A half hour east of Cumberland is a section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal I had visited years ago. The full canal runs 184 miles from Washington DC to Cumberland. The Park Service maintains a trail following the full length.
Near the Maryland and West Virginia border, the designers had a problem. The canal mostly paralleled the Potomac River. In this stretch that meant a whole lot of tight twists and turns.
To avoid that, they build the Paw Paw Tunnel, named after the town on the West Virginia end. Pawpaw trees grow in this part of the country that bear fruit similar to mangoes. The name is derived from papaya.
The trailhead was easy to find.
The unlit tunnel runs 3,118 feet. There's a path on one side with a railing. That's it.
As you can see, the ground isn't smooth. Where the walls drip, there's standing water. There is even a sign suggesting you use a light.
Coming out he other side.
Since the car was on the other side, that meant the inevitable return trip. There were a bunch of bobbing lights heading my way, so I waited. It turned out to be a group of cyclists. They started in DC and are headed to Cumberland. From there, they're picking up the Great Allegheny Passage all the way to Pittsburgh.
As for me...
Without the additional light....
From here, it was time to start the drive home. But first, a detour through Richmond, Virginia for lunch with my cousin Jonathon. As always, it was great catching up on family and just chatting about life.
Considering the amount of driving still ahead of me, I left around 6P, with the hope of putting three hours behind me. At a rest stop, I made the decision to press on a little further to Durham, the half way point.
I booked a room at the Sonesta and checked in. Clearly they hadn't anticipated a booking this late and expected the room would be empty for the night. The room was fine and certainly clean. But, the air conditioning was turned off and the room uncomfortably warm. I cranked the AC way down, turned the fan on high and was still out cold in minutes. Two hours late, I did woke up freezing.
But, a good night's sleep was just what I needed. There was a time I would have pressed on and arrived home around 4A. So glad I stopped though.
Day 27
Friday, June 13, 2025
The last six hours home were mostly painless and I pulled into the garage shortly after 1P. While I do love a good roadtrip, there's always something good about being home.
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