Harpers Ferry Help

[ctsparrow]

Hi all, i have been dromant for a while, haven't had much of a chance to even check in and peruse,(i have returned to school, i am loving it, but it consumes much time and energy), but i have a request. I am doing the spring break trip with the kids thing to the VA, WV area. Have to do DC dropping off my daughter there for a week long program, so my son and i will venture to Williamsburg for a day or two, then spend a night in Harpers Ferry before returning home to CT. I was going to take him on the AT up the Maryland side for a good climb and hopefully some good views. I know they have mulitple loop trails up there along with the AT, just looking for any reminiscing, advice on best views etc. We will only have the morning to spend as we will stop in Gettysburg on our way home too. thanks ct sparrow

Why walk the road, when you can walk the woods?

 

[Amicus]

Harpers Ferry is a great place to visit and to hike. It is beautifully situated at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah, ringed by heights and well-preserved from its Civil War-era heyday.

Lots of excellent hiking, as the AT goes through the Old Town and, as you probably know, the AT headquarters is in town, in a modest white clapboard building just above the trail (with an old Katahdin-Baxter end of AT trail-sign among the decorations).

I recommend the Maryland Heights Trail, which follows the AT out of the Old Town across the Potomac on the RR bridge, then turns north and scales the impressive Heights that loom right over the Town. You'll pass many interesting remains of Civil War fortifications and see just how Stonewall Jackson forced the Union Army in residence to surrender, in Nov. 1862. It's 6.5 miles, with a loop over and around the Heights, and less than 2K feet vertical.

 

[ctsparrow]

Thanks, Amicus,I didn't know about the AT headquarters, my son will enjoy a photo opportunity there, plus he's a map-aholic so i'm sure he'll find something he wants...already has a map of the full AT. I was pretty much looking at the hike you suggest, to get up high quick and enjoy the view. Fortunately, thursday looks like decent weather...i'll do a post on my return..ctsparrow