Tiny toad next to a blue blaze.
Shenandoah National Park, Antietam National Battlefield and C&O Canal National Historic Park, Maryland, July 20, 23 and 26, 2019 — The week started with the Hoodlums trail crew work trip Saturday in stifling heat and humidity.
We cleared the leaner with a 24 inch pruning saw. The chainsaw vapor locked.
Monday the heat broke and I dashed up to the park to weed the AT section I maintain.
The warning sign is about a rabid ground hog that has been spotted in the area. Of course I immediately imagined that our local bear would find and eat the dead ground hog, then we’d have a rabid bear on our hands … Nooooooo! With that I put my imagination back in its box and got to work.
Tuesday featured a Maryland AT Management Committee meeting where the various organization involved with the AT in Maryland convene to sort out issues and coordinate activities.
Traffic is always horrific coming out of Washington so I usually leave early and meet the ridgerunner for dinner. Then we attend the meeting.
Dunkard Church taken from near this vista. It is one of the iconic photos from the battle.
I had 90 minutes before the time I arranged to meet Mary, so I dropped in on Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, MD. Link to Antietam Battlefield website
When I was a student at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, we spent some time studying this battle to learn what we could from the decisions its various leaders made on that bloodiest day in American military history.
“23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,” according to the website.
After falling into disrepair, the church was rebuilt for the civil war centennial.
Inside of the church as it is today.
The Dunkard faith tradition is alive today. Link to the Dunkard Brethern website.
Now for the highlight of the week. It’s time for another Gang of Four (again minus one) hike. Alexis was booked as an analyst on NPR’s 1-A Friday domestic news round up.
Three sunny faces at 8 o’clock.
We were back at the C&O Canal’s great falls. There are many trails in the park, but the Billy Goat trails are the best. Last time we hiked Billy Goat B because A was flood damaged. Yesterday A was open and we were ready. Link to our last visit.
Billy Goat A is similar to B. It’s located on the Potomac floodplain and features rocks and sand.
The C&O offers excellent aquatic habitat.
Butterflies were abundant. This is Viceroy, not a Monarch.
Rock monkeys atop the featured rock scramble.
Selfie!
For the record.
Balance beam yoga.
Readers may recall last year. Area rainfall for the year was nearly double normal. The river roared through Great Falls as if wasn’t even there.
What a difference a year with normal rainfall makes!
With that, we called it a day and repaired to a local watering hole for an al fresco lunch. We had to sit outside. I forgot to bring a dry shirt. Stay tuned for our August adventure.
Sisu
I got a good laugh about the rabid ground hog-bear scenario. It has the makings of a good horror movie. We have some ground hogs in the woods not far behind our house. Now and then I see them sneak into the yard. I sneak out on the deck with a noisy plastic bag and scare them back into the brush. One time I snuck up on one first then rattled the bag. It scurried 20 ft up the nearest tree. This year I’ve seen one up about 10 ft snacking on mulberry leaves.
We have them occasionally appear in our yard as well. They can do serious damage to a foundation.
Yes they can. And they don’t smell good from under the porch if they dig in there.
Any sign of the rabid groundhog? Saw an email about him earlier – I told Wayne that was going to be his new trail name – ha!!
No new reports. He’s dead by now. Once they are unable to coordinate their movements, they are within 48 hours death. That phase had been reported before my work trip. I still hope a bear doesn’t eat it!
Thank you for this! This is a beautiful and sacred site, surely.