Camping and Maryland Heights Trail

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. My brand new memory card decided to corrupt all the pictures on it, and Hubs diligently worked to save as many as he could. I lost some, but a lot were saved. But I am so excited to share this story with you! This weekend's hike was epic!

A lot of thought went into this hike. With a plethora of trails available to us in this area, it is always a challenge to choose one. Hubs and I have looked at tons of trails and each one gets filtered out for one reason or another. Too close, too far, not challenging enough, too challenging... I wanted to do something big. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted an adventure.

During my search, Harpers Ferry, WV popped up. I was instantly intrigued. There were so many trails to choose from, and so many things to do out there. We could drive out there Friday night and camp, then hit the trail early the next morning! I would have loved to start hiking Friday and camp out on the trail, but we have a bunch more equipment we need to invest in before we do that. Plus.. I don't know that I'm ready to get that familiar with the great outdoors.. if you catch my drift... I need to shore up my courage a bit.

Hubs, Littlest Cloudy, and I set out much later than intended. It was my fault, because all good weekend trips must have a shopping trip before hand! Helloooo REI! I love that store! When we finally arrived, our campground was breathtaking. River Riders's campground is situated right on the Potomac River, which was so peaceful. I couldn't imagine a more serene place to spend the night.

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Surprisingly enough, we managed to set the tent up quickly and it didn't collapse on us! I was really proud of us! Three city kids braving the wilds of West Virginia and living to tell the tale, who would have thought?! 

Our tent is a cute little thing that our dear neighbors gave us as a wedding present. I'm ashamed to say it went untouched the first two and a half years of our marriage, but I promise you friends, it will be used until its death from here on out! It's so easy to set up, and its roomy! It's also very stylish, which in my opinion is the most important thing. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it in style! Unfortunately the picture of our tent was one of the pictures that did not survive.. I'll take a picture the next time we use it. 

One of the essential backpacking items we need (desperately!) are bedrolls. We've been looking at some online, reading reviews, and doing our homework on them but we haven't made the purchase yet. So for the weekend a friend graciously lent us his bedrolls. They are about as basic as you can get, and after a fitful night's sleep Hubs and I agreed that we would be getting nice ones before our next overnight adventure. It is a purchase well worth my sanity. 

The puppers did a great job in the tent! We brought their beds with us and had them sleep on one side of the tent (they were more comfortable than us!) and they hardly stirred after we told them it was bedtime. Of course, they were so (dog) tired from our exciting car adventure and watching us set up camp, who could blame them??

The next morning, our friends joined us in historic Harpers Ferry to start our big hike! I was overflowing with excitement. Mostly because we were about to hike. The really nerdy reason was because we were right where the Appalachian Trail comes through and I was seeing serious hikers for the first time. I had to restrain myself from asking one of them for a picture. Hubs and Littlest Cloudy would have been so embarrassed if I had done that... 

The Maryland Heights trail is actually a couple of trails that wrap up and around the mountain. There are cool things to see along the way, like Naval Batteries and cliff overlooks. The batteries are gone for the most part, but there are signs that talk about each location and the history behind it. 

This trail kicked my butt. Literally. I have never been sore like I am now after hiking a trail until Maryland Heights. Part of that was due to the new pack that we acquired on our shopping trip (another Flash 18), and the bladder that we got to put in it (a 2L Platypus) along with all of the gear you carry for a day hike. Mostly the soreness was from all the uphill hiking. At the highest point we climbed 1192 ft! It was such a work out!

Check out that view! This was taken at the cliff overlook during the first part of our hike. We stopped here for a while to rest and re-hydrate ourselves, and I couldn't help but take an annoying number of pictures =]

Photo Credit: Littlest Cloudy

Like the sparkly sunglasses?? I know that's the first thing you noticed!

When we continued on our way, we got up to the highest point to have lunch, and then it was all down hill from there! No, nothing bad happened. It really was all down hill after that!

Like I said, this trail kicked my butt. It was really difficult, but I'm glad we pushed through! You can park across the river in downtown historic Harpers Ferry at the Amtrak lot if you get there early enough. The lot is controlled by the National Park Service, so there is a fee to park (it was $10 when we went). If you strike out and don't find any parking there, you can park at the main visitors center across Highway 340 and they will shuttle you over. If you have dogs with you though, you'll want to arrive early enough to park at the Amtrak lot because pets are not allowed on the shuttle. 

Amtrak Station

To get to the Maryland Heights trail, you go across the Potomac on the footbridge. 

This sign points you to the footbridge

On the other side of the bridge, go left down the C&O Canal Towpath until you come to a bridge that leads across the canal (there is a sign that says Maryland Heights). The trail entrance is directly across from the bridge. 

Good footwear is a must. Poor Littlest Cloudy didn't have the right kind of shoes. She is fine, but it definitely slowed her down since she had to worry with foot placement. The trail is really rocky, and one misplaced foot could lead to an ankle injury (and then you couldn't wear heels for like.. weeks). We brought lots of water with us and I'm glad we did, especially for the pups. The climb was just as hard on them, and they were very thirsty. 

This trail was very busy. I think that was due to the fact that it was so close to the A.T. and because Harpers Ferry is a summer destination for a lot of people. Just watch out and be considerate of other hikers you meet. Remember that you are not the only one on the trail =]

We hiked a little over 7 miles, and it took us just about 4 hours. You can see a map of our trail on EveryTrail. Its really neat to be able to look at a GPS of our route after we've done it! 

After completing this trail I feel like I'm ready to conquer the world! Ok, maybe just the next difficult trail. One day though, I will hike the Appalachian Trail - and it will be glorious!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can also follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

Buzzards Rock - Butt Buster!

After not being able to hike this past weekend, Hubs and I were anxious to get our legs moving on the trail (the pups were pretty restless, too). Since we were going to have to go after work, we decided to go over to Patapsco State Park. As beautiful as Cascade Falls Trail is, I've hiked it several times and I wanted something new. Doing a bit of searching online I came up with Buzzards Rock Trail! It seemed perfect: a short trail that we could do after work, with just enough difficulty to get our blood pumping!

After a chaotic morning (trying to get ready for work and get my dogs out the door with me..... I need more coffee, please!), the thought of hitting the trail made my day much easier. It's amazing how in such a short amount of time hiking has become such a stress reliever for me. Even the summer heat couldn't keep me off the trail today! After work, while waiting for Hubs to get home, I convinced my sister, Littlest Cloudy, to come on the trail with us!

As you can see, Sprocket was ready to hit the trail! He's an impatient little bugger sometimes!

So off we started on our short mid-week hike. Patapsco is where I fell in love with hiking, and this trail proved to be just as wonderful! It started off going downhill towards the river and overtop of the train tracks (the tracks head through a tunnel built into the mountain side). We caught our first great view from on top of this tunnel!

My camera couldn't do the scene justice. I love looking at the lush tree tops. I'm standing on the edge of a small cliff where this picture was taken. There were some rocks that abruptly stopped and the drop was about 50 feet. Hubs said that it is often used by rappellers for practice. Pretty cool, huh? Maybe I've found a new thing.. "My Journey from Sanity to Rappelling." No? Yeah, I didn't think so!

While I was caught up in the beauty of the sight, my uber creative sister suggested I take this picture:

Sprocket photobombed us...

We continued on our way and met up with our friend, Number One, and the four of us joined together to hike the rest of the trail. 

After losing our way for a bit (you'd think I'd have learned my lesson on Gunpowder South), we found the trail again and looked up ahead to see what awaited us. Holy cow. What a hill! As our mouths were hanging open, a lady with her two dogs passed us and said "Yeah! It's a butt buster". No kidding.. I was so focused on actually making it up the hill in one piece, that I didn't get a good picture of the climb, but you can kind of see it from this one:

Getting up to the top was worth it. For one, my legs felt great! Have I mentioned how hiking has done wonders for my cellulite?? I am dead serious about that. It was also cool to make it to the top, because there was a cool rock/cliff that you could see the dam from.

You can just see it off in the distance (I was taking pictures with my cell, sorry for the bad quality). The coolest part though, was realizing we had just climbed up that high! We had been walking even with the dam below. My best guess is it was about a 400 ft climb! Butt buster, indeed!

That was part of the rock/cliff.

From the cliff.

So after we ogled the pretty view, we kept on walking (uphill!!) and didn't see much except trail. It was a great hike though, and if it wasn't for the Maryland humidity it would have been perfect. As the trail continued back up hill, I realized we'd be getting close to our car soon. Its amazing how much I've come to love long hikes, and so as we came to the clearing where the parking lot was I was feeling bummed it was over so quickly. But something people refer to as "Trail Magic" was working, and we came across this:

The sun was just starting to set over the gorgeous field. I particularly love the last picture!

I will never cease to be amazed at the treasures we have in our "back yard". I grew up right around the corner from this part of Patapsco Sate Park and never realized how lucky I was! And since I persuaded my sister to come along on this hike I've officially converted my first fellow High Heels Lover to hiking boots! I have to say that I'm rather proud of myself *muahaha*! Watch out, my friends -- I'm coming for you next!

I've got a great trip planned for this weekend! I'm so excited to share it with you when we get back! Did you notice the new button on the left side of my page? I got an EveryTrail account and I can now track our trails with GPS to show you how we went! You can see Buzzards Rock Trail here!

Have you taken the first step to hiking? I'd love to hear about it if you have! 

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can also follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

The High Heels Side of Life

I'm sad to say that this weekend I won't be able to hike =[. However, it's for a good reason and I'd like to tell you about it!

This summer, Hubs and I are going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic! The trip is a collaborative effort consisting of multiple churches and about 20 missionaries. Every year, Youth For Christ/Project Serve (if you click the link and watch the video, you'll see both Hubs and I!) sends 3 groups of missionaries to a church in the little town of Pimentel. The mission groups run medical missions providing families with the only medical care they'll see until the group returns, construction projects that maintain the church facilities, make necessary repairs to homes in the area, and build homes for residents that are living in tin shacks, and lastly the missions groups run Vacation Bible Schools that often see 300-400 children between the ages of 1-15.

The cost of the trip is built so that a large portion from every missionary is given to the church in Pimentel, which uses that money to run a school, MIVA, on the premises. MIVA is free to the children, and they are given what is often their only meal for the day.

Hubs and I have been to the Dominican Republic several times with this particular trip. In recent years we haven't been able to go, so we are really looking forward to going again. Every year, raising the money to go is a struggle, but somehow (by the Grace of God) it all comes in. Which brings me to the reason for my post!

This Saturday June 16, my band Beautiful Tragedy will be performing at a coffee house fundraiser to help the team raise money for the trip. The coffee house is going to be awesome! I've organized another two bands to join ours in playing, there will be people who've been on the trip speaking about their experiences, and coffee and baked goods! I'd like to invite you out to join us, if you're in the area!

Saturday, June 16
Elkridge Fire Hall
6275 Old Washington Blvd
Elkridge, MD 21075
Click Here for more information.

We are selling tickets, since it's a fundraiser. All the ticket info is in the link, and how to get advanced tickets if you don't want to buy at the door.

I'll be there in my heels, of course =] Probably shiny black ones.. or maybe my animal print ones since I'm going to wear my red pants... Or I could wear.... Oh! Sorry, back to the blog..

I would *love* it if you could come out and support a great cause! Your ticket purchase will make it possible for a missionary to go on the trip, which will give money to MIVA to keep kids eating and in school, which will give them the necessary education to grow up to be productive citizens. Your ticket purchase will bless that missionary by allowing them to see what life is like outside of America and instill in them a sense of value for life, it will allow them to bless the Dominicans by carrying much needed household supplies, clothes, and school supplies that a lot families can't afford to buy. And lastly, your ticket purchase will bless YOU, and give you the satisfaction of being a willing participant in the Great Commission and God's plan for you:

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday! It's going to be a great event!

MIVA Dominican Republic 2007

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can also follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!