The 3-day holiday week-end started out with an unusually warm winter day; and I headed out to the Harper's Ferry area to stay at Maple Tree, a private campground.
I have fallen in love with that campground and can't wait to go back -- it is totally adorable:
- first, the campground is only for tents or ... for folks camping out in their tree houses - yes, tree houses!
- the camp office building is an old home, with a large porch where you can gaze out on the meadow in front and catch glimpses of a silvery ribbon of river
- the porch is decorated with wind chimes and potted plants
- the bathroom is decorated with cute accessories such as wall signs and baskets
- the showers are outdoors! wooden stalls, rock floors, primitive mirrors, and potted plants
The View From My Campsite:
The Experience
The warm day was welcome. My site was farthest up the hill on which the campground is located; going back & forth to my car was strenuous; taking the trail down to the camp office/building counted as a mini-hike!
The sun was down by about 6:30pm. About 8:00pm, I thought I heard a freight train. I knew there are trains going through Harpers Ferry, but that's about 6 miles away. I doubted if the noise would carry that far, and I couldn't remember crossing any other train tracks on the way to the campground. The "freight train" kept going by. If it wasn't a train, I thought it must be multiple airplanes overhead. Finally, I realized it was the wind.
I don't know how strong the winds were; checking weather reports post-trip, they were in the 40-50mph range. The noise kept me awake for several hours; that and the concern that one of those tall trees were going to come crashing down upon my tent. I debated whether I should get in my car and spend the night there; but my car was just as vulnerable to a tree coming down as my tent.
Saturday
Waking up on Saturday morning, I quickly re-learned the downside of winter camping -- it's really, really cold in the morning. First, you don't want to get out of your tent -- but you need your coffee and food. The wind was still blowing rather briskly, the sun was reduced by cloud cover; so trying to get water started and get my body in motion in temps about 27 degrees was a new experience. It was like moving in slow motion, but I did it!
One of the delightful parts of being at Maple Tree was once I got moving, and made my coffee, it was a pleasure to hike the short trail down to the office building, and sit on the patio (sheltered from the wind) watching the sun rise higher in the sky.
For the main part of the day, I drove down to the C&O Canal and went bike riding for a couple of hours.
Back at the campsite, I realized that the wind and colder temps was really sapping my energy. The evening was a repeat of the morning -- adjusting to sitting out in the cold to prepare hot water and foot.
Sometime during the night, the wind calmed down; it was much quieter, and I got a better night's sleep.
Sunday
Maple Tree campground is located like 1/2 mile from the Appalachian Trail. Instead of just bushwhacking up to the trail itself, I drove to the Gathland State Park contact station and spent a few hours hiking south, and back.
Overall, it was a successful "winter camping" outing - new challenges presenting more opportunities to learn about the outdoors, and myself.
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