The PawPaw tunnel.
Well yesterday’s picture came from above this tunnel. You might not know about the PawPaw tunnel, so I’ll tell you about it. The C&O canal stretches from Washington DC to Cumberland, MD. It pretty much follows the Potomac river the entire way. However, the canal builders had a problem when they reached the mountain from which yesterday’s picture was taken. The solution to their problem was to build this tunnel through it. The tunnel goes on for half a mile. There’s never been car or buggy or any other kind of traffic throguh it. There’s just the canal and the towpath, which was used by the mules dragging the canal boats. You can walk through the canal, but there are a few things to consider when doing this. The most important thing to consider is if you want to bring a flashlight. The answer is yes.
You see that tiny speck of light at the end of the tunnel? It stays a little speck for 90% of the trip. A speck of light half a mile away or a quarter mile on either side actually, offers you NO assistance. There’s no asphault and there are puddles and mud and drips.
So, yes you should go through the tunnel. However, you should be prepared. Otherwise you might find yourself climbing back over the mountain to get to your car.
2 responses so far ↓
1 shelly // Jun 19, 2008 at 8:11 AM
two things of note:
a) i thought it was TOEpath until three weeks ago, meaning you walk on it w/ your toes. so its a toepath. turns out that’s not the case.
b) i’m taking photo credit for this one, even if the author of mddp doesn’t want to give it to me.
!
2 Chris // Jun 19, 2008 at 9:38 AM
That’s pretty damn hilarious, Shelly.
Leave a Comment