Archives July 2018

C&O Canal National Park, Maryland.  July 12, 2018 — When my friend Mary was volunteering as my swamper while I chainsawed blowdowns Monday, she mentioned a hike she and friends were planning for today just 20 minutes from my house.  Did I want to come?  Did I?  Don’t count me late for dinner!!!

We met at the Great Falls Tavern visitor center for a scramble along the craggy Billy Goat Trail.

Photo by Mary Thurman

There are three Billy Goat Trails – A, B and C.  We hiked A.

These routes lie in the higher part of the Potomac flood plain where they have been scoured from the bedrock by eons of roaring water.

The views and falls are spectacular.

People were out taking advantage of the low humidity including the climbers on the far bank and a kayaker in the river.

Kemosahbe.  Many buffalo pass this way.

The Great Falls and the Billy Goat trails lie in the heart of the Washington, D.C. metro area. Its population of 6.1-million spits out an endless supply of park-loving visitors.

Sadly we’re loving this park to death along with many others.  Think about it.  Many people.  Small Space.  Overcrowding.  Environmental damage.  Lots of rules.

Trash is no stranger.  Too many of the day hikers are bugs, not features.  Their ignorance and lack of concern beget litter.  Why anyone would bag their dog’s poo and then leave it is confounding, but found it here and see it everywhere on hiking trails.  In total we policed up more than a gallon (by volume) of trash during our hike.

Fortunately, the trail tread is water-worn bedrock.  For water, it’s always the long game.  She’s patiently gonna wear you down until you shine like a cheap suit.  She’s going to be here long after we’re extinct.

Humans aren’t the only environmental impact.  This ambitious beaver bit off more than he could chew.

Enough of the bugs.  Now for the features.  On Billy Goat A, the price of admission buys a quality climb up a sharp knife edge.

Photo by Mary Thurman

As we soared upward, I was suffering flashbacks of the Appalachian Trail in “Rocksylvania.”  My shouts of “You got nothing on Pennsylvania!” bounced off the bedrock with absolutely zero effect.

Near the top.

Summit view.

Well-earned salt stains thanks to the low humidity.  Consensus:  We’d do it again in a heart beat.

Sisu

Friends from my days in the White House/National Security Council Press Office.

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  July 7, 2018 — The auspicious press room at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is just off the West Wing, constructed over what was once the inauspicious presidential swimming pool.

As life would have it, my favorite journalists swam in the deep end of that former pool, now known as the press room basement.

You could say this invisible nether region was reserved for the less pyrotechnic news broadcasters such as Bloomberg, the Voice of America, NPR and the like.

I wish I’d taken photos of these down-under denizens who were literally schmooshed into their phone booth-size working spaces.

Believe me, ya hadda be there to appreciate it, especially the irresistible treats they’d bring from home each day.  I was soon food-conditioned and grazed almost daily.  It was an irresistible trap of sorts.  In return for treats, I’d respond to questions.  Hope my answers were as good as the brownies.

After my time at the Executive Mansion expired, keeping in touch was precarious.  This was the mid-1990s when the Yahoo search engine was revolutionary and long before social media.

Two decades passed.  Then our friend Tina thought we should meet-up at a baseball game on July 4.  Catching up, we realized some of us had in common a previously unknown love of nature.

Impulsively I offered to organize a hike and BOOM, there we were, three days later, munching (this time my homemade blueberry muffins) in a Harpers Ferry parking lot preparing to assault the Maryland Heights overlook.  Maryland Heights Trail

The iconic view from Maryland Heights is spectacular.  The Shenandoah River is top left.  The Potomac River is bottom center.

The weather was unheard of for July in the mid-Atlantic region.  Our 7 a.m. departure featured low humidity, a light breeze and a sweat-free temp of 60 F.  Up we chugged, skidding to a stop at the featured overlook in well under an hour.  We toured the 1862 civil war fortifications on the mountain top before finishing the 10 km loop before lunch time.

Along the way we took selfies like giddy teenagers.

Showing off my thru hike photo from 2014.

With time to spare, we toured the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Visitor Center, then we stopped for burgers and beers in town before moseying down to John Brown’s fort.

Railroad tunnel and bridges over the C&O Canal and the Potomac river.

Ruins of a lock keeper’s house on the C&O Canal.

Jefferson’s Rock.  The props were added in the mid-1800s to preserve the balanced rock formation.

The view from Jefferson’s Rock.

After exploring the lower town and crossing the river over to the C&O Canal, we marched up to Jefferson’s Rock, then through the ancient cemetery and back to our initial rendezvous point where we hugged all around and agreed to hike again soon.

Upon reflection, I’m thinking food history might be repeating itself.  I’ll keep baking blueberry muffins and other treats, as long as they keep coming.

To those from that era who weren’t there: We’ve got plenty of roster slots, lots of fresh hikes, and all the freshly baked muffins you can eat.

Sisu