Geocaches Along C & O Canal Bike Trail

[maesoph]

I would like to know how to locate and store Geocaches offline for an upcoming Scout bike trip on the C & O Canal bike trail from Swain's Locks near D. C. to Cumberland, MD. I have the premium membership, etc. and have tried the obvious, "Geocaches Along Route" but that assumes you are driving a car and will not let me set the route on the bike trail. I do have a map of the trail and could enter individual towns, etc. which might get some of the Geocaches, but definitely not all. There is very little cell coverage on the bike trail so I need to store all of this information off line once I find it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[+Michaelcycle]

I would like to know how to locate and store Geocaches offline for an upcoming Scout bike trip on the C & O Canal bike trail from Swain's Locks near D. C. to Cumberland, MD. I have the premium membership, etc. and have tried the obvious, "Geocaches Along Route" but that assumes you are driving a car and will not let me set the route on the bike trail. I do have a map of the trail and could enter individual towns, etc. which might get some of the Geocaches, but definitely not all. There is very little cell coverage on the bike trail so I need to store all of this information off line once I find it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Do you plan to leave the trail to find these caches? For practical purposes there are no caches on the towpath because it is a National Park. Having biked the entirety of the canal twice (self contained) I can tell you that there are not a lot of places where you can actually leave the trail (relatively speaking given its 183.5 mile length)

 

Edited to add:

 

There is a 20+ mile stretch of paved rail trail that parallels the towpath stating near Big Pool that extends westward. This would give your Scouts a break from the dirt and rocks and it has lots of geocaches along the way. You can see them by searching for Hancock, MD geocaches and then click on the "map these geocaches button"

 

More info on the rail trail:

 

WMRT

Edited June 6, 2016 by Michaelcycle

[maesoph]

I would like to know how to locate and store Geocaches offline for an upcoming Scout bike trip on the C & O Canal bike trail from Swain's Locks near D. C. to Cumberland, MD. I have the premium membership, etc. and have tried the obvious, "Geocaches Along Route" but that assumes you are driving a car and will not let me set the route on the bike trail. I do have a map of the trail and could enter individual towns, etc. which might get some of the Geocaches, but definitely not all. There is very little cell coverage on the bike trail so I need to store all of this information off line once I find it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Do you plan to leave the trail to find these caches? For practical purposes there are no caches on the towpath because it is a National Park. Having biked the entirety of the canal twice (self contained) I can tell you that there are not a lot of places where you can actually leave the trail (relatively speaking given its 183.5 mile length)

 

Edited to add:

 

There is a 20+ mile stretch of paved rail trail that parallels the towpath stating near Big Pool that extends westward. This would give your Scouts a break from the dirt and rocks and it has lots of geocaches along the way. You can see them by searching for Hancock, MD geocaches and then click on the "map these geocaches button"

 

More info on the rail trail:

 

WMRT

 

THANKS!!!! We are stopping at multiple camp sites along the way. I'll have to look those up individually - that's likely the only time we'll have to Geocache anyway.

[+JPatton]

While the WMRT runs parallel to the C&O towpath, it is not always easy to get from one to the other. The towpath is on the opposite side of the canal and if there is water in the canal, it creates a barrier. I can also think of one spot where there is a 100' drop from the WMRT to the towpath. If you can get a trail guide for both, you should be able to find some spots to cross from one to the other.

[+Michaelcycle]

While the WMRT runs parallel to the C&O towpath, it is not always easy to get from one to the other. The towpath is on the opposite side of the canal and if there is water in the canal, it creates a barrier. I can also think of one spot where there is a 100' drop from the WMRT to the towpath. If you can get a trail guide for both, you should be able to find some spots to cross from one to the other.

 

Sure, but Big Pool to Hancock (one of the very few real towns that directly connect to the canal) is only 10 miles or so and they are likely to at least pause there. They can then decide if they want to stay on the WMRT until lock 56 (about mile 136) or get back on the towpath at Hancock. If the Scouts are interested in geology there is a very nice Earthcache that can be logged ONLY from the towpath west of Hancock:

 

GC1DAD3