Day 5: 220 miles down, 110 to go!

Another fun day on the trail. Sixty miles in, we're getting the hang of the rough and bumpy C&O, and the scenery is spellbinding.

Knowing that the rain was heading our way, by noon, we said goodbye to our tricked out passenger van in Paw Paw WV bright and early.

Within 1/2 a mile, we hit the long awaited Paw Paw Tunnel.

According to wiki, there are nearly 6 million bricks in the Paw Paw Tunnel. It was primarily built by immigrants with pick and ax, and occasional explosive blasts.

We saw Fairy Ink Cap mushrooms throughout the tunnel. Yes, these will definitely kill you. 😁

Although there was no oncoming bike traffic, we walked our bikes through the tunnel.

The tunnel was built from 1836 - 1850. For the C&O canal, the tunnel cut several miles off of the the winding Potomac River. For bikers, it's a fun adventure in the dark!

Impressive engineering to keep the canyon walls intact near the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Much of our day looked like this. Amazing colors. Canal on our left, Potomac on our right. Neon yellow down the middle.

Reminants of an old cement mill.

An old Lock House. We have reservations to stay in one of these in a few days.

Reminiscent of Harry Potter's first trip to Hogwarts.

This sign was a happy sight! After a fast paced 30 miles, we beat the rain to Handcock Maryland. We're spending the night at a bunkhouse behind the bike shop (just across the canal from the trail).

The bunkhouse is affectionately called the chicken coop.

Here's our bunk! It's a full house tonight. Reminds us of places we've stayed in Switzerland and Iceland, but a bit more open air.

We've had fun communing with fellow bikers & hikers from the trail.

The weather will clear up tomorrow, but it's leaving behind a mucky trail. We're planning to camp for the next 2 nights which may mean spotty reception. So if we don't post for a couple of days, no worries! We'll be back soon!