The C&O Canal Association is a citizens’ association concerned with the conservation of the natural and historical environment of the C&O Canal, which parallels the Potomac River from Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD, and the Potomac River Basin. We support the National Park Service in its efforts to preserve, protect, and promote the 184.5-mile towpath and the open spaces within the C&O Canal National Historical Park. Membership is open to all.
Activities include hikes, biking and canoe trips, a level walkers program, monthly Volunteers-in-the-Parks work projects, and special projects to support park activities as major as restoration of the Monocacy and Catoctin Aqueducts.
The C&O Canal Association sponsors a major hike each Spring and Fall, a continuing hike series on various Saturday and Sunday mornings throughout the year, bike trips on the towpath, and canoe trips on the Potomac River.
An active Level Walkers Program is made up of volunteers who, on a regular basis, walk assigned sections of the towpath to publicize the Canal and the Association, collect trash, if needed, and provide written reports to the NPS on physical conditions along the towpath and the canal prism.
