Part Two 175-Year-Old C&O Canal Pawpaw Tunnel Hill Trail

I drafted this Post a dozen weeks ago. Oh, the sweet memories it rekindled…of the hike itself and of the deep recollections of my wanderings there with Dad, as well as with Judy and our kids. And on November 14, I will take Jack, who has since turned 18, for a second visit to Auburn University. Life races ahead of memories. I’m trying my best to keep up, yet I know that one day I will trundle along as only a memory, which spurs me to plant seeds, prompted by one of my favorite quotes from Robert Louis Stevenson:

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

I once again visited the Pawpaw Tunnel, located within the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) National Historical Park, on July 28, 2025. Alabama grandsons, Jack (17) and Sam (11), accompanied me. I grew up 30 miles upstream along the Potomac River in Cumberland, Maryland. I wanted the boys to experience the Nature, history, and engineering marvel of the tunnel and canal. We walked through the 3,600-foot tunnel, traversed a mile beyond it, and then hiked the Tunnel Hill Trail over the mountain to return to the parking area. Part One carried us through the tunnel (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2025/09/25/part-one-175-year-old-co-canal-pawpaw-tunnel-where-nature-meets-engineering-and-history/); Part Two took us back over the Tunnel Hill Trail.

 

Tunnel Hill Trail

 

The Tunnel Hill Trail rose from the towpath on the same route used extensively during the construction era 175+ years ago. Signage indicated where work crews resided during the 14-year construction period. We viewed a hollow filled to the brim with rock debris blasted and excavated from the tunnel and its east-end approach. Sam and Jack assumed a victorious pose on a more current debris mound. Jack and I rested beside a white oak tree.

 

Dare I admit that the 362-foot ascent winded us? We rested on logs at the gravel parking at the top of Sorrel Ridge, where a Green Ridge State Forest dirt road met the no-access terminus of the NPS tunnel hill jeep trail. Green Ridge State Forest holds deep sentimental and professional meaning for me. Between my junior and senior undergraduate academic years, I worked under the Green Ridge Forest Supervisor, the inimitable John Mash, who demonstrated the essential need to know the land…both its natural and human history…to effectively manage it.

 

 

 

 

Jack and Sam agreed that the view more than compensated for our effort on a hot summer mid-day. CaCapon Mountain rises in the distance above Pawpaw, West Virginia.

 

I recorded this 53-second video at the summit.

 

The overlook revealed far more than the scenery…sparking fragments of memory across seasons, decades, life stages, and generations.

 

Forest Life along the Trail

 

A forest ecosystem is a complex community of plants, animals, fungi, and the physical environment. I give you a sampling of photo-worthy life forms we encountered along the trail. View this as a teaser to what could have filled volumes. This Amanita beckoned us to look closely…side view and its gilled underside.

 

And its handsome top.

 

Old-man-of-the-woods grew among the green of a cushion of moss.

 

White-pored chicken of the woods stood silently along the trail, mocking me for all the times while foraging locally in Alabama, I found nothing approaching the size and quality of this specimen. We took home only a photo of this gem.

 

I delight in spring wildflowers even as I rally to see late summer beauties like these pigeonwings

 

The tunnel and nearby West Virginia town monikers suggest that Asimini triloba might grow abundamently in the area. We saw lots of pawpaw, an understory and lower canopy tree. Sam lends a personal touch to its elongate shade-tolerant foliage.

 

We found a contorted white oak trailside as we ascended. I can only conjecture what injuries, and subsequent fungal infections, owing to humans and their equipment along the trail, permanently marred the tree and its future growth.

 

Sam spotted this agreeable tiger moth larva.

 

 

Same for this black-and-gold flat millipede.

 

I will repeat the circuit (through the tunnel and over the Tunnel Hill Trail) another time, when I return, preferably during the dormant season. Like so many of my special places and the everyday Nature that defines them, the C&O Canal and Pawpaw Tunnel extend roots deep into my mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit. Where do those intense feelings and vivid memories go when we are called Home? Perhaps fragments will live on through my children, Matt and Katy, and in Jack and Sam, Katy’s boys. Robert Louis Stevenson nailed the sentiment:

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

 

A Post Script

 

Contemplating the inevitable, I once thought my ashes could be spread in Teton National Park, a majestic place where I once planned a sabbatical leave after securing promotion to Full Professor at Penn State. An ascending career path instead led me immediately to Auburn University, bypassing the sabbatic. Nearly 30 years have passed since then. From my current vantage point, the Tetons is a step too far. Upon considerable thought, why not have the five grandkids and children, Matt and Katy, leave a dusting at the Potomac River overlook…and another bit in the Cathedral Forest along the Wells Memorial and Sinks Trails on Monte Sano State Park.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

• My Dad was called Home 29 years ago, yet he once again accompanied me (and two of his great grandchildren) in July 2025, as I covered ground we walked together many times in my youth. (Steve Jones)
• I am hopelessly addicted to Nature. (Steve Jones)
• My experiences from those formative years shaped me, sculpted my lifetime addiction to Nature…propelled me to a forestry degree, and a meaningful career committed to natural resources sustainability. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future