Dam #5 and east

Western MD Railroad piers to Dam #5

Start Mile: 104.9
End Mile: 106.6
Time: 1 hour
When: evening 2/18/2006

Directions: Take route 11 to Williamsport. At the junction of 68, head west. Take 68 through Pinesburg. Make a left onto MD 56, Big Pool Road. The next intersection is Dam #5 Road. Make a left and head south. Once the road narrows you will be paralleling the canal. There is room to park along the road and an access point to the path. There is a parking area at Dam #5 on the left hand side of the road. There is a look out over the dam. If you head west on the path, there is a portapotty.





A cold front moved in yesterday and dropped the temperature into the 30s. It was preceded by strong chilling winds. I wanted to cover a lot of ground but it was too cold for me. The path was littered with snapped branches from the last couple days.

There were several fallen trees balancing on the dam. Some of them had been there for a while. The water going over the dam was louder than I remembered from previous visits. I wonder if the warm days earlier in the week caused this.

We started our walk by wondering around the stone walls overlooking the dam. Buck wanted to explore and about pulled me over as I let him sniff around. This is a good area to start a walk or take a break.

I gave Buck a call and he jumped back up to the path and we headed east. The road that runs along the canal affords access for those looking to enjoy the path but also for those looking to dump trash. This is the kind of thing that leads me to support public caning of litterbugs.

We didn't take much time to enjoy the scenery, as it was really cold. We moved fast barely noticing the birds that were out. Buck wanted to chase a couple Canadian Geese but they were not interested in playing.

We made it to the piers and turned around. We arrived back at the truck as it was getting dark. We headed home to thaw out by a Java Log.