As of the date of this listing, Route 286 (Bethel Road) is
CLOSED just outside of Chesapeake City – so do not pick a route
that takes you along that road. The best detour is to get to Rt.
310 (Cayots Corner Road) and connect to Old Telegraph Road, and
then continue North on Bethel Cemetery Road which leads you to the
parking coordinates. From there your have just over a half-mile
walk to the prize. This cache is located along the scenic
Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Take a moment to enjoy the prime
view of the Chesapeake City Bridge as seen from the cache location.
Be sure to use the view as a backdrop for a photo or two of your
caching team. Enjoy Cecil County, and good luck on the rest of your
journey… About the canal: The C&D is one of only two
commercially vital sea-level canals in the United States. The
Chesapeake & Delaware Canal runs 14 miles long, 450 feet wide
and 35 feet deep across Maryland and Delaware, connecting the
Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore.
The C&D Canal is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. The canal is a modern sea-level, electronically
controlled commercial waterway, carrying 40 percent of all ship
traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore. Dispatchers use
closed-circuit television and radio systems to monitor and safely
move commercial traffic through the waterway. The original canal
was built in the 1820s, and it opened for business in 1829, and it
had 10 feet of water depth, and it had four locks and it carried
barges and sailing vessels that were towed by teams of mules and
horses. The canal was purchased by the U.S. government in 1919, and
there were several expansions of the canal over the years. In the
1920s, the canal was excavated and deepened to create a sea-level
facility with a channel 12 feet deep and 90 feet wide.
By the mid 1970s, further deepening/widening projects increased
the channel depth to 35 feet of water depth, with the channel width
increased to 450 feet. The canal also has hiking and bicycle trails
along the shoreline of most of the canal's length.