Written by Ben D.
On October 13, 2023, our troop went on a hike on the C&O canal. We started at the Paw Paw Campground and stayed the night there. The next day, we cooked breakfast, packed our backpacks, and prepared for the main experience of the outing: the Paw Paw Tunnel.
The Paw Paw Tunnel was about one-third of a mile away from the campsite and the tunnel itself was about 1 kilometer long. We hiked there without our backpacks on. When we got to the tunnel we could feel the cold air lingering around us. While we were inside the tunnel, it felt like the end of the tunnel was constantly getting farther away. At the end of the tunnel, we took a stairway up to the top of the tunnel, took some pictures, and went back through the tunnel to the campsite.
When we got back to the campsite, we put our backpacks on and hiked 8 flat and easy miles to the next campsite.
This campsite was at Potomac Forks, it had a shelter and canal lock. We were exhausted from the 8-mile hike, but we had to set up camp before it started raining. We quickly set up camp, cooked, and had dinner.
The next morning, it was raining, so we quickly packed our tents, started cooking, and ate. We then left the campsite to go home. When we got to the cars we had lunch and left.
