Many thanks, again, to Jon Wolz who led a group of 15 hiker/walkers up the C&O Canal to see historic sites. We began just off Lander Road at the Catoctin Aqueduct parking area. There, one of the lock keeper’s houses is in the process of a million-dollar renovation to a weekend rental including air conditioning, modern plumbing, and electricity.
We hiked north to the Catoctin Aqueduct on the towpath parallel to the train tracks. Along the way we noted a tremendous number of paw-paw trees. Jon pointed out some fruit already forming and said we need to consider coming back when the paw-paws are ripe! The aqueduct itself is now well preserved, thanks to the insistence of people like Jon and the effort of the park service.
There is a rest area where historical markers provide details. We continued up the towpath to Culvert 82. The bridge over that culvert has been washed out several times since its construction, most recently in 2018. We took an alternate path that crossed Catoctin Creek. Shaped stones from the most recent flood were a dozen yards down the creek, attesting to the power of the flood.
One final strange sight: Somehow a single large limb between two trees was growing out of both. We checked and it really was growing out of both trees. All told the walk was about a 3-mile round trip and the rain held off until just as we arrived back at the parking area.