We ride this trail maybe once a year because, well, it's an out-and-back and neither I nor Mark are fond of those. Cabin John connects to nothing, basically, unless you count the canal towpath (across the road from the southern end and down the hill). The well-done re-routes of the trail farther up the stream bank and away from the mud have increased the climbing on this trail by several orders of magnitude, so there's that (Mark, NOT HAPPY ;-) ). And the new stretch (7.7 to 8.8 or so) is well made but OMG there are some brutal switchbacks in a coupla places to get straight up the side of the stream valley. We have serious questions about the routing ... Also explored some new-to-us trail in the first coupla miles. Nice trail; very weird juxtaposition with loud, loud I270 noise but surrounded by woods.