Originally Posted by
axolotl
It wasn't that everything was booked. Rather, almost no accommodations existed in the center of Cumberland. It's been a depressed town for decades. But it looks like that now there are a couple of new national chain hotel/motels within a mile of the center of town.
I have stayed at the Marriott Fairfield Inn in Cumberland. It's very close to the trail and is bike-friendly. Rolled my bike in and up to the room with nary a glance from the hotel staff.
In fact, I used this as my base of operations for my GAP ride. I drove to Cumberland, stayed at the Fairfield overnight, and took a shuttle back to Pittsburgh in the morning after meeting up with my ride partner. Then we rode the GAP back to our cars (which we left at the hotel parking lot with their permission) over two and half days, then drove home. This was before Amtrak initiated the RORO bike service on the Capitol Limited. The train intrigues me, but the departure times at my end are a bit brutal. Eastbound, it's scheduled for 5:00 AM and Westbound, it scheduled arrival is around 2:00 AM.