Links

This website is mostly focused on a visual record of the canal, there's so much I haven't told you! If you really want to know more about the canal, check these links, you'll find them invaluable guides.

Click on the pretty bird for the National Park Service's web site with the canal's history and current information on park operations. Other subjects covered by this site:

	Maps, Trails and Visitor Centers
	Fishing and Boating
	Horseback Riding, Hiking, Biking
	Camping
	Park Maps in PDF Format

As of April 2004, they've redesigned their website and it's a big improvement.

Click on the turtle for Kathy Bilton's massive collection of links to everything Canal-ish. The sheer number of links is most impressive. One feature that makes her site unique is the News and Events section.

Click on the frog for a guide to bicycling on the canal by the guy who's done the whole thing twice. It covers planning your trip, best time of year to start and other practical info. Each twenty mile stretch has its own section covering points of interest, camp sites available, food, water and lodging.

The best site on the web for planning a trip.

Home of the C & O Canal Association. Interested in becoming a level walker? The Level Walker Program is a unique way for individuals to help protect and preserve the canal. Members are assigned specific sections of the towpath which they monitor and, in effect, become experts about the history, geology and culture of these sections.

In addition to running the level walker program, they also publish a quarterly newsletter. Their newsletter covers everything that happens on the canal and is downloadable. Highly recommended reading for regular canal hikers.

Each year around early spring, there's a 100 KM (63 miles) hike from the Thompson Boat Center at mile 0 to the American Youth Hostel near Harper's Ferry. You have one day to complete it. It starts early--2:30 a.m. and ends around midnight (if you make it.) If you see a hiker with the patch pictured on the left, you'll know he passed the ultimate test of hiking manliness.

The history of the canal runs parallel with the history of the B&O Railroad. You can check Steve Okonski's B&O RR Photo Tours site for a mile-by-mile guided tour of the B&O routes heading out from Baltimore. Each photo is accompanied by a description, map location and more.