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Rock Slide Closes C&O Canal Trail's Paw Paw Tunnel

LITTLE ORLEANS, Md. (AP) -- The National Park Service says a rock slide has closed the Paw Paw Tunnel in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

The agency said Tuesday that the slide occurred Sunday on a 100-foot section of the canal towpath east of the tunnel near Little Orleans.

The tunnel and part of the hiking-and-biking trail will be closed until further notice.

The agency says trail users can use the Paw Paw Tunnel Hill Trail as a detour. The hill trail is a rugged, two-mile footpath along the top of the hill.

The Paw Paw Tunnel was built in the 1830s and '40s to bypass a series of sharp bends in Potomac River. It runs for three-fifths of a mile through a mountain ridge in southern Allegany County.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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