My morning started in downtown Leesburg, having pedaled the W O&D the day before. To get to the canal, I had ride out of town on Rt 15 for 5 or 6 miles to the rural road leading to White's Ferry. White's Ferry is the only operating ferry across the Potomac River. The small ferry barge holds about 2 dozen cars and my bicycle. The crossing cost me a dollar. Just a couple hundred yards after leaving the ferry, I'm on the C&O Canal towpath headed west. I rode all morning from Milepost (MP) 35 to MP60 without encountering anyone except 2 couples walking dogs. At MP60 there is a bike rack for those wishing to walk the RR trestle across the Potomac to Harpers Ferry WV. The Trestle includes 2 live tracks and a caged in walkway. You can see the remnants of several other bridges at this point. The Shenandoah flows into the Potomac here and the corners of WV, VA and MD meet at that spot.
Harpers Ferry is a town loaded with history. It housed a US government armory for many years. The same one, John Brown and his abolitionist followers raided. Meriwether Lewis stopped here twice in preparation for the expedition west. He had an iron framed, skin clad kayak made here. He carried it west thinking it would be a suitable craft for finding a way west when the rivers became unnavigable. It proved to be cumbersome and was abandoned in Montana. Harpers Ferry also see sawed between Union and Confederate control throughout the Civil War. The town is a tourist town with no other apparent sources of employment. I enjoyed my short walk through town.
From there I pedaled on to MP 72 and Shepherdstown. I had to cross the Potomac again into WV. Shepherd University is right next to the river and the small downtown seemed to be thriving. This is where I spent the night.
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