The C&O Canal Trail Gets a New Detour

We’ve been waiting for this news over two years, since the late Senator Robert Byrd announced he scored some stimulus dollars to refurbish the Knobley Mountain tunnel and trestle to connect the small railroad town of Carpendale, West Virginia, with the nearby C&O Canal path just south of Cumberland.

The realization that this dream was now a reality did not come from a press release or newspaper article, but with old-fashioned on-site reporting.

Where Trails Meet Tourism

There’s an interesting story out of Cumberland this week, concerning the Scenic Western Maryland Railroad.

In their annual budget presentation to the County Commissioners, the railroad’s management revealed that ridership on the attraction (which takes visitors on a 32 mile trip up the mountain to Frostburg and back) was up by 22% in 2010, for a total number of 38,300 passengers for the eight month season.  Even better news is that more than 11,000 stayed at least one night in the area.

Any business increase in 2010 was noteworthy, but such a dramatic change in such a difficult year is almost astonishing.  But it is also easy to explain when one considers the growing popularity of their new best friend  — the neighboring Allegheny Highlands Trail.

The Allegheny Highlands is the Maryland portion of the Great Allegheny Passage, which extends from Cumberland to Pittsburgh.  In Cumberland, it connects to the historic C&O Canal towpath all the way to Georgetown.  Surveys taken along various stretches of this trail indicate that hikers, equestrians, and cyclists come from all over the country to experience the beauty of the rivers and mountains it goes over and through.

Allegheny Highlands opened just a few years ago, the vintage railroad saw a great opportunity to partner with it, running shuttle services to Frostburg for cyclists who wanted to chug up the winding hills and coast back to Cumberland. 

(They must have had the Merry Marketeers in mind.)

For those who saw the wisdom (and economic impact) of completing the same passage first envisioned by George Washington to make it accessible for tourists and outdoor enthusiasts, it is fulfilling the promise.  As other local jurisdictions consider similar projects, they realize trails are more than a quality of life amenity — their heritage appeal, proximity to other attractions, and user friendliness make them a genuine tourist attraction.

Tales of the Trails (where money’s not the only object)

When Arlene and I were returning from Cumberland we stopped in Hancock, a lovely town on the Western Maryland Rail Trail. Like Allegheny Highland, the Western Maryland follows the eponymous railroad that hauled coal through the mountains of Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the last century. In some places, the bed followed the C&O canal as it weaved along the Potomac. In others, it cut through the mountains and over the river to avoid the rival B&O line.

It is this part of the rail bed that piqued my interest. While the 23 mile existing route is beautiful (especially during fall foliage) and historic (Fort Frederick dates to the French and Indian War,) the proposed 14 miles extension from the Pearre terminus into West Virginia and back to Little Orleans is stunning in its scope. It consists of six trestles across the Potomac and three tunnels under the Alleghenies. I picked up a brochure produced a citizen advocacy group and decided to check on the progress of this proposed rail trail. The pictures are truly breathtaking and I could just imagine what an asset this would be for outdoor recreation in Western Maryland.

I checked the website, where the most recent news dated to a commitment for funds from the Ehrlich Administration. Before delving any deeper into the status of a rail trail on the other side of the state, I decided to check on the one nearest to my heart (not to mention my home) in Anne Arundel County – the South Shore Trail between Odenton and Annapolis.

As mentioned previously, the South Shore has been on the county’s to do list since the prior millennium. A notice on their advocacy group’s website indicated there was to be some kind of groundbreaking this summer. Since this is August and I haven’t seen any shovels, I called to inquire. Ken Alban, director of capital projects for the rec department, gave me an update.

Like the Potomac, the status meanders — between good and no so much with mountains in between. Good news is Mr. Alban’s enthusiasm for trail construction. First thing he mentioned was the completion of a long awaited portion of the WB&A trail between Odenton and Bowie that will eventually (that word again) connect to Washington. As for the South Shore, (here comes the discouraging part) the information about the summer groundbreaking was erroneous. That wasn’t going to happen. But the good news (just around the bend) is that the engineering and design are continuing and money is available if it can be transferred from one segment of the trail to another. It seems that the portion scheduled to be completed first encountered a little difficulty (back to the bad news) with wetlands. (Oh, dear. I know what that means) that might require more property acquisition ($$$$) to work around.

There are tougher obstacles in Anne Arundel County than wetlands (like maybe an Indian burial ground) and worse things than environmental permits (the Corps of Engineers comes to mind.) So the current challenges facing the South Shore Trail are not deal breakers, not even in this economy. After talking with Mr. Alban, I felt a lot better about the South Shore Trail. It wasn’t happening this year, but the tedious groundwork – permits, design, easements, purchasing – is underway. It is a work in progress, not a dead issue.

So what happened to the Western Maryland trail extension? It seems money has been committed, and support from the community is ongoing. Where are we there?

A call to the DNR office overseeing the existing trail was certainly the most interesting of the day. It seems the project has encountered an obstacle more daunting than the mountains or river (or even the Corps of Engineers.)

During an environmental impact survey of the proposed trail, scientists learned the Indigo Tunnel – built in 1904, abandoned in 1975 and nearly a mile long – is now the premiere winter quarters for several species of bats. Hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands, of bats. In fact, the Indigo Tunnel is the one of largest hibernaculums in the East.

Why don’t they just go to Florida for the winter? (No, I didn’t say that.) I did, however, politely inquire if perhaps the bats could find a nice cave in nearby West Virginia or Pennsylvania to hole up if they didn’t want to migrate to warmer digs.

That’s where the story takes a turn for the worse. It seems that not only is the linear shaft of the Indigo tunnel a convenience, it is also a sanctuary from the dreaded White Nose Syndrome responsible for killing hibernating bats throughout East Coast caverns. Maryland, with its lack of caves attracting spelunkers (one theory is humans spread this fungus on their equipment) has thusfar managed to avoid contamination of White Nose Syndrome. Bats who winter Chez Indigo emerge healthy in the spring.

Adding to the urgency of this hibernation haven is that two of the species identified in the survey (that’s right – they took a bat census during nap time) are endangered. The Eastern Small-footed bat is on Maryland’s list and the Indiana bat is a federal endangered species.

I have great sympathy for the plight of the bats. They are good environmental citizens (really tough on mosquitos) and don’t deserve terminal White Nose Syndrome. But can’t they share? Do they have to have all the tunnel all the time?

Evidently, they do. In addition to snoozing, they also propagate in the intimacy of the Indigo. Baby bats cling to their mothers, who get very skittish when disturbed (I remember those days.) Problem is, bats don’t have nests to park their young. If they fall off mom, it’s over for the already-endangered next generation. So protecting the privacy of mother bats is another reason to keep humans out of the tunnel.

The nice lady told me the Feds were expected to have their environmental study completed this fall. At that point they should have a better idea about minimizing disruption to the bat community — if possible.

Until then, the much anticipated Western Maryland Trail extension will just have to wait. Some obstacles are even higher than mountains and more convoluted than the Potomac.