August 5, 2020
We woke at 530 AM. Yes, this is vacation, but it's a special kind of vacation. It's what the girls like to call "vacationing with Brian." Actually, it was because we knew we had a very strenuous hike ahead of us and didn't want to do it in the heat of the August sun. Plus, we were told the parking lot fills up by 8:45 AM. But it was worth it to see views like this one.
Once we crossed over the Shenandoah River to join the Appalachian Trail, we quickly found out that this trail meant business as we ascended over 1400 ft and it was steep right from the get go. After about a mile of vertical incline, we veered left on the orange trail and then the blue trail for an additional two miles. We startled a couple of deer along the way, neither of which was at all perturbed by our presence and just kept on grazing in the brush not too far off the trail. Brian had to go first because he was the one designated to break the thousands and thousands of spider webs along the trail, as we were definitely the first ones ont he trail this morning. In fact, when we finally arrived at Split Rock, we had the place and the incredible views of Harper's Ferry all to ourselves.
Here are some of the views looking back down the river at the historic town of Harper's Ferry.
After sitting on the rocks to enjoy the view for a while, we retraced our steps back down for three miles until we reached the parking lot again. It was only 10 AM. We had already covered our "main" hike for the day and a total of six miles on the dot, according to the Garmin Jessica wears on her wrist. "If it wasn't recorded," she likes to say, "it didn't happen." As it turns out, we were in the River Access parking lot, so we walked along the Shenandoah River, amazed at the number of little shells on the shoreline. When we found a good spot, we soaked our tired feet and ankles in the water and relaxed a bit.
After further rest and not knowing what to do with the rest of our day, we decided on yet another long hike. I mean, why not? It's only in the upper 80s today! So we hiked a mile to the historic town, then crossed over the railroad bridge, followed the C&O canal, and then head up the very steep hill to Maryland Heights, just opposite the Potomac River from Harper's Ferry.
It was a steep climb that we had done before on a previous trip, but we knew the view would be worth it. And indeed it was! While we didn't have this view all to ourselves, it was still not overly crowded, being a weekday and all. Then we retraced our steps back to town and to the parking lot, adding at least another 5 miles to the 6 that we had this morning!
Back at the van, we drove a short distance to the closed visitor center, where Jessica made a delicious lemon chicken recipe with potatoes for dinner and we ate at one of the picnic tables there. With our solar fully charged from today's sunshine, we drove back to Charles Town to the casino parking lot for another night of boondocking next to the railroad tracks. Maybe I forgot to mention that yesterday! Tomorrow: Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive.
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