Day Four, my last “full” day of riding around 60 miles, started much as things had since Pittsburgh, with a cold morning and quick preparations in the hopes of getting some activity started to warm my bones. I did invoke my trailside coffee setup once again, boiling water and using the French press, finally getting my grounds ratio just about right for the bracing black coffee I prefer.

I began my ride in the nanopuff as had become the norm, as well as my arm and leg warmers and winter cycling gloves. My brain also appeared to be a bit frozen, since I spent a good dozen miles on the Western Maryland Rail Trail rather accidentally. This is apparently a common detour for C&O travelers looking to escape the rough towpath, but with recent improvements I really didn’t feel a compelling need for pavement. At one of the frequent road junctions, I saw a sign for “Rail Trail,” and my brain still being on the GAP apparently, assumed that was the proper direction and I switched over to the WMR. Once I realized my mistake I assumed I could switch back after a few miles, but ultimately rolled into Hancock, MD before finding a merge point.

There was a well-equipped bicycle shop where I grabbed a battery for my cadence sensor which was acting a little wonky, and they suggested Buddylou’s for lunch. Google indicated it was right up the road, although also suggested it was a combination restaurant and antique store, which seemed odd.

I need not have worried. They clearly catered to cyclists, had tons of outdoor seating, and hit me with a crab soup that was life changing, followed by a burger that nearly brought a tear to my eye.

I saw the two ladies I’d shared camp with, as well as my “friends” that I’d seen on and off since Pittsburgh. Hancock seems to be the last true “trail town” that’s right on the trail, aside perhaps from Harper’s Ferry, which requires and bit of a “hike a bike” up a set of stairs. This generally made the trail feel fairly remote, as the primarily “civilization” I passed was more rolling farmland and the occasional farmhouse or abandoned building.

As usual, the locks and lock houses remained a constant companion, this particular example looking rather stately and functional.

While this one seems to have past its best days.

I ultimately came upon a series of dams that turned the Chesapeake into more of a lake, which brought some pleasure craft and pontoon boats zooming along, as well as vacation homes lining the shore. There were also locks and gateways to the river so barge traffic could transit between the canal and river, and apparently there were also several steam-driven pumps that would fill the canal with water.

Around this area the trail turned rather amusing, becoming a bit of a “roller coaster” compared to the straight shot through the woods. Aside from worrying about pedestrians, it was rather fun to scoot around bends and over little rollers.

At a parking area I passed a young mother with her two children carrying Razor-type scooters, and smugly assumed they were in for a surprise trying to navigate their scooters on the dirt path. Little did I know, they were clearly the experts as the trail became a paved boardwalk of sorts that skirted one of the lake-like areas for several miles, providing open skies and sun.

Being Sunday, things began to quiet down around 4PM, and I had the trail largely to myself and enjoyed the solitude. That continued to my camp for the evening at Horseshoe Bend, which ended up being a lovely spot with a secluded area that had a nice view of the river, and my own little sitting area of some upturned logs around the fire pit, and ultimately I was the sole occupant of the camp.

As there were no easily accessible trail towns, at least to my knowledge, it was the first night I dined in camp, finally consuming what I dubbed “potato mush” after having carried the makings since Pittsburgh. Despite my unappetizing name, it was actually quite good and much better (and cheaper) than the usual dehydrated meal. Potato Mush consists of one bag Idahoian “Loaded Baked” mashed potato powder, some shelf-stable bacon bits, and some French fried onions for some added crunch. Some recommend freeze dried chives or similar but I didn’t have any on hand. This was a good “carb bomb,” along with some fat and protein, took all of 10 minutes to cook end to end, while providing a result that was rather tasty to someone burning 2-4000 calories each day. 

This was also the first time I’d used my newly acquired pot scraper (complete gear list here) which lived up to the hype of allowing easy cleaning (scrape, lick, repeat) and got my pot 98% clean. This meal would have made a mess of my sponge, so the scraper was key. I still hit the pot with some soap and hot water for sanitary reasons, as I watched the sun set.

My phone reported no chance of rain, so I rolled the rain fly half up, allowing a view of the river as the the last lingering sun set and I soon drifted off to sleep.