Sailing the Potomac

By Elaine Cleary

A few weeks ago I got up early on a Sunday and hiked the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a 184.5 mile-long stretch of trail that spans from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland. Sometimes called the Grand Old Ditch, the C&O Canal shuttled coal from the Allegheny Mountains for almost a century before it shut down in 1924. It flows over the hills of Maryland and both Virginias, rising and falling over an elevation change of 605 feet. Its construction was Monroe's ambitious attempt to tame the mighty Potomac, an effort that took 22 years and the production of 11 aqueducts, 74 canal locks, over 240 culverts, and the 3,118 Paw Paw Tunnel. Today it flows quietly alongside the Potomac, overgrown with brush and trees, dotted with rusting bridges and locks. The old towpath that runs between the main river and the canal serves as the trail. The path starts out as a cobblestone sidewalk behind Georgetown townhouses, barely wide enough to allow hikers moving in opposite directions to pass one another, but it quickly widens into a gravel trail that merges with a paved bike path.

The first mile was hot and humid. The sun reflected off of the water and the buildings that ran alongside the trail offered little shade. Moving into the woods beyond Georgetown, the path opened up beautifully. It was cool, less trafficked, humming with birds and bugs, and teeming with trees and flowers and brush. I almost cried. I love D.C., but living in a swamp town can be a little claustrophobic. Running between the two waterways, lost in the woods somewhere near the Maryland border, I escaped the sirens and crowded elevators. Everyone in D.C. keeps telling us how to network, how to sell an image, how to create a brand that we can market. In the process of becoming the version of ourselves that is most marketable, it is easy to lose the pieces of ourselves that don’t fit. Getting outside, breathing the fresh air, I felt less stressed than I’ve felt since coming here.

At some point in our hike, we got to Fletcher’s Cove and found kayaks! I taught myself how to kayak and discovered that I am incredibly good at it and we had a grand old time. I can’t wait to go back.