is ever open to permit an even better view but we were able to take a look up the narrow stone staircase.

AT Symbol on Log End on Left

The Other Washington Monument

Pretty Nice View at Monument

Looking Up Stairs in Monument

We took advantage of the views from here and had our lunch before heading out to get a few more geocaches that are hidden a little further north on the AT. This did require us to head down the hill from the monument for another half mile only to need to trudge back up 20 minutes later. One of the caches was hidden next to a huge field of large rocks. It was quite a challenge to walk across them without twisting an ankle. Fortunately the actual container was not just hidden in amongst the rocks or finding it would have been hopeless.

A Challenging Cache Approach

Heading Back Up the Hill

We had checked the weather forecast before we had left for this hike and storms weren’t expected until 5 PM. Even during lunch, I checked the forecast and we seemed to be in the clear since it was just after 2 PM as we headed out from the monument for the nearly 2 miles hike back to the car. Midway thru the hike we heard a rumble of thunder and our phones alerted us to rain coming. We were luck that the bulk of the trail we had left was all downhill and we only ran into a couple sprinkles before making it back to the car and the skies opened up. It ended up being a 6.5 mile hike with over 1300 feet of elevation gain which was 2 miles more than the AllTrails hike lists this one at. I guess the extra time and distance to get some geocaches along the way really adds up.

Shelter Along the AT

The first storm was fairly short lived so we stopped for another of the Hidden Treasures caches - this one next to the Potomac River near the town of Scrabble West Virginia. There is a large dam here and a hydroelectric power plant. A few other people were out including a couple people fishing. The old stone building that houses the power plant is rather impressive looking.

Power Plant and Dam in Scrabble WV

Beautiful Stone Building

The hike along the AT had taken its toll on our legs so we took a day off before heading back out for more exploring. Our first mission was to head into downtown Martinsburg and complete the Hidden Treasure geocache series and collect our geocoin. We had a couple of these caches to find in town but we were only able to find one of the two. Fortunately we had found enough of them that when we went into the tourism center in town we had enough finds to qualify. The volunteer said that we were the first geocachers that had come in for a coin in many months. I guess after the initial rush for this series wore off, fewer of us came into town.

Triple Brick Museum

Adam Stephen House (founder of Martinsburg)

Our Reward for Finding the Hidden Treasure Cache Series

WVTim also has a rather unique hide that is only available when the visitor center is open. Finding the container was the easy part. Getting it open was much more challenging. I sat down on the sofa and went to it. The container is a small box no bigger than a couple of decks of cards. As I moved it around searching for the trick to open the darn thing, I could hear things moving inside of it but it wasn’t clear if this was part of the puzzle or simply small items inside the box. After about five minutes I was sensing I was close and all of a sudden it opened. I was so glad I didn’t need to ask the volunteer working the desk for a hint. I sign the log and put it back together. When Chris came back over, I attempted to show her the trick and open it again with her standing next to me. After another minute I was not having any luck. Good thing I had signed the log. We walked into town and found a place for lunch.

Next we head north on I-81 and cross over the Potomac into Williamsport Maryland. Our goal was to check out the visitor center here for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and just walk around the area to do an Adventure Lab and a few geocaches. This visitor center is one of seven found along the 184 miles of the old canal. It resides in an old builders supply store.

C&O Canal Visitors Center in Williamsport Maryland

We head into building to see some of the displays and even watched one of the movies available regarding the canal and how it was used. We spoke with a ranger about wanting to come back for a bike ride before we head out and asked him for recommendations about which of the nearby sections might be the most scenic. With his information in hand, we head out to walk around the large basin that is known as Cushwa’s Basin and it was one of few places along the canal wide enough for a barge to turn around. There is an old lift bridge for the railroad line that used to run through here.

Old Trolley Barn

Chris Poses with Mule

Railroad Lift Bridge Over Canal

Water Fills This Section of Canal

While the main C&O Canal trail is on the south side of the water, this area has paths on both sides so we are able to walk around and see some of displays for visitors. One of the other really neat things at this spot is the Conocoheague Aqueduct. The stone arch aqueduct is quite beautiful and is still functioning by carrying the canal water over the creek that joins the Potomac River just a few hundred feet to the west.

Visitor Center Across the Turning Basin

Aqueduct from Above

Side View of Aqueduct

The old lock and lock house are another interesting thing to check out in the area. All of it is within pretty easy walking distance  from the visitor center. When walking on the actual canal path, we need to be aware of others out using the trail as there were several groups of cyclists out for a training ride.

C&O Canal Lock and House from Above

And from Below

Unlike the Erie Canal in New York where the canal and the locks are still operational, this canal only has water in some places to help show how the area looked when it was in use. There was a lot to see in a relatively short distance. Just off the trail was a large abandoned facility that possibly was an old coal power plant. We enjoyed the couple hours we spent visiting this part of Williamsport.

Williamsport Water Tower

Turtle Assumes the Flying Position

Old Coal Power Plant?

Bridge Over Potomac River

After thinking about the few areas along the C&O Canal recommended by the ranger, we decide to head to the area northwest of camp known as the Paw Paw Tunnel for a bike ride. Since we weren’t positive how far we would want to ride the bikes, we decide to head to the parking area and trailhead at the tunnel - a spot named the Paw Paw Tunnel Campground. That way we would be guaranteed to see the tunnel at the beginning and end of the ride, regardless of how far we biked. We arrived around 10 AM and the parking area was already getting full. The tunnel is straight through the hill so we can just see the light at the other end of it. But it is 3,118 feet long so it does get dark inside. Some sort of flashlights are highly recommended. By starting from this trailhead and going through the tunnel, we will be heading easterly along the canal. In theory this is going in the downhill direction but the grade is so shallow that I’m not sure going downhill first will pose an issue for the return trip.

Entrance at Paw Paw Tunnel

Since this tunnel was for barge traffic on a canal, it isn’t like other abandoned railway tunnels where the full width of the tunnel is walkable. This tunnel has a 5 foot wide walkway on one side with a 20 foot wide canal on the other side. The whole thing has a curved ceiling completely lined with brick. The surface of the walkway is rather uneven and is narrow enough that even though we are walking our bikes, it’s a challenge to have somebody walking the opposite direction and get past one another. I also noticed that there are brass benchmarks in the wall roughly every 100 feet the length of the tunnel. It was kind of exciting to make our way through it.

Inside Paw Paw Tunnel

A Benchmark Inside the Tunnel

The east side of the tunnel comes out into a narrow gorge with rather steep rock walls. The current walkway is more like a wooden boardwalk for many hundreds of feet until we exit the gorge and get on to a more conventional trail - much like a rail trail would be.

The Other End

As we continue on, we come across numerous old locks. Some are in better shape than others but they are neat to take a closer look at. While there are quite a few others out walking or biking, the trail never feels like it is too busy to enjoy. This canal more or less follows the path of the Potomac River and at times we can easily see the river. But much of the time there is a pretty decent section of woods between us and the river. Occasionally there is an old railroad bridge that spans over the canal and the river and into West Virginia.

Old C&O Canal Lock

Lock #64 2/3

Old Railroad Bridge

The trail was in excellent shape and a very fun ride. Most of the time it was in the shade so it wasn’t unbearably hot. The canal itself was usually completely dried up and might not even be very noticeable. Given the canal was abandoned in 1924, I guess a lot can happen in a century as Mother Nature reclaims the land. There are some sections with a fair amount of water but those were rather infrequent.

Pleasant Section of C&O Canal Trail

During the ride, we decided we hoped to make it to the next trailhead in Little Orleans. There is a geocache at some store called Bill’s Place that sounded interesting. Plus we figured we could get something cold to drink to go along with the lunch we had brought. The only problem was it’s about 15.5 miles between the two trailheads meaning we were looking at a 31 mile ride. We saw on maps that there was some sort of trail that appeared to cut off the last dip of the Canal Trail and might save us about 2 miles each direction. As we approached the possible trail intersection, we saw an unmarked but well used embankment down into the old canal and then up the hill on the other side. There was a fair amount of mud and water but there seemed to be stones and limbs placed across the wet area. Using our bikes much like a walker, we carefully made our way across the mud and walked up the hill to find a very nice paved rail trail.

Our Shortcut Canal Crossing

Our Bike Ride Track - Red Line is Section We Bypassed

It turns out this is a different trail called the Western Maryland Rail Trail and it ends at a railroad bridge over the C&O Canal Trail and the Potomac River. We bike along it for about 3/4 mile before coming upon Bill’s Place. It would seem like the state of Maryland should put a little bit of work to more officially connect these two major trails rather than forcing bikers or hikers to cross the mud. There are picnic tables in the shade at the store so Chris went in to get cold drinks and I went over to find the geocache. It turned out to be an easy one to see since the name of the cache says “Air Mail”. There is a mailbox on the corner post of a wooden fence about 10 feet above the ground. Some people mention standing on their vehicle or bringing along a ladder to get up high enough. I discovered there was a precarious way to climb the backside of the fence and reach into the mailbox to get to the logbook.

Overgrown and Gated Railroad Bridge Over Potomac River

Short Tunnel on Western Maryland Rail Trail

Our Turn Around Point at Bill's Place

Mailbox Cache Atop Corner Post

We enjoyed lunch and had many other bicyclists join us at the picnic tables. I suspect most of them were riding the other rail trail which we might need to investigate for a future visit. After lunch, we retrace our steps and cross the mud to get back on the C&O Canal Trail. We now had about a 14 mile ride back to the car! We stopped periodically along the way to take pictures or utilize the port-a-potty at the various camping areas along the trail.

One of Many Hiker/Biker Camping Spots

It took awhile but we eventually made it back to the Paw Paw Tunnel. I took the opportunity to climb up the stone stairs that goes up one side of the tunnel opening and down the other in order to get a better picture of the gorge. It was just another mile or so to get back to the car. This ended up being around 28 to 29 miles - I don’t know for sure because the GPS doesn’t do so well when we are in the tunnel.

Boardwalk Path in Gorge Before Tunnel

Climb These Steps ...

... To Get This Picture

For the drive back to camp, we selected a different route that took us, us through the town of Berkeley Springs. There is a park in town that has some warm spring water coming from the ground. It seemed like a pretty popular destination as there were numerous families playing in the water. It looked like there are a few other building to check out but we had already reached our limit from the long bike ride and we were looking forward to getting back home after a great day.

Berkeley Springs

Popular Destination

We use our last full day of our stop In Martinsburg to rest and pack up the rig after being here for 2 wonderful weeks. We have 4 nights before our next reserved camping stop in Vermont about 550 miles away. We will use two Elks Lodges to break up the trip. We get up early on Monday to leave for Hazleton Pennsylvania. Normally we don’t get real early starts since we aren’t traveling all that far - 177 miles for this leg. But there is a weather front moving through the area and it is expected to get quite windy and rainy. By getting an early start, we hope to beat the worst of the bad weather. We successfully made it to the Hazleton Elks Lodge. Being Memorial Day, the lodge wasn’t open but that also meant the parking lot wasn’t crowded. We parked and rode the storm out in the comfort of a stationary home. This lodge doesn’t have any sort of camping services but with our solar and lithium upgrade, we can live comfortably without needing to run the generator. Next stop the Catskills.