Harpers Ferry

I'll be honest.  (That's rare, so hold on to your cookies)  For some reason, I always thought Harpers Ferry was somewhere near the coast.  Maybe it's because The Girl had always talked about "going down" to Harpers Ferry.  Turns out it is in no way "down" from where we live.  It's west, and uphill.  Oops.  Of course, I also thought there was an apostrophe somewhere in Harpers Ferry, and that wasn't right, either, so I learned a lot when she finally took me on that very educational field trip.

Our National Parks Pass (a sound investment for any adventurer) gained us access to the upper parking lot.  There's a nice trail leading down through the woods and along a local road to enter the village of Harpers Ferry.  Before you actually reach the village, there are plenty of historical markers and informative signs telling you about things like this old pulp mill, which received logs floated down from upriver and processed them for lumber and paper products.

Harpers Ferry was the site of repeated Civil War battles for the valued strategic ground at the juncture of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, and a commercial battleground in the fight between canals and railroads; railroads won.  Today it marks the point where Maryland. Virginia, and West Virginia meet, and the unofficial midpoint of the Appalachian Trail.  It's a popular destination for hiking, climbing, whitewater, fishing, and mountain biking.  Naturally, there's also plenty of shopping and tasty food.  We had some lunch before taking the AT across the river to the Maryland Heights trail.

I made several attempts to get a good picture of the sign painted high on the cliff face above the rail tunnel; this was my best result.

 The hike to Maryland Heights isn't particularly long, but it was pretty steep.  We gained about 800 feet to get to a viewpoint at the top of the cliffs looking straight down to the river.  In the view below, the AT crosses the bridge on the left.

The village itself climbs up a hill so steep that roads climb from the first story of a building to the second by the time they reach the other side of the building; several buildings were built against cliffs, and steep staircases provide access for the tenants.  One set of stairs was cut into the rock over one hundred years ago, and grooves have been worn into the steps by the hundreds of feet that have since used them.  It's a great place to visit, and we got back early enough to get an early dinner at a local barbecue place!