Ed Zahniser Canal Story
My father, Howard Zahniser, was a close conservation associate of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. In my very early teens, I went with my father on one of the C&O Canal hikes with Justice Douglas that commemorated the successful political defeat of the move to turn the canal and towpath into yet another highway into Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: NPS
For some reason, there was a bagpiper on this trek. As my father was an avid birdwatcher and wilderness preservation activist, I thought the bagpipe must have irked him. It was not what I was used to on our family's many hiking jaunts on the canal and elsewhere. But my father never complained about the piping. That in itself was a lesson for me.
Photo Credit: NPS
We parked our car downstream of the island, on the Maryland side of the river then, and hiked the Canal westward until abreast of Plummers Island. At that point, we bushwhacked to the river’s side channel that made Plummers an island. At the end of the bushwhack, we had to assess—based on water level—how best to access the island itself. If we were in luck, there would be a boat with a looped tow rope moored on one or the other side of the channel. But the boat’s presence was not always to be relied upon.
Photo Credit: NPS
And at any rate, the steep downhill access to the channel water level was awkward. More than once, an errant rolled sleeping bag would bounce its way down into the channel—our family often overnighted at the cabin atop the island. New Englander Benton MacKaye, the visionary behind the Appalachian Trail concept, often set up housekeeping in the cabin when he was in the D.C. area. My siblings and I liked the rock-climbing possibilities on the island—and met the cactus plants abounding there with great delight and necessary respect. The copperhead snakes were not so cherished, although we respected them and kept them foremost in mind when rock-climbing in spots where visibility above your eye level was a moot point.
Photo Credit: C&O Canal Trust