If you're on a bicycle doing the C&O you don't need harpers ferry. There are lots of goods and services in brunswick just 6 miles away.
There are something like 20 miles of the new trail surface. The new surface was built around existing washouts, at least the ones I've seen (I'm a local). 2017-2018 was very tough on this section of the C&O. I had many runs during that time frame where my feet were in a couple inches or more of water for 50% of the run. I bought running shoes specifically for dealing with those conditions (water channels in the footbed to let the water out). The new surface is super awesome for running although I do end up with little bits of rock in my shoes pretty much every run (I've probably got over 1600 miles of running on the new surface this year). I bought a bike recently to get back into cycling and will be putting lots of miles on the C&O. I'm planning to put fenders on the bike.
