Greenbriar State Park, MD Camp and Hike

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Greenbriar State Park, MD Camp and Hike

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This 'Camp & Hike' took place the weekend of August 8-10, 2003. Participants were Bill Isham, his wife Chris, their grand daughter Madelyn, Charlie Johnson, his grandson Daryl, John Geisler, Tom Stevenson and me.

8/8/2003- As with every other hike this year, the threat of rain was a concern for all of us for this event. However, since we booked the camp sites months in advance, we were going to show up for this one. I arrived at Greenbriar State Park Friday night around 6ish. Bill I, Chris and Madelyn as well as John G were already there. They had just recently closed the lake at Greenbriar State Park due to numerous people getting sick while swimming. So that was one less activity that we had for that weekend. I set up my tent, made a meal and caught up on various things with everyone. We had 2 campsites right next to each other. It would spit some rain every now and then, be sunny every now and then, and just plain humid all of the time. Tom S arrived later that evening. His family opted out of coming along due to the threatening weather. We relaxed and had some good conversations. John G and I decided to walk down to the lake. We took the road down, then took a trail back that was on a ridge just west of the campground. It was getting dark and we were not quite sure where we were. However, we found our way back to the campsite just before dark. We then retired around 10ish.

8/9/2003- The next morning John G was up first. I got up around 6ish, had some breakfast and then went fishing for about an hour. I caught nothing, got frustrated, then headed to the park office to get some ice and a newspaper. It was here that I met Charlie J and his grand son Daryl. I told him where we were camped and told him that I would meet him back at the campsite. I then attempted to find the camp store in the park so I could get some snacks for day hiking. It took me about a half hour of driving around as well as going back to the park office twice to find out where the camp store was (It is right on the 'center beach' at the lake).

I got back to the site around 10:30. We sat around for awhile debating what to do. Tom S suggested that we hike to Annapolis Rocks. Since it was about 2.3 miles each way there from US40, we decided to hike there. This was around 'noonish'. It was a somewhat tough up initially, however, once on top of South Mountain, the trail was wide and ridging. When we got to Annapolis Rocks the view was outstanding! I had hiked this section of the AT numerous times but I had never taken the time to take the side trail to Annapolis Rocks. There were alot of people there. Some were backpacking, some were day hiking, some were rock climbing or repelling. There was even a care taker there. The PATC had constructed campsites further back from the cliffs because the area close to the cliffs was overused. I know that I will return here some day to camp.

We got back around 3ish, took showers and went to Ledos Pizza in Hagerstown, MD for a great dinner. We then got back to the park in time for an ice cream social at 7PM and a presentation on bears at 7:30PM.

We got back to our tent site around 9ish, had some great political and sports debates, ate some hot dogs,then retired around 11ish. The rain held off today. I turned on my walkman in my tent only to hear the last 5 minutes of the Redskins 20-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers. I hope that this will not be another one of those years!

8/10/2003- During the night we had a very heavy downpour. Then it rained off and on during the night. On Sunday morning, again John G was up first. I then got up, had breakfast, talked with my fellow campers while taking down my wet tent, then departed around 11AM that morning. Bill I, Chris and Madelyn were supposed to go canoeing that day. And Charlie J and Daryl went fishing. Daryl caught a fish (I'm jealous).

This was a different type of outing for our group. Usually, we go somewhere and go backpacking. However, this was different. It was very relaxing, alot of fun and a chance to socialize with fellow Rag Tag Rangers. Again, we dodged the rain this weekend for the most part. As a side note, what is it with the state of MD in that they demand that you camp on the hard, rough, cinder tent pad at your campsite? I know that they are concerned about trampeling the vegitation with a tent but it is alot softer to camp on a grassy surface than it is on that rough tent pad. They shouldn't be so strict about this, in my opinion. Also, does anyone out there know why Annapolis Rocks was named Annapolis Rocks? Anyway, this was a nice weekend and I hope that we get to do something like this again in the future.

Mike C