We’re back on the road again! Minivan was loaded up and we got underway Labor Day morning
After an overnight in Maryland we arrived at Harpers Ferry, our home base for the next 3 days. Harpers Ferry is right at the corner of 3 states: Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia and I do believe we managed to roast in all of them! We have arrived just in time for a 3 day heat wave – daily highs 36, 38 and finally cooling off to 35c. Remember the rhyme: 10 is chilly, 20 is nice, 30 is hot and 0 is ice!
Day 1 was spent in Harpers Ferry National Park. We took a short shuttle bus to the town and soon realized that tourist season is well over; it was delightfully quiet. We started with a nice walk along the Shenandoah River
There’s a lot to explore here. Harpers Ferry is most noted as the site of John Brown’s raid, but it also has an interesting history as a port at the intersection of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and as a manufacturing town. The John Brown museum is small but tells the story well. This monument and plaque are right outside of the museum. Both are worth a read.
The Appalachian Trail runs through Harpers Ferry as does the C&O Canal towpath. Hopefully we will ride the C&O tomorrow. Today we walked a bit of the Appalachian Trail. There is a very long set of steps carved into the rock leading from the main street in town up past a church and then on to Jefferson Rock. Jeannie stopped at the church and headed back into town. Tom continued on to the rock and took a few pictures. Not sure that Jefferson was correct when he said that the view was worth a trip across the Atlantic (back in the day when it was a 6-week sailing adventure), but it is a very pretty view of the confluence of the rivers, and an interesting rock formation (although now propped up to keep it from toppling over).
After hiking the Appalachian Trail we were going to go to a ranger talk, but it was either cancelled or moved due to the heat. So we took the shuttle bus back to the main parking lot and headed for our AirBnB, stopping at a grocery store on the way. Felt good to get some provisions and make one of our favorite road meals. And yes Virginia, they do have Yasso bars!
