AT Backpacking Trip from US40 to Weverton Rd.
|
|
20 miles
October 10, 1997 to October 12, 1997 Leader - Jerry Robey
October 10, 1997
Mike Calabrese met me at my house and we had coffee and waited for Bill
Isham. At 9, Mike and I were transported to the Trailhead and Ann R picked
At right, having dinner with about 24 tents in the background. Ann showed up at the trailhead, I took the car into Greenbriar and picked up Chuck Bramhall. The hike got underway at 10AM as planned and it was a gourgeous day. It had rained earlier in the morning but cleared off nicely. As I'm writing this, I am remembering that when we did this hike in Feb, it had rained just before we took off also. And the weather cooperated last time as it did this time also. Not too much to mention about the first part of the trip. A lot of conversation, catching up, as usual, and trying to find our pace, which was a nice easy pace since we didn't have far to go that day. We lunched at the Washington Monument and met some birders that said they saw a bald eagle from the monument. I should have talked more to them to see when they had seen the eagle. We had a converstaion over lunch concerning the frogs in Minnesota that they were finding that had eyes in their neck and other equally alarming deformities. Bill had mentioned that he had drank some of the same water that the frogs were found in on his trip to Minnesota. I will leave out the largest part of the converstaion, but let's just say that it has been decided that Bill may not know where's he's been, but he can now see himself approaching. From the monument, we headed thru the park and down the road. As we reached the exit of the park, Bill mentioned he thought the trail went off to the left. I said that it didn't, it turned left into the woods further down the road. Well, it turns out that the trail had been rerouted and and Bill had been correct when he said it turned left off the road just before the exit of the park. We learned this after walking down the road to the South Mountain Inn. Along the side of the road, Bill found some reading material on the grassy shoulder of the road. It had pictures, which was a big help to our group. The pictures were of some very beautiful women that had somehow fallen on the bad times and obviously couldn't afford any clothes. They were very creative in finding ways to entertain themselves, so they probably didn't have a tv, either.. Those poor women. I feel sorry for them..... So, we got into Dahlgren about 2PM to find out that we were gong to be sharing the campsite with 45 middle school kids. Oh, Joy!!! We had to stay at this site because Jim (Scoutt110) was going to join us in the evening. Oh well... We traveled about 5 miles . It turns out that the kids were very quiet and well disciplined. They were a good group of kids and a joy to watch them, as we did through out the whole weekend. The parents and teachers that were with them were extremely nice and very knowledgeable about the outdoors. Just a very nice group of people. And besides all that, they offered us dinner.
At left, James A, standing at Weverton Cliffs overlooking the Potomac River. By Jerry Robey
Mike C, Bill I, Chuck B and I discussed the future of the RagTag Rangers and how we thought it should be organized. I will send out the minutes to that meeting in the next few days if not today. Jim (scoutt110) showed up about 7:45PM and had dinner in hand; a Subway sub. That's the way to eat dinner in the woods. I guess he got caught in traffic and got tied up for about an hour. We all turned in about 9 - 9:30PM
October 11, 1997 What the hell was that noise!!!!! It's 4AM and soemone is chopping wood!! I hope he doesn't have a chainsaw!!! It turns out it was one of the parents with the school group and the watch he was using was wrong. When someone pointed that out to him, he stopped chopping wood, until 5AM............. He was damn determined to have coffee ready on time! Had breakfast and packed up. Bill headed home and we headed south. Another short day, easy pace. Until we hit Lambs Knoll. Was it really supposed to be this hot today!? It was a good climb, but nothing too bad. Just a long ascent. We passed the military compound and saw the towers. Ran into a couple from the school group. They wanted to know who talked in their sleep all night long, Well, not all night. Part of it he snored. I told him that it must have been Bill, and he is no longer with us. They said, sure, blame it on the one that isn't here to take up for himself. They said they did not sleep at all the night before. One guy said he was going to go up and start asking Bill some questions while he was asleep. I told him that he'd better not becasue he may be VERY surprised at the answers.... We made it to Crampton Gap Shelter by about 1PM. We had traveled about 7 miles. At that time we decided to go on to Maple Tree Campground and try to get a tree house for the night. We got to Maple Tree to fnd out that the only sites left were tent sites. And not very good tent sites either. Oh well, they had hot showers, so we opted to stay there, even if we had to sleep going downhill. The showers were great. Outdoor showers with the sun shining overhead and stone floors. Kind of back to nature type showers. Upon arriving, Mike, almost immediately had an ice cream sandwich and found a Pizza Shop that delivered and a guy that would make a beer run for us. Well, none of us opted for the pizza or beer. We had dehydrated dinners and water. We lazed in the sun for the afternoon and some slept and some read. Then we all had showers and had dinner. Another incident free night. We crashed about 9 - 9:30PM.
October 12, 1997
Got up early as did most of the other campers. Had breakfast and packed up
and hit the trail. Jim and I took the lead almost immediately. Chuck had
given me 3 ibuprofen about a half hour before we left. They kicked in! I
was off! Jim and I arrived at Weverton Cliffs at 10:30. Excellent time since
we left Gathland State Park at 8:30 AM. Definitley a best time for me. I
wasn't planning to hike for speed, but things were going so well, I decided
to see if I could make it to the cliffs by 11AM. I just kept going and got
there in less time than I thought. Every time I thought I had lost Jim, I'd
turn around and there he was, hot on my heels.
At right, Jerry R at entrance to Washington Monument State Park, MD. by Jerry Robey Had lunch with the middle school group. took pictures and chatted with several people who ended up coming to the cliffs for the day. Very relaxing day, yet again. Left the cliffs at 1PM and got to the road at about 1:30. Traveled 7 miles. Met another group of school girls and their parents. We chatted with them for a few minutes before they left. I've met a lot of people along the trail since I've started hiking and they have always been very nice people. I guess that just goes to show you the quality of people who enjoy the outdoors. Skip was a little ahead of his 2PM pick up time and got there about 10 minutes early. And we were ready to go home............ As always......great time, great weather, great people and great freinds...... Y'all come back now ya heah! |
Bill I up at the South Mountain Inn and transported him to the trailhead. When
It was a quiet evening without incident.
