AT - Weverton to Ed Garvey (out and back, with cliff detour)

Once you fall off a horse, it's imperative to get back on as soon as possible. 



I love ferns.  They're delicious primitive fractals.



I spent Sunday and much of Monday recouperating.  A real "hike" with elevation and rocks and terrain difficulty seemed absolutely out of the question.  But we planned for Tuesday to go, hit at least 750 feet of elevation gain, and a minimum of 6 miles.  I had to re-build the confidence I had and remind myself that I am strong and awesome and won't make the same stupid mistakes again.

So we headed out to Leesburg and then cut into Maryland to park at the Weverton lot.  It's a great place to park - it's near enough to Washington Monument State Park, it's got Ed Garvey on the other side. 



Friendly white blaze!



It'd been raining the night before, with light rain in the forecast, but we figured hey, what's some rain?  We dressed appropriately, and we brought plenty of water.  The hike itself is challenging to normal folks - I believe for thru hikers it'd just be a nice climb - but for those of us who have not yet reached that near-immortal state, it's a slough.  There's an adorable kids hike, which is about 2/3 of the climbing, called the Weverton Challenge that's embedded in this route.  It's actually going to be awesome to take my kids to - it will challenge them but be something completely attainable. 

The way up contains a series of 15 switchbacks over the course of a mile which climbs the bulk of the hill.  At the top of this mile is a junction - you go right for gorgeous cliffs and some fun climbing about, and you go left to continue on the Appalachian Trail.  We decided to do the trail first, and hit the cliffs on the way back.  I'm fairly sure Aaron's thinking was that if I was exhausted and the climbing had been too much, we can skip the steep but short descent and ascent from the cliff. so best to do it second and not first. 

The terrain is the sort that is a combination of medium to large rocks you need to hop between, for about a mile, once you get past the cliff off-shoot.  This gets tiring on your knees after a while, and I sat down and thought, "Is it really worth it?  How much longer is it going to be before good solid ground?"  The breeze was great on the ridge we waited for a bit on, and we continued on.  Then we hit the ideal trail - giving ground, few rocks or roots.  Okay.  It was muddy as hell.  We came back completely spattered in filth. 

We passed by a few weekend section hikers, and a father-son team in Minnesota matching sweatshirts.  We stopped at Ed Garvey shelter for lunch.  It was hilarious - on the floor, dead center, was a graphic novel.  The title:  "I knocked up Satan's Daughter."  I can't really put into words how much that tickled me.  The log book was full of people who'd written their destination, their life philosophy, their attack of the munchies, their warnings of rattlesnakes in the privvy (!!!).  You could tell general ages based on the type of writing "Maine or Bust! Bring the Weed!"  Yes.  That was likely an 18 year old who's taking a break before college.  "Celebrating our fifth anniversary by hiking the trail!" young couple.  There's a feeling that the majority of AT hikers are either very young or just post-retirement.  The evidence matches this, but there are anomalies.  We're not the only 30ish year old hiking couple out there.

The hike back was easier, and the cliff view was spectacular, mostly because the cliff itself looked like it wanted to dive forward, to leap into the air before coming to crash into the Potomac below.  It was a good formation.  The rocks everywhere else were wet and therefore looked black crossed with the brilliant green that signifies new spring growth, but the cliffs were pale grey and gleamed with white quartz streaks in the newly-broken through sunlight. 

We got back to the car and headed for tacos.  Because tacos. 

Time spent on trail:  4 hours 20 minutes, including lunch.

Difficulty:  Medium-hard.  Medium if you're experienced.  Hard if you're novice.

Bonuses:  The Ed Garvey shelter is awesome!  The log book is exceptionally entertaining. 

View:  The cliffs are gorgeous.  The AT itself is a nice walk in the woods.

Kid-friendly:  Slow and steady wins the race.  If your kids are physically active, the 7 miles should be doable but it's going to be tough.  Prepare to carry them at points.