I love writing about our travels in chronological order, but I gotta admit it’s nice to finally be done talking about the major points of our Arizona/Utah road trip from April and finally be able to move on to this long-weekender we did in late May.

We’ve both lived in Maryland our whole lives, but both never really explored the area around Deep Creek Lake in the western panhandle. In high school and college, I remember my friends talking about doing snow-sport-related things in/around Deep Creek which made me think that’s the only thing to do there, and since I’ve never skiied or snowboarded I kinda just wrote it off.

My parents got us a Maryland State Parks book where you check each one off after visiting, so that’s kinda given us a reason to get out there and see the random spots that we take for granted since they’re so close. Hence: we had to explore Deep Creek Lake State Park.

On our way up to the campsite we reserved in Grantsville, we stopped in one of the neighborhoods of the C&O Canal National Historical Park we’d never been: the Paw Paw Tunnel. It ended up being super cool.

Chesapeake & Ohio National Historical Park

Everything I’ve read about the Paw Paw Tunnel calls it the “most significant” piece of engineering along the Chesapeake & Ohio (aka C&O) Canal. That’s saying a lot for how much they were accomplishing back then using some pretty inventive strategies: the bazillion canal locks, the towpath, etc etc.

Instead of making the C&O Canal longer to go around this small mountain/big hill, they decided to try to dig and blow a hole through it instead. They thought it was gonna take a couple of years, but it ended up taking ~14 years and the construction was rife with workers fighting, getting injured, and generally just not having a good time.

We arrived right around 9AM and I was surprised by the amount of company we had, including everyone camped in the field adjacent to the parking lot.

The trail starts as wide, flat, and gravel. There’s this cute little stream bridge to cross at one point but nothing crazy. Every tiny little white flower was in bloom after the rain that’d recently come through, it was fun to admire them while trekking through the mud that came along with ’em.

Paw Paw Tunnel

Ever walked on a stone pathway through a pitch black historical tunnel? Me either. I didn’t expect for there also to be stone stairwells on either side that you could explore too.

Bikes also share this path, but they have to walk them through the tunnel. Despite the company we had in the parking lot, we had way less company that I anticipated – especially the longer we walked.

Climbing wet, sketchy, stone stairs and catching NPS geographical markers like Pokemon? I’m in.

It was super wet.

The ground was puddly, water was literally pouring from holes in the brick wall, and it little drip-drops came from the ceiling. We brought flashlights to illuminate the way. From the beginning, the end looks deceptively close but it actually takes a good amount of time in the pitch blackness to get there.

There’s a wooden railing alongside you the entire way. The running water of the canal echoing within the tunnel makes for some pretty cool ambiance.

The brickwork is so cool.

When I was reading about the tunnel while writing this, I learned that they protect the tunnel in the winter by boarding up each end. I guess the cold wind howling through there has a pretty bad impact on the integrity of everything? But you’re still able to access the tunnel via doors in the boarded up area. Wouldn’t that be awesome? If I thought it was dark with the ends open, imagine with them closed…

At the end of the tunnel, you’re rewarded with a casual cascade of waterfalls. Soooo good. Here’s my view of tiny Ike, and Ike’s view of tiny me. 🙂

The new boardwalk they built was really nice, the wood’s edge was perfectly cut the entire way to match up with the rocky shape of the canyon wall.

Aaaand everything continued to be super wet and there were a million miniature waterfalls along our path. We continued along the Tunnel Hill Trail which at that point felt like a 90 degree angle up after walking flat for so long. Honestly, if you don’t like aimless walks in the woods for the fun of it, I wouldn’t recommend continuing this.

The Tunnel Hill Trail eventually loops back above the Paw Paw Tunnel and back to the entrance. So the more entertaining path to take would be: in through the tunnel, walk a bit if you want, turn around back through the tunnel, and then walk UP the hill alongside the tunnel to quickly see the view from above the tunnel, then head back to the parking lot. Hopefully that makes sense.

“Walk in the footsteps of the Irish and German laborers who built the Paw Paw Tunnel… The Tunnel Hill Trail is two miles long, steep and strenuous. Use caution when hiking on the trail and watch your footing in areas with loose stone and steep embankments.”

Like I said, the Paw Paw Tunnel is inside the C&O Canal National Historical Park. National Historical Parks always have these interpretive trails that have 50 bazillion of these trail signs that tell you what you’re looking at. As tedious as it may seem, it worth the 30 seconds each to illuminate the area and make it WAY less boring. Otherwise you’ll just feel like you’re walking in the woods without any views for absolutely no reason. Trust me on this.

The first sign talks about how the shale (rock) they had to blow through for the tunnel was super delicate and kept falling on people from above while they worked on it, and how pine trees love that shale for their shallow roots. The other one talks about how lichen grows, and the third is about the hardships of the immigrant workers in the area.

Little cutie.

One of the things about hiking on the East Coast is that it really takes a good eye for spotting and appreciating the micro details of nature. The greens, each tiny flower, the butterflies and everything else… It’s not like out on the West Coast where the sights are so grand and obvious.

At the peak, you can break off on a side trail and cross a small stream to find a nice, private spot to sit on a big ol’ log and overlook the Potomac River. Someone had arranged these rocks in a heart. :’)

Hi tiny friends.

The view from above the tunnel is so cool and kinda puts everything in perspective, especially after walking a couple miles around the entire area. We got to the parking lot here at like 9/9:30am, and I took that final pic of the trailhead sign at noon sharp. Not a bad way at all to spend a couple hours.

I would totally recommend it. I reeeeally want to go back to check it out in the winter when they have it all boarded up, how often do you get to see something like that?

Hilltop Fruit Market (& Candyland!)

On the way to our campsite, we made a pit stop at Hilltop Fruit Market to peruse their famous candy collection and grab some fresh food to have at camp. I remember coming here as a kid with my parents (probably on the way to visit family in West Virginia? who knows) and it’s like it never changed.

In my mind, Hilltop is the main tourist spot in Grantsville so that gives you a pretty good idea of how big this place is. I love it.

We made these reservations ~two weeks before this, at like 9PM while standing on the platform of Penn Station, on our way to a trip with my parents to New York City for my mom’s birthday. So random, right?

We were so lucky to find this place in such short time, and when nowhere else in the area had any available reservations.

Sleepy Hollow Campground

When we arrived to Sleepy Hollow Campground, we were immediately greeted in-person by the owner who was so friendly and welcoming. We introduced ourselves and she explained that she was passed down the campground from her family. They live on the grounds semi-permanently and are working on slowly modernizing it. She personally suggested that we snag this quaint site nestled down in the woods and away from the road, and she was so right.

After we set up our tent and scoped out the facilities, we headed back out to the main town for late lunch.

Hey Pizza

Wait. First of all, can we get a shout out to the New Germany Store for this awesome bottle of water? I love this packaging that showcases their store. It really reminds me of Dwight Shrute from The Office and the birthday party he helped decorate.

There was one employee working at Hey Pizza and she was one of the most friendly and wholesome people we encountered on the trip. After she took our order and made our food, we listened as she took dinner orders back-to-back-to-back with no help whatsoever writing them down, cooking them, and ringing them up. It was seriously impressive.

Plain cheese pizza is the best barometer for how good a place actually is. This one was soooo good and after walking aimlessly in the woods all day, we had no issues scarfing down the whole thing before heading back to camp for the evening.

Learn more about the Paw Paw Tunnel:
https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/paw-paw-tunnel.htm
https://www.nps.gov/places/paw-paw-tunnel.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw_Tunnel

Hilltop Fruit Market/Candyland in Grantsville, Maryland:
https://visitgrantsville.com/hilltop-fruit-market/
https://www.facebook.com/HillTopFruitMarket/

The New Germany Store:
https://www.newgermanystore.com/

Hey Pizza:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hey-Pizza/113470865352839
https://www.yelp.com/biz/hey-pizza-grantsville