Once you get a gravel bike—and a whole world of routes and good fun enters your world—it’s a quick and slippery slope into exploring bikepacking. 

Lucky for me, I currently call Washington, D.C. home, and one of the most confident-inspiring bikepacking routes ends (or begins) right in my theoretical backyard: The C&O Canal Towpath. 

Full route details: The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Park Service website has most of the details you’ll need for this one. I’ve attached my favorite resource for the route which is the ‘Park Planner and Recreational Guide by Milepost’. I printed this off and brought it along as a reference when we felt like stopping or lollygagging around.

This particular section (From Harpers Ferry to Washington, D.C.) is around 61 miles one way, or 122 out and back—something that as you bike more will sound less and less intimidating.

If 60 miles is a big day for you, you can have a friend drop you and your bike off in Harpers Ferry or you can ride the Amtrak out that way—you’ll want to make sure to book in advance and don’t forget to add your bike to the ticket. There are limited bicycle slots on each ride and it books up quickly on weekends when the weather is nice. You can also bike there, stay in a BnB in the area, and bike back—all in reasonable time.

What makes this route “easy”:

There is plenty of water (make sure to bring a water filter or tablets to make it drinkable), large established swaths of grass for camping along the way, and a nice halfway food stop at Whites Ferry if you’re not a camp cook or don’t want to deal with it. (Note: the restaurant at Whites Ferry closes at 6 p.m. so plan accordingly)

If you’re a D.C. resident there are no planes, trains, or automobiles to go out and back since this trail leads right out of D.C. Just wake up and ride.

I can’t say it enough: if you’re brand new to bikepacking I can’t think of a more well established and simple route to take your time and not be “too far” from civilization if you run into trouble; yet still feel a million miles away from it all. And this is just a sampling of the entire route. Get the feel for your bike and gear set-up in this portion, then you’ll be ready to take on the entire C&O all the way to Pittsburgh like a pro

A couple of other route planning resources I love to use if the Park Service resources aren’t enough:

1. Ride GPS (There’s a C&O route you can download)
2. Bikepacking.com

And a couple of other good options if even Harpers Ferry sounds like a lot is biking to Great Falls (a beautiful overlook) and the popular Swains Lockhouse—these you can bike to and be back in town before work starts the next morning. 

Happy biking!