Linking Up Planning Checklist

Good trips usually have someone working behind the scenes to be sure all the important arrangements are taken care of. That means, for example, knowing where you’ll stay at night, but it does not mean knowing exactly where you’ll have lunch every day or exactly what time you’ll get off the trail. Here’s a checklist of the major things to plan in advance.

The Four Big Decisions: Start by deciding how much luxury you want to pay for, what distance you’ll ride each day, how much support you want, and which direction you’ll travel.

How many people will go? You may start by knowing who’s going, then make a plan to accommodate that group. Or you may make the plan first and then fill the trip. A group larger than 10-12 can become unwieldy.

Itinerary: Your Big Decisions on daily distance and direction to travel set the preliminary itinerary. If you don’t have enough days for the whole trip with your preferred daily distance, decide which part of the trip to ride and which part to leave for another time. Then your Big Decision on luxury determines which places provide the level of luxury you want in lodging for the number of people in your party. Unless the trip is fully-supported, your lodging must be within biking distance of the trail; this limits your choices (see trail maps for lodging information). Match these locations to your preliminary itinerary and revise as necessary.

Lodging: If you’re planning to stay at hotels, motels, B&Bs, or hostels, make reservations in advance (see trail maps). For lodging in smaller towns, make reservations far in advance. For example, Paw Paw has one B&B; it’s very nice but very small – we called in January to reserve all their space for a June trip. Camping is more relaxed: C&O hiker-biker campsites are shared, so you won’t need reservations. On the other hand, Yough Dam campground takes reservations and may fill up (campgrounds on trail maps).

Breakfast and dinner: Most towns with lodging have restaurants; the ATA web pages at https://www.atatrail.org/ have our most current information. Lunch is not a problem, as you’ll pass a town with a restaurant or grocery store or at least a snack bar every day. The grocery stores often have a more limited selection than your local supermarket, so you may want to carry an extra day’s lunch. If you’re camping, decide whether you’ll cook as a group or individually; for group cooking make a schedule of who cooks when – and who cleans up.

Support: Your Big Decision on support determines how many vehicles and drivers you need. If you’ll be riding completely self-contained, skip this item. If not, decide how many support vehicles you’ll need and who will drive them. If you’re lightly-supported, you won’t have to transport all the bikers, just carry the baggage from one night’s lodging to the next. For this, one minivan is probably plenty. If you chose full support, you need enough car, van, or trailer capacity to drive people and bikes from the trail to lodging several miles from the trail. All your vehicles need drivers; be certain they’re insured. If an outfitter is providing full support, you don’t need to worry about this.

Road detours around trail gaps: We recommend finding a way to drive or be driven around the few remaining gaps in the trail. To do this, decide how you’ll carry people, baggage, and bikes. You might arrange to leave extra cars at the beginning of the gaps for this purpose, or you may be able to hire a local outfitter or transportation service to drive you. If you plan to ride the detours on bikes in spite of this advice, skip this item (and be careful riding on the roads).

Getting to and from the trip: How will everyone get from home to the beginning of the trip, and how will everyone get home at the end of the trip? If riders use their own cars to get to the start, what will happen to those cars? Sometimes family members will drive riders to and from the trip. If not, you need to find a safe place to park and retrieve the cars after the trip.

Carpools can reduce the number of cars required. Amtrak will let you take bikes to Pittsburgh and to Washington DC (but not to any cities in between). Outfitters or transportation services may be able to transport you. For a fully-supported trip, your support vehicles must have enough capacity to take you to the start and home from the end.

Long-term parking: You may need to leave a car parked for a few days during your trip. If you stay at a motel or B&B with ample parking the night before you start the trip, the motel or B&B might let you leave your vehicle in their lot. In small towns, you can stop at the town hall or police station and ask; they often allow you to park in the town lot. Washington DC and Pittsburgh PA have commercial parking near the trailheads, but the costs may be high. The National Park Service allows you to leave vehicles at the Great Falls, Williamsport, Hancock, and Cumberland visitor centers; register with the visitor center. You may also park for several days at any NPS parking lot north of Carderock (C&O 10.4) except Swains Lock; call the C&O dispatcher at 301-714-2235 so they know your plans. At McKeesport PA, the 6th St parking garage (fee) is regularly patrolled.

Bicycles: Most people will prefer to ride their own bikes. If you need to rent bikes, try the bike shops listed on the amenity lists linked to the trail maps. All bike riders should wear helmets. Children are required by law to wear helmets. In Montgomery County MD, everyone is required by law to wear helmets. Maryland also requires bikes to have bells.

Handling expenses: There’s no single best way to handle expenses. Pick one, make sure everyone understands it, and keep adequate records.

[Overview Map] [ATA Information] [Linking Up Home]

This page is part of the Allegheny Trail Alliance's site in support of the Pittsburgh to Cumberland Trail, a motor-free recreational rail trail connecting Pittsburgh PA and Cumberland MD. Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 by Allegheny Trail Alliance, Bill Metzger, Mary Shaw, and Roy Weil. Amenity information courtesy of FreeWheeling Easy. We encourage you to create links to this site and to print copies of the maps for your personal use. We prohibit other uses of this site, especially if they generate spam or other mass communications -- see our Privacy Policy.. This page was last modified on 04/22/00. Send email to ATA or contact the ATA or member trails.